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tamzy6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
enchanteddroppings's review against another edition
- 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
The first time I read this book was in 2016, a couple years after it was released. I don’t remember how I came across it, but I remember thinking that the plot seemed interesting. As I read it, I remember thinking how different it was to all the other books I’ve ever read. Most books had clear morally black or white characters. This book was purely about morally gray characters. Maybe even dark gray. It felt like the origin story of how a villain came to be. Sure enough, a couple years later, the sequel of the book was released and the series was named “Villains”.
This was the first book by V.E. Schwab I ever read and it’s why I jumped to read her next book, A Darker Shade of Magic, when it was released. That book did not hit the same way Vicious did and it is probably why even though the sequel to “Vicious”, Vengeful, was released in 2018, I didn’t jump to read it.
It took me 5 years to finish reading A Darker Shade of Magic. I initially DNF’d it, but somehow thought I finished it, but I couldn’t remember the story. I then got the audiobook to finish it and the voice narrator didn’t do a good job in my opinion.
The experience with A Darker Shade of Magic left me wondering how could an author be so polarizing? I wondered if I should read Vengeful since I finally bought the book. Most of the reviews on Booktube for A Darker Shade of Magic were on the positive side. I read the graphic novels for A Darker Shade of Magic series and liked them. So I decided to reread A Darker Shade of Magic. This time since I had a better sense of the world and what was going on, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. I do think I might have rated it higher the second time, if I read it and not listened to the audiobook. The voice actor didn’t do female character voices, attitudes, and dispositions well. The words on the page did not match the emotions and personality the voice actor was giving to the characters.
I decided to finally read the sequel Vengeful, but because it has been so long since I read “Vicious”, I decided to re-read it. I still think it is a great book. However, I remember having a clear side I was on the last time I read the book. This time, I noticed so much more, and I kept changing sides. By the end of the book, I was on no one’s side, lol. If anything, I was on the little girl’s side.
While reading this book, I kept noticing similarities to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein: The 1818 Text. I was convinced that this was a modern remake or take on the same theme as Frankenstein. Between finishing this book and writing this review, I have since reread Frankenstein: The 1818 Text and still see similarities but in different ways.
Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, and Physical abuse
peggyluwho's review
- 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
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
imskylow's review
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
soph22's review against another edition
- 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
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
abicaro17's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
katerina_l's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
aftgtrash's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Drug use
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
The backdrop is clearly superheroic. You have a fictional city called Merit, which is an unremarkable, American town. The main characters have alliterative names, or names or descriptions that have significance to their powers, but from the get-go all the Vs made me feel like this is a lot more like Alan Moore than Stan Lee. For starters the "heros" are sociopathic before they even get started. There is nothing quite normal about these two college room-mates.
The story is tropey enough that it's fairly easy to get a handle on, even though it's told non-chronologically. Entire sections are flashbacks to 10 years ago. There are short memories that are repeated in different chapters.. one of which was long enough that I thought I might have accidentally lost my place and be reading the wrong bit. That was mildly irritating; a phrase can anchor something poetically without an entire callback.. that might work better if it was a movie (montage it, pitch it a little lower, put some echo on or something?) or maybe a graphic novel.. (make it yellowed like old paper.. or throw the colours out like a faded photo with no blue in it..)
The middle part of the story begins to lag a bit. But it picks up a little more as the things start to culminate. I do wish the ending felt a little more planned but it starts to become a little unclear what is going to happen. I do like that the story feels out the edges or limitations of the powers that people have, and explores a little of the synergy you can get when more than one person with a gift is working together. I think it would be marvelous if there were more people with normal strengths rather than uncanny things, but that is still included in the story.
This is a very different story to something like Hench (which is about jobbing for the supervillains), and has some similarity in YA stories like Songbirds and Snakes in which the mindset of the main character is toxic and dangerous. There is some bloody violence and necromancy in this story, so if you don't like dark then this isn't your book.
Clock this one up if you want to do a reading challenge where the hero is a bad guy, and it's set in a City starting with M (yes that's a challenge prompt for the 52 BookClub Chanllenge 2024).
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
cowardlyteaman's review against another edition
- 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
Fucking hell, this was a WILD RIDE.
I love every single one of the characters, and I love the way this book kept me hooked 100% of the while.
Even though Victor is «edgy» in a way, it just makes sense for him in such a good and logical way. I'm not annoyed or icked by it, I just like his character.
Loving the way Mitch's character is built up, too, and of course Sydney.
I especially loved Eli and Serena as villains, too. Nothing I love more than a sexy and crazed religious man and a fem-dom.
For a while, I was conflicted on what I thought about people being revived. However, I don't think it matters here? In all other media, it seriously bothers me, but in this book in particular, who lives and who dies isn't really what keeps you on edge, it's how the characters' relationships with each other develops. I absolutely love the dynamic between each and every character, I CANNOT stress any more how much I LOVED reading this.
Ditched Norwegian, maths, and economics class for this book.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis