Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

136 reviews

queensplay's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book sadly didn't live up to my expectations, since I was super excited to read it. It was still a really good read! I love morally gray people, and Victor did live up to that. I know he secretly cared about them, even though he didn't want to admit it. 
I love love love Sydney. She was my favourite character.

Not to mention she can raise the dead??? That's so cool! Probably one of my favourite EO powers in the book. She also goes from a quiet kid to "I hope Victor hurts him." she said cheerfully, "A lot." Like??? She turns into someone who wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone, or be happy that someone is hurt, because they hurt someone else first, and I love that for her <3

Someone I love, someone I hate: Serena. She makes me so mad. It seemed like she had no guilt over her actions (but I mean, tHeY aRen'T hUmAn).

You mean to say you TURNED YOUR BACK ON YOUR SISTER SO THAT SOMEONE COULD KILL HER???? WTF Serena. And then you proceed to try to kill Mitch? Fuck no, not my Mitch.

Mitch's backstory is so sad. He deserves a huge hug, because honestly, he's not a bad guy. He's absolutely precious, and I love him. 
Finally: This. Ending. The best ending I've read in a while. The conclusion came together so perfectly, and everyone I wanted dealt with was dealt with. And oh, did I love Eli's ending. 

What they did to Serena? That scene-mwah. Chef's fucking kiss. Her telling Mitch to kill himself, but there were no bullets in the gun, and then Victor coming out of the shadows and killing her? 💅💅💅 The only thing about that, is something Sydney though after, about how Eli was going to pay for killing her sister, or something, and now I'm worried what's that going to do in the next book. 
Eli's ending, though. Ohhhh, karma. What Victor first did to him, that was fucking awesome. And then when he though he won, killing Victor, but then the police come in, and arrest him while he's blabbing on and on about being a "hero" hahahahahahahaha. I suppose he quickly realized how much he needed Serena then hahahahaha. I loved it. One of the best endings in a book.
And see! This is why Sydney's power is awesome. She could raise Victor up from the dead! They're so Dad/Daughter 🥰

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Torture

capsandclauses's review

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

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.

peggyluwho's review

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

madmadmaddymad's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I opened the book, and for the majority of the first chapter, thought I was reading a Frankenstein retelling. I’ll just say that it was actually kind of a fun ride to go into this book, fully blind. 

Really liked Victor, despite his sinister-ness. But boy am I’m sick of villains like Eli using “God” as their motivations. He’s my least favorite aspect of this book. 

The pace of the story was intense, high stakes, and also non-linear, (which I loved.) I’m definitely invested in picking up the second one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Gun violence

Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

thisisuru's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Gaslighting

tannerisboring's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Blood

soph22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I didn’t know what to expect but this was gripping, thrilling, so dark with so many twists and turns. Loved it!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rtherese's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Amazing Perfect. 12/10. I’m naming my kids Victor, Eliot, and Sydney

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Stalking

willow_the_wisp's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail