Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

330 reviews

capsandclauses's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 “Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”

Wow. I think anti-heroes might just be my jam. If you haven't read Vicious already (which you probably have because it was released over a decade ago and is really popular), Vicious is the vigilante origin story of Victor Vale, a prison escapee with the power to stop pain. Years ago in college, Victor and his sociopathic best friend Eli Cardale (now Ever), experimented on themselves to turn themselves into superpowers, until one night where it all went wrong. Victor ended up in jail and Eli ended up a superhero (but really not at all).

Now, Victor has broken out of jail and along with a young girl and his soft-hearted giant of a fellow escapee, is out for revenge.

I loved the reluctant found family vibes. The powers were cool. And the characters were absolutely ruthless.

“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture

lyndle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

Pretty dark and bloody but very cool plot structure. The first half walks you through multiple timelines to explain where the characters are and how they got there; then we watch each character progress and make decisions from there. Very character driven and introspective, but good characters and cool story beats. Somehow missed that this was basically a dark superhero book when I picked it up. Lots of trigger warnings below but none of them felt super triggering or were intended to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Alcohol

While lots of characters die, you don't necessarily need to worry about all of them staying dead. And several of these warnings are either quick, nonpermanent, or done with an analytical purpose instead of an emotionally or mentally unstable one.

eleasofia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

i started to read this basically without knowing what the book is about i was drawn in immediately. i thought the premise was interesting, fascinating. i loved the characters and their design. they were all unique and intriguing and even if i didn't like them, i still loved their concepts. i loved the writing - clever, often funny, sometimes really beautiful. i loved the relatively short chapters with the time skips and pov switches. i often hate those because it quickly gets confusing if not perfectly executed, but i was never really confused. i loved trying to guess how the puzzle fit together by getting fed these bits and pieces of information. i loved how it all came together very nicely in the end. not once did i feel like the pacing was off. i really have nothing bad to say about it. it's a really, really good book. the only thing it was "missing" for me is that i didn't get crazy obsessed with it. that's the only thing separating it from a true 5-star-read for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

luxxltyd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Self harm

Minor: Drug abuse, Medical content, and Stalking

karissahodge's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

GREAT book! Kept me on my toes the whole time, and the predictable ending was made interesting by all the pieces that needed to fit before I got there. My only critique is that the different POVs all seemed to have the same voice. As I listened to the audiobook, I sometimes had to rewind to remember who was narrating that part of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cglauser's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This was a really interesting study of morality and the question or heroism vs villainy in how we frame our own stories. It's darker than my general preference, which is why I didn't rate it super high, but I love her writing, I thought it was compelling and interesting. Despite constantly flipping between different timelines, it was surprisingly easy to follow. I'm really curious about Syndey's role in the sequel and whether her ability to give people a second chance might fill in the gap that all the EOs are experiencing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Murder

peggyluwho's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

crocs's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing tense fast-paced

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

4.75

• spice : 1/5
• humour : 3.5/5
• emotional : 2/5
• characters: 4.25/5
• universe : 4.75/5
• setting : 4/5
• story : 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

devinjai6655's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This story is about two pre-Med students who decide to simulate near death experiences to get super powers. 10 years later, one is on a killing spree and the other is hunting him down with a ragtag group. That group includes our main character, Victor, who can control pain tolerance, his former cell mate (gigantic, and extremely good with computers), a tween girl they found on the side of the road with a bullet wound, and a stray dog. The found family trope is strong in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Alcohol

One character uses God to justify killing people that are similar to him.

There is a dog that dies twice but he is brought back to life both times.

aggrano's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship