artsy musings of a bibliophile

Review: Vicious by V. E. Schwab

by


ABOUT THE BOOK

Vicious by V. E. Schwab
adult fantasy science fiction published by Tor on 24 September 2013

A masterful, twisted 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?

THE RATING


THE REVIEW

What one can expect from a story that begins in a cemetery is not much. It is a place where guilt begs to be buried right along with a body. But this story does not begin in a cemetery because it is no ordinary story. Vicious is something else. From the cover where Victor stands for the last act in the show of his own making to the last page when the curtain is finally, finally drawn.
Yet, certainly, nothing good can come out of Victor Vale making his way through the Merit Cemetery. But then it isn’t about good; it was never about good. Vicious is a battle between bad and worse akin to the quote placed at the beginning of the book; before it all even begins.
Victor Vale and Eli Ever are heroes in their own stories. Perhaps each of us are. But when their stories are blended together, it turns them into villains fighting to end each other. To triumph. To come out as a better villain. ‘One devil to lure another.’
Victor Vale is a keen judge of character; able to distinguish the tiniest deviation. It is due to this keenness that Victor is fascinated by Eli. Eli, who is so good at hiding what Victor recognizes as easily as one does his own reflection. Eli, who is so good at masking his arrogance into charming confidence, his brilliance into intelligence and his sharpness into mere curiosity. Victor wants to know what goes on in Eli’s mind more than he wants to efface the books written by distinguished psychologists, the Vales.
Every misstep brings Eli’s terrible secrets closer to the surface and he is aware that Victor sees that surface more clearly than anyone ever has. But more than that, Eli needs an audience for his brilliance and Victor is willing to deliver. Where Victor brings out the darkness in Eli to feed his own curiosity, Eli makes Victor feel invisible. Not because Victor is always a step behind Eli, but because that makes Victor the first loser.
From then on, it is intriguing to see Eli winning at the game that Victor invented, the goal of which is to leave a mark. They were both damaged from the beginning but that is what made them invincible, intensified their damage, removed their fears and turned them into vicious men because ‘there are no good men in this game.’

The game that ends until only the winner is left standing.

THE QUOTES

‘By the time the first bell rang, signalling the end of Victor’s art elective, he’d turned his parents’ lectures on how to start the day into: 

Be lost. Give up. Give In. in the end It would be better to surrender before you begin. be lost. Be lost And then you will not care if you are ever found. 

He’d had to strike entire paragraphs to make the sentence perfect after he accidentally marked out ever and had to go on until he found another instance of the word. But it was worth it. The pages of black that stretched between if you are and ever and found gave the words just the right sense of abandonment.’

‘I watch you, and it’s like watching two people.’

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. It seems like nearly everybody likes Vicious. I actually remember quite a lot of reviews for this one popping up, but I never bothered to look at them. Until now, when I had bit more time to spare because of vacation.

    And this book just scream "interesting" from that synopsis. A book centered around two villains? I wish I could find a copy to borrow or to buy. Anyway, great review, Sana!

  7. Have I told you yet that I love the way you write your reviews? Seriously, LOVE! Vicious is totally out of my reading comfort zone but all the glorious reviews have convinced me to give it a chance sometime! Your review was the last push I needed! 😉

  8. I have yet to read any of Schwab's works, but I'm pretty sure this is going to be my first pick. It just sounds so fantastic. And, as your review really emphasizes, this seems to provide some interesting perspectives on evilness and power and darkness. Color me intrigued! Your review makes this book sound even more epic. Glad you enjoyed it, Sana!

  10. I got it and I loved it, and I reviewed it. But you cannot read the review yet *insert evil laughter*
    I swear I spent the whole novel wanting to will Victor into existence so that I could sit with him and chat with him. He was so real, damn it.
    AND DAT ENDING. WOAH.

Trackbacks