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A review by megansmith
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I admittedly didn't expect to pick this up when I did (library hold my mom put in, not even me, was suddenly ready and I was very brave about it) and to be honest, I probably could have lived without reading this sequel. I feel like the first book was a pretty solid ending. You have this open-ended resurrection, the characters are free to do what they wish and you don't need to keep things going.
I just think this second story felt tacked on and frankly, a little underwhelming - I read Marcella's introduction in the first book's "extras" section and wasn't feeling it, but I have a problem with wanting to finish every series I start, so I felt compelled to keep reading. for all this buildup of how powerful she and her associates were, her death was so incredibly anticlimactic. She could have had more interactions with the main characters, more stakes or intertwining with the original story to make her feel more relevant, or more than just the vague notion of "power" as her end goal. Even a small insight into what she was going for with the final act would've been nice other than setting up this huge ball for some of the most influential people in the city of Merit . You honestly could have removed her from this story, made 1-2 final tweaks and had a much better book in the long run. I think also Marcella bugged me since I noticed a recurring error in the writing that threw me off - the book made this whole mention of her cutting her hair to a short black bob early on, and then just a few weeks later she has a ponytail, and tons of references to flowing hair going down her back. If you're gonna commit to someone with short black hair on the freaking cover, then follow through!
Pair the underwhelming character add with the literal ending, the culmination of this two-book-long fight, and Eli dies in just about two pages? It was pretty underwhelming, even if Sydney got her poetic justice, that still could have gotten more of the build up it deserved. .
Generally this book has a pacing problem - pages amble on but critical moments are cut too short and feel anticlimactic, or don't really explain enough of a character to get a close enough connection (I had a hard time feeling much for June throughout this whole book - and Sydney, girl, just because you text a girl every other day or so for a month doesn't suddenly mean she's "like a sister"). I could justify the page count if pacing was addressed and the new female characters felt more fleshed out.
Overall I just don't know if this lived up to the first book, and I could've lived without this to be honest. This hasn't tainted Schwab's work in comparison to Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, however I'm a little more hesitant to push for her more magic-focused series anytime soon over some of my other TBR reads. You could read the first book and pretend this one doesn't exist and be totally fine imo.
I just think this second story felt tacked on and frankly, a little underwhelming - I read Marcella's introduction in the first book's "extras" section and wasn't feeling it, but I have a problem with wanting to finish every series I start, so I felt compelled to keep reading.
Pair the underwhelming character add with the literal ending, the culmination of this two-book-long fight, and
Generally this book has a pacing problem - pages amble on but critical moments are cut too short and feel anticlimactic, or don't really explain enough of a character to get a close enough connection (I had a hard time feeling much for June throughout this whole book - and Sydney, girl, just because you text a girl every other day or so for a month doesn't suddenly mean she's "like a sister"). I could justify the page count if pacing was addressed and the new female characters felt more fleshed out.
Overall I just don't know if this lived up to the first book, and I could've lived without this to be honest. This hasn't tainted Schwab's work in comparison to Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, however I'm a little more hesitant to push for her more magic-focused series anytime soon over some of my other TBR reads. You could read the first book and pretend this one doesn't exist and be totally fine imo.