Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

38 reviews

seastheday's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The premise and story were extremely unique. There really was no predicting what would happen in the end from any point of the book. Meaning that it is a really well written novel. There were about 6/7 times where I thought something occurred with finality to only find out pages later that the end result was quite different. Now, I wasn’t attached to any of the characters enough to cry at any of these points. The characters are from from lovable with the exception of Mitch. Even though I will definitely read the next book in the duology, for some reason I still don’t want to give it the full four stars. But I think it’s  because I almost didn’t care if I finished the book or not? Maybe because it was so dark most of the time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Stalking, Self harm, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Blood and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

rtherese's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Amazing Perfect. 12/10. I’m naming my kids Victor, Eliot, and Sydney

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Death, Torture, Blood, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Stalking

foggyoblio's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Animal death, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Medical trauma, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Confinement

se_wigget's review against another edition

 

So... er... characters don't have to be likeable. 

I appreciate the craft in the writing of this book. It must have been quite challenging. But the subject matter is seriously cringey. 

After I began reading this book, its popularity puzzled me. I certainly enjoy other books by V. S. Schwab. Maybe this is my "I'm an empath and an asshole magnet" perspective... or my "I dumped a narcissistic sociopath a few months before another narcissistic sociopath began squatting In the White House and continued doing so for four years" perspective. Maybe it's a generational thing--I'm Generation X, not a millenial. But yeah, this book hit my aversion buttons. After reading a little bit, I set it aside for months. 

I dislike Eli even more than Victor, probably because I didn't escape the Midwest because I enjoy the company of smug and self-righteous, Goddess-rejecting, monotheist hypocrites. Eli is a smug and self-righteous, Goddess-rejecting, monotheist hypocrite, psychopath, and murderer. 

Well... Sydney and Mitch aren't psychopaths. I like them. 

 

“Aren’t all those records classified?” asked Sydney. Mitch beamed and flicked open his laptop, settling in at the counter. 

“Mitchell,” said Victor. “Tell Sydney what you were in prison for.” 

“Hacking,” he said cheerfully (p. 163). 

 

Page 186: This scene strikes me as potentially triggering: a psychopath following a female student around on campus... because he wants to kill her... and does. It reminded me of the recent incident in London, when a cop murdered a young woman. A more extreme version of everyday experience for women. 

 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Stalking

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Ok amazing! Schwab does it again! This story of power dynamics and friendship is a powerhouse and i'm glad theres a second book. Victor and Eli are so similar in ways and yet fundamentally different morally. I usually hate multiple pov and third person writing but Schwab does it so well you dont even notice it. I think all the individual storylines were crafted so beautifully and connected so well. I think this just suffers from what every multiple pov book does: a lack of connection to the characters. You feel for them yes, but when the end approached I didn't really care what happened to them, or I knew it would all be ok (either or). Im so excited to read the second installment and I hope its just as good if not better than the first! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Slavery, Stalking, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic friendship

blossompossum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Flatliners vibes with superhero's, I like it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Animal death, Torture, Violence, Death, Stalking, and Self harm

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

This is an origin story of supervillains. It tells the story of a couple of guys who were in premed when they started experiments to learn more about near death experiences. I got a vibe like the movie Flatliners(1990) with the level of obsession., and in with that, one of the main characters is called Victor, which is the name of another obsessed young student who fascinated himself with reanimation in a completely different classic novel... I doubt that is more than coincidence. The strangely gifted people are called EOs (extra-ordinaries) and much like Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, or X-Men, Spider-Man, and the NBC series Heroes the book explores what happens when people have impossible powers, and includes the argument about whether this is a physical or spiritual gift; whether it is deliberate and divine, or just a fluke.

The backdrop is clearly superheroic. You have a fictional city called Merit, which is an unremarkable, American town. The main characters have alliterative names, or names or descriptions that have significance to their powers, but from the get-go all the Vs made me feel like this is a lot more like Alan Moore than Stan Lee. For starters the "heros" are sociopathic before they even get started. There is nothing quite normal about these two college room-mates.

The story is tropey enough that it's fairly easy to get a handle on, even though it's told non-chronologically. Entire sections are flashbacks to 10 years ago. There are short memories that are repeated in different chapters.. one of which was long enough that I thought I might have accidentally lost my place and be reading the wrong bit. That was mildly irritating; a phrase can anchor something poetically without an entire callback.. that might work better if it was a movie (montage it, pitch it a little lower, put some echo on or something?) or maybe a graphic novel.. (make it yellowed like old paper.. or throw the colours out like a faded photo with no blue in it..)

The middle part of the story begins to lag a bit. But it picks up a little more as the things start to culminate. I do wish the ending felt a little more planned but it starts to become a little unclear what is going to happen. I do like that the story feels out the edges or limitations of the powers that people have, and explores a little of the synergy you can get when more than one person with a gift is working together. I think it would be marvelous if there were more people with normal strengths rather than uncanny things, but that is still included in the story.

This is a very different story to something like Hench (which is about jobbing for the supervillains), and has some similarity in YA stories like Songbirds and Snakes in which the mindset of the main character is toxic and dangerous. There is some bloody violence and necromancy in this story, so if you don't like dark then this isn't your book.

Clock this one up if you want to do a reading challenge where the hero is a bad guy, and it's set in a City starting with M (yes that's a challenge prompt for the 52 BookClub Chanllenge 2024).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Addiction, Cursing, Stalking, and Drug use

andimandi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Stalking

grizzlysnack's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Torture

Minor: Stalking

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is without a doubt my favourite read of the year.
Fucking hell, this was a WILD RIDE.

I love every single one of the characters, and I love the way this book kept me hooked 100% of the while.

Even though Victor is «edgy» in a way, it just makes sense for him in such a good and logical way. I'm not annoyed or icked by it, I just like his character.
Loving the way Mitch's character is built up, too, and of course Sydney.

I especially loved Eli and Serena as villains, too. Nothing I love more than a sexy and crazed religious man and a fem-dom.

For a while, I was conflicted on what I thought about people being revived. However, I don't think it matters here? In all other media, it seriously bothers me, but in this book in particular, who lives and who dies isn't really what keeps you on edge, it's how the characters' relationships with each other develops. I absolutely love the dynamic between each and every character, I CANNOT stress any more how much I LOVED reading this.

Ditched Norwegian, maths, and economics class for this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis