Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Vicious - Das Böse in uns by V.E. Schwab

10 reviews

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

julzella's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Chronic illness and Alcohol

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

cursed_sapphire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Overall this was a fun read with some great characters and a tense plot. I have a few complaints, but I had a really good time reading this.

Our main cast of characters were entertaining and fun, and I really found myself rooting for them even as they did some deplorable things. This should be a case study for how to write likeable villain protagonists. The world was also well fleshed out and the lore made sense. I liked the very simple and limited power sets most characters had, as it made everything feel more like a tense struggle. The writing and tone were also consistently great.

However, my main problem was with the villain. While Eli and Victor's relationship was well defined in the flashbacks, they barely interacted in the present. Perhaps they'll get more time in the sequel, but as it is, this was not the "Superman and Lex Luthor" or "Professor X and Magneto" style rivalry promised. While Victor constantly thought about Eli and craved vengeance, Eli did not have the same level of hatred for Victor. I even felt like Victor's reason to want revenge in the first place was a little anti-climactic.

He was so ready to kill his friend for calling the police even though he had just killed their mutual friend/Eli's girlfriend. Also, I would have appreciated seeing more of Eli's religious zeal back in the collage days. It seemed like he prayed twice and the rest was just Victor saying "he believed in God" like twenty times.

Overall this didn't affect my enjoyment as much as it could have, but did keep this book from a 5 star rating. 

I actually thought the secondary antagonist, Serena, was more interesting than Eli. Her struggle with her powers and her relationship with her sister were all extremely interesting and paid off in satisfying ways for the most part.

I almost wish she got what she wanted in the end, and that they found a way to disobey her, and that caused her death, but oh well. I still really liked her as an antagonist.

Also, as an Asexual myself, I appreciate that Victor is a canon biromantic asexual, and I just want to say how happy I was to realize that he was ace. Overall I personally approved of the representation.

I definitely recommend this for fans of darker superhero content, like Joker. While it falls a little short of its true potential, the story is still a satisfying ride with characters you hate to love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death and Chronic illness

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

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

cviii's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Torture, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

anthasplans's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

It fascinates me every time I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

helliepad's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Fellas is it gay to want your college best friend dead after you both let a science experiment and a girl come between the two of you and you hunted each other for years and your literal life's purpose is to only stab each other to death but neither of you can actually die but you have to die in each other's hands and you are Jekyll and Hyde and he's Frankenstein

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Self harm, Torture, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Chronic illness and Blood

pasavedra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective 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

4.75

Took a quarter off bc of the future dumb angsty conflict that

Victor killed Serena

with Sydney blah blah blah and the pacing which was too off for me at times but other than that this was legitimately fun and absorbing to read. I had a nice time reading really felt like watching a thriller/superhero movie that distacts from the troubles of every day life. It's amusing but grounded too. I enjoyed it a lot after the bumpy start. I'm still kinda lost about the world building tho like I'm not clear on the whole setting situation like the penitentiary and the university and everything is in Merit or where Lockland was maybe it WAS explained but I drifted off. I also didn't get how EO's were already part of this universe's psyche and how the legends about them came to be or whatever but maybe it's explained on the second book idk. But yeah this was cool. VE doesn't wow me with her writing, but she does a hell of a job designing a hard to break away from story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail