Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

13 reviews

willow_the_wisp's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Animal death, Blood, and Gun violence

bootrat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, V.E. Schwab's characters are always so well written and relatable, I love them all. The universe and the powers in this book were really interesting and I loved the way they were explored and developed. The time jumps back and forth were also done really well; it's not always a device that's utilised well in books, and often makes things more confusing, but Schwab used it well to develop the characters and the storyline. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality, Medical content, and Self harm

Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

ribbenkast's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

V.E. Schwab strongest writing is when she's writing villans. In vicious all characters are villains.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Torture, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

There's a sexual relationship between two characters that isn't consensual/the concent is extremely dubious. This is because

one of the characters has mind controling powers which makes everyone do as she says

lottie1803's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Drug abuse, Hate crime, and Police brutality

vael's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

You all don’t understand how much I love books about morality especially were the characters could eased be villains or heroes if we see thinks white and black, but thinks are never like that.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the book, but I’m not sure if I want to read the second one.
I’m happy with the way things ended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Car accident, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic relationship

jgalla's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Cursing

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Pros

• I really liked some of the side characters, particularly Mitch, Sydney, Serena and Dom. I think in the case of the first three, we got a more throrough look into their lives and how circumstances changed their lives. Are they the most interesting characters of all time? No, but they were better than the two men who were supposed to be the focus of the book in my opinion.
• It did get interesting with the countdown to Vic and Eli's showdown towards the end of the book.
• I think Dom's powers were very interesting (reminded me a little of Homura's time stop powers from Madoka Magica) and my favourite of the bunch, and I would have liked to have seen the full extent of their powers.

Cons

• The two main leads felt kind of generic and cookie-cutter compared to characters and I feel like I've seen characters based in this concept of intimate enemies done infinitely better in other pieces of media. These guys feel like all edge, little substance (mostly on Vic's part with the latter).
• Eli's religious bigotry compounded with his mental health issues just came off as a lazy excuse to make him "the truly evil character" and frankly ableist concerning the latter (i.e. the "he's evil because he's crazy" stereotype). With the former I feel like there wasn't much exploration into what made him that way, and I feel like he just ended up repeating the same hollow sentiments of God wanting EOs dead because they're freaks etc. over and over. This could have been improved by exploring his religious upbringing more, which I think could have lended some more opportunities for darker moments.
• Speaking of, I don't like how Dom was introduced so late into the story and ended up being treated more as a get-out-of-danger-free card instead of a fully fledged character which is especially damning when he is physically disabled.
• I think the timeline constantly jumping around harmed more than helped the narrative. I think the book took longer for me to read than it actually did because I had to do mental gymnastics to keep track of who did what that I feel like I forgot some important details along the way.
• I think the way Serena was killed was kind of out of nowhere and felt cheap. Then again I might be biased because I really liked her character and the ways in which she was lowkey terrifying
• On a similar note Angie felt like she was just there to be the generic love interest that got fridged partway through the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Police brutality, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

imds's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Death, Violence, Body horror, Grief, Police brutality, Gore, Gun violence, Child death, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Religious bigotry

bugcollector's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I guess, hence the title, I was hoping to
root for a villain or morally gray character, but ended up feeling deceived. 
the real trick here is thinking the mc is the villain, when he's actually the hero, and having questionable morals sums up to lack of empathy. 

I don't even know what makes him a villain, is it his upbringing and the way the world seem to defy him? isn't being misunderstood by 'society' at the beginning is a part of the hero trope? 

I liked victor more when he was human, the only part of himself lost to becoming EO was the ability to keep my attention. He stopped observing, and we weren't immersed into his inner thinking anymore (besides from a casual "I want to make ever bleed" every now and then) 

another thing that was lacking for me was Ever and Victor's relationship. 
Victor was pinning over him only a little bit at the beginning, and even though we're told he later on became obsessed with wanting to kill him, I don't think it really came through. 
their friendship building lacked some feelings that were essential for rooting for them later on. 
Not enough heartache, and we didn't see Evers side all these years other than the over religious thing he had going on. Did he just forget about Victor? 

Speaking of that, the author just mentions once throughout the whole book that Ever has grown in an abusive household causing religious trauma, which only victor knows about , but it's never used later on. 
I can't even say it made their connection deeper, because they don't mention anything. 
The only explanation i could think of is that it's meant to be explored in the sequel, but i still find it lacking. 

At last, the end of the book, the grand finale. I expected to at least have some sort of a conversation between the two mc. 
Instead it's a shooting range and then we're done. 

However, I don't want to bash the book completely. 
I did enjoy the begining, read it fast, and felt that the characters had a lot of potential. It's a nice misfits come together and found family story, for those in search of similar tropes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Police brutality, Torture, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

harmonique's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death, Torture, Religious bigotry, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol