Introduction
V.E. Schwab’s Vicious was the top fantasy book in the 2014 reading list by The American Liberty Association’s Reference and User Services Association. Publishers Weekly also considered Vicious one of the best SF/Fantasy/Horror in 2013 and almost ten years after its release, and it’s still one of the best fiction books I have read. Vicious is a story filled with revenge, betrayal, and power. Its main characters are Eli Cardale and Victor Vale, two pre-med students who found a way to create EOs or ExtraOrdinaries as a college project. ExtraOrdinaries are humans who’ve achieved superhuman powers. It’s an excellent twist for readers who love the superhuman genre but wish for a grittier environment than the typical MCU vibe. Read more to discover if this superhuman story will exceed your expectations!
Book Information and Rating
Author: V.E. Schwab
Cover Art by: Victor Ngai
Published by: Tor Books
Genre: Fiction and Literature
Print Length: 368 Pages
Cinemabooks rating: 8.8/10
About The Author:
Victoria Schwab is a 35-year-old American writer who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She has received the Goodreads choice awards for best science fiction novel for Vengeful (Sequel to Vicious) and Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction for Gallant. Her books have also received high praise from famous Publishers Weekly and The Guardian websites. Her most impressive work to date is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in 2020, who had a chance to win the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. So yeah, she is a great writer, and from the looks of it, she is also responsible for creating the supernatural drama series First Kill, which is based on her short story published in the 2020 anthology Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With Fresh Bite. The premiere launched this year (2022) on Netflix.
Plot Summary
Vicious by V.E Schwab is a story of powers, envy, revenge, and twists. It focuses on two characters, Eli and Victor, whose experiments grant them superpowers. However, due to an intense fight between them, Victor lands in prison, and Eli becomes the nightmare of every superpowered being. Now that Victor has escaped prison, these two mighty individuals are on a collision course. Bad versus worse, pain control versus regeneration, and only one will come on top.
Atmosphere
Vicious’s atmosphere is gritty, dark, unpredictable, and with tiny glimpses of hope. It’s a great environment where everything can be as realistic and human as our life experiences. The ExtraOrdinary world is full of individuals whose life after powers is anything but glorious—a constant battle of worse against horrendous. If you need a more vivid example of an atmosphere like this, then Amazon’s “The Boys” and Batman’s Gotham city are as close as possible. I enjoyed that the atmosphere was different from any superhero genre in which everything is fantastic. With Vicious, you experience the darker aspects of human nature regarding power. The superiority complex, the envy, the screw-ups, and the cost of acquiring abilities.
The Good
Vicious is an exciting read for anyone who enjoys a world filled with superbeings and is tired of the positive vibes in most movies. This story fascinates anyone who wonders about a world of extraordinary individuals with a more realistic and gritty feel. Another thing that Vicious does very well is at creating strong backgrounds for each character and their side of the story. You do not get a narrow view of the story through a protagonist but rather a series of perspectives that makes up the whole story. It also includes the side character’s side of the story, which helps expands the ExtraOrdinary world. Apart from how the story rebounds from each character’s perspective, the characters themselves are also one of the best highlights of the book.
I enjoyed how each character is entirely different from every superhero on film. Victor and Eli bring a refreshingly new point of view on how the abilities of each character influence their behavior and how their personality reflects on their powers. This is different from other movies in which a person gets random powers and has to adjust to them. The capabilities affect how someone views reality and reflect their inner quirks. Finally, the magnitude and feel of each character’s power are imprinted on how everyone in the book reacts.
Most of the abilities presented in the story are extremely powerful. Regeneration in this book feels like someone has achieved immortality and can change the world alone. Pain Manipulation feels like the user has complete authority and power over anyone. The power of each character carries an immense weight that affects everything. V.E Schwab’s careful wording, development, and story building, combined with great unique characters and original ideas, makes it one of the best books in the superhero genre.
The Bad
Vicious only flaws are on where the story takes place and the shifts between past and present. The novel only takes place in the city of Merit and where they are currently staying. As such, you can get bored if you hate imagining only one place. Besides the place where the characters are staying, the other locations are mainly on the move and not very memorable. However, although it didn’t bother me as much because the plot was interesting, I wished to see more of the city.
Another thing that bothered me was the shift between the past and present before the ending. The use of flashbacks throughout the novel was great, and it was enjoyable, but sometimes it stopped at awkward intervals. For example, one of the chapters was deeply immersive in the past, but it wasn’t as engaging in the present. When the previous interesting chapter ended, and I was stuck in the least enjoyable present, it took time to find the motivation to keep reading. That transition didn’t always work as great because you were constantly thinking about finishing a chapter instead of enjoying the characters and the plot. Although these are the two tiny flaws I found in the book, V.E Schwab made up for it in the finale with how these flashbacks mixed into the present.
Conclusion
Vicious by V.E Schwab is an incredible story filled with extraordinary powers, personalities, storytelling, and flashbacks. The best parts of Vicious rely on how the characters react to one another, their motives and motivations, and how gritty it can get. Compared to other books, V.E Schwab’s novel creates a reality that only the reader can see through each character’s eyes. However, every great story has its downsides, and here it lies in the constant location and flashbacks. It tends to become repetitive and boring at times. If you can get past this light nuance, and superhero genres are one of your favorite topics, this book will become one of your favorites.
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