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Title: Vicious
Author: V.E. Schwab
Narrator: Jeremy Arthur
Series: Villains
Series Number: 1
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Format: Audiobook
My Review:
I’ve somehow never read any of V.E. Schwab’s books, and I consider myself to be a constant reader who loves fantasy. Vicious served as a nice introduction to her work.
Alternating between the book’s present-day and flashbacks throughout various characters’ lives, the plot moved along quickly enough to keep my interest. I had questions about how past events had led to current developments and the flashbacks answered those at a pace that was satisfying.
I liked that there wasn’t a true hero here. Sure, I was rooting for someone, but he wasn’t exactly a shining knight. He’s the very definition of “morally gray.” I did loathe the other guy. Holier-than-thou, sanctimonious characters push my buttons much the same as their real-life counterparts do.
The narration by Jeremy Arthur was fantastic. I highly recommend the audiobook.
Give this a try if you’re looking for morally ambiguous characters and a somewhat twisty game of cat and mouse. I’ll be continuing the series.
Synopsis from GoodReads:
A masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.
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?
In Vicious, V.E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.
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If you liked Vicious, you might also like my reviews of
- Renegades series by Marissa Meyer
- The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
- Santa Olivia (Santa Olivia #1) by Jacqueline Carey
