Vicious | V. E. Schwab
A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, andsuperpowers, set in a near-future world.
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will.
Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?
Gahh!! What a place to end a preview!
I only got 100 pages of this (Thank you Tor/Forge & Macmillan, and Netgalley) and as is the nature of previews I've only read a small part of this book so cannot fully review it. But I will say certain things about it.
I had a couple of issues at the beginning. It switches times a lot - some chapters are 'A Week Ago', some are 'Two Days Ago', but once you get into the story you don't even notice the changes and it becomes less of a problem. Another thing is sometimes the scenes are quite short, and with it flipping between times it has a hurried, stunted feel about it in the beginning. It's not detrimental to plot exactly but it doesn't flow as well as it could at times.
And that's all the niggly bits out of the way. Here's all the amazing stuff!
Things I adored:
It blurs the lines of superheroes/supervillains. There's no bad guys and good guys here, just guys. And I'm assuming there will be more of this in the rest of the book, which I need RIGHT NOW.
The characters are rich, deep, and individual. Can't say I've ever read a Victor or an Eli before; they're absolutely unique.
The method of becoming ExtraOrdinary! This is my favourite thing about this book. Granted at times it's a little biology-science-heavy for those of us who aren't Super Intelligent Science Folks, but it's remarkably easy to understand. So, to become an EO - someone with superhuman abilities - you must have had a NDE (Near Death Experience), meaning to become Superawesome, you've gotta die. And then come back. Easy, right? Nope. The idiot boys of Vicious almost kill themselves more times than is recommended (that is to say, it's not recommended at all. Don't do it, folks!)
Weirdly, I like how selfish Victor is. He still cares about people, and he helps them out when they need it, but he's incredibly selfish, and it's not necessarily presented in a negative way. People are selfish, that's just the reality of it, and Victor is a human being. He has flaws, and mighty big ones at that, but he's real and human. Eli, on the other hand, presents a flawless front, someone with no cracks or secrets or faults, and in the first 100 pages of this book Eli comes across as emotionless, desperate, and frankly unhinged - all the traits of a good supervillain? Well, we'll find out in the rest of the book.
To sum up: freaking awesome plot, unique characters, and a really cool concept. If I had to rate it now, I'd give it between 3.5 to 4 stars, but I suspect by the end of the book I'll be raving about it and throwing five stars to the wind.
Now someone give me the full book before I implode with desire.
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