A review by ellaellaellaetc
Vicious by V.E. Schwab

3.5

this is about two fucked up friends in uni who work out that if you almost die then you get superpowers! it flips between two timelines; one in uni where the two guys are besties and roommates and the other where one of the guys has just broken out of jail and is dead set on revenge on his former best friend. tbh I loved the concepts more than I loved the execution of this one. as always, v.e. schwab has fantastic prose and can really bring you into a scene (and really scare you!). I loved all of the different superpowers and how they manifested but there were just some certain technicalities in the story where I was just like huh??? my main issue was that there were way too many coincidences in this story where people just happened to be in the right place at the right time to the point where I was just constantly rolling my eyes. also this should have been gay.

also the fact that "supers" are theorised about but not actually proven in this world is a little silly I think. I get that saving people from the brink of death is more of a new thing in the grand scheme of the world because of medical advances and what not but I don't really buy that every single one of these people immediately went into hiding because of their power and was never found out.

despite that, I thought that both eli and victor's minds were really interesting to be in and schwab built these characters so well! 3.5 stars. also I annotated this book for my bestie ellen while I was reading and had so much fun doing it! can't wait for her to read it :) p.s. if you annotate a book I HIGHLY recommend getting emoji stickers. you will not regret it.