Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

166 reviews

anacloudniine's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

[[ The lack of trigger warning for this book is insane being that it’s heavily laced with relentless death. Please don’t read if you’re sensitive to su*c*de. ]]

The second book from V.E. Schwab that I’ve read and the second time I wasn’t disappointed by her fantastic world building and creative plot premise. Both, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Vicious are unforgettable tales, but there was a certain level of daring in this one that I truly did not expect. 

Schwab did not hold back when writing Vicious, a shadowy dark story of villainous characters fiddling with the idea of becoming twisted “heroes” in the name of vengeance. Just about every chapter was laced with death and disdain that played out like a movie in my mind and made my stomach twirl with unease. 

I found myself rooting for characters I would have originally thought otherwise of, ie. Victor, Serena, and Dominic, all of whom I found to be fascinating. I really enjoyed their EO abilities. I was underwhelmed by Sydney and Mitch, to be frank, and Eli was… a bit much. But when the built-up climax was revealed, I was glued to the story and really enjoyed how it all played out in the end. 

All that being said, I felt the story was missing… something difficult to put my finger on, but once I closed the book, I realized what it truly lacked was my emotional connection to it all. Maybe because the story was laced, front to back, with jealousy, betrayal, and vengeance… maybe because each character was one-track minded the entire time, I found the story to be pretty one-dimensional and impossible to truly connect to. I realized what carried me through the book were my own questions and discomfort in a stopping point, and less about resonating with the characters or the story itself. I never really felt like I was fully in the story with the characters, and instead felt like an observer interfering on a sick, chaotic, interpersonal mess. That’s honestly what separates my rating from a 5 star to a 4. Oh, and the fact that I would never reread this story, being that it is way too dark and gloomy for my personal liking. 

Aside from the stink of it, I would recommend reading this for all who enjoy out-of-pocket, daring plots and unconventional characters. It was truly incomparable to anything else I’ve ever read lately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Suicide, Gore, and Self harm

pjdotcom's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Medical content, Death, Murder, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Child death, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

elinorn's review

3.0

The first 1/3 was really, really good, then I almost lost interest, before the last maybe 1/4 pulled me back in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

molzeus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Torture, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse

praaliine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

there were a couple things about this that i didn’t fancy. 

perhaps it was intentional, but it felt as though the plot was very short, compared to the book itself. also, there had to be these extra moments in the book just to fill the space so the plot wasn’t totally exhausted till that last page. secondly, (maybe also intentional) but literally every event was predictable, down to the last page. 

other than that, the characters didn’t really stick with me in anyway, i felt like they didn’t have much depth and their personalities were vaguely explained.

i however liked the simplicity of v.e. schwab’s writing and use of time jumps. that being said, although i likely won’t finish the duology, vicious wasn’t bad, it was just okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Gun violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Animal death, and Alcoholism

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Gore, Gun violence, Alcohol, Blood, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

jgalla's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Cursing

violetaffairs's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was everything I needed and more. A complex story full of morally grey characters, it was perfect.

Spoiler

Eli is driven by religion and the belief that he is no longer himself. Maybe he was right and something is missing, but his self-righteousness refuses to allow him to see it would be missing from him too. Victor wants to put an end to Eli's reign but has questionable methods and motivations.

 

Perfection. V.E. Schwab is brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Suicide, Drug use, Self harm, and Gun violence

jenpen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love how this book really made you think and reflect on death, science vs religion, good and evil, what makes a hero and what makes a villain. It’s the definition of morally grey characters. 

This book was thrilling. It has uniquely slow pacing with the way it goes back and forth through snippets of past events, so it’s definitely not for everyone and I did find certain parts a bit uninteresting. However, the scenes all play a role in the characters’ development, and it made for the perfect book to read in between others. 

The author has absolutely beautiful writing, but on top of that, the plot was very well thought out. The ending was phenomenal and so *so* satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Death

fiizso's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Suicide, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury