Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

59 reviews

earth_to_dani's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

devinjai6655's review

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.

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I think my issue with this book is that it features men 😭 I just found that I could NOT get myself attached to Vic, Eli, or Mitch (until the end), and I only gave a shit about Serena and Sydney (barely). But Serena is literally 12 so I could only relate to her so much. 

You’ve got a closeted bisexual narcissist who you’re supposed to like bc he doesn’t kill people, but he was shitty BEFORE he became an EO. Then you’ve got a Christian with a God complex who kills people out of “duty.” I don’t like Eli at all but I just couldn’t get attached to Victor either. 

I liked the concept and I thought the writing was good, but this didn’t hit for me the way it hit for other people. I will say - it does read like a Marvel comic, which was fun. 

I’ll read the next one, but I wasn’t obsessed with this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, 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

isabezza's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

kspag206'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is amazing. I’ve never read a book quite like it. The writing is fantastic, the characters are so complicated. And the fact that there are so many and each have their one well developed voice is amazing. This book really makes you think about morals whilst also feeling like a spin off of DC’s Jessica Jones. Fantastic. And the way this story comes full circle is just….chef’s kiss. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Addiction

foggyoblio's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Confinement

abicaro17's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.75

Ok amazing! Schwab does it again! This story of power dynamics and friendship is a powerhouse and i'm glad theres a second book. Victor and Eli are so similar in ways and yet fundamentally different morally. I usually hate multiple pov and third person writing but Schwab does it so well you dont even notice it. I think all the individual storylines were crafted so beautifully and connected so well. I think this just suffers from what every multiple pov book does: a lack of connection to the characters. You feel for them yes, but when the end approached I didn't really care what happened to them, or I knew it would all be ok (either or). Im so excited to read the second installment and I hope its just as good if not better than the first! 

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Content Warnings

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

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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