Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

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

64 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

meganemarshall'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I don't really know how I feel about this book. I loved the setting. I loved the idea. I love Victor and the strays he is picking up and making a family out of. The side characters were awesome, except Serena. Honestly, Serena deserved worse.

I don't understand how anyone could read this book and not root for Victor. Maybe I had the wrong idea going in. I thought it was going to be hero vs villain or 2 villains against each other. Instead, it was a functioning psychopath against a religious crazy psychopath.

I feel like we're supposed to see both Eli and Victor as villains, but I don't see Victor as a villain at all. Sure, he's killed people, and maybe in the next book, he goes full super villain. Instead, he gets out of prison with his bestie, hunts down a monster, and adopts a little girl and a dog. He is the perfect morally grey protagonist. Good - no, but not the worst of humanity. 

Unlike Eli, who, on the other hand, is the worst. He is a villain. He is the bad guy. He's crazy. He acts like he has the moral high ground, but he's just a religious fanatic, like many serial killers before him. Relying on religion for his motives felt weak. 

People really raved about this book, and maybe it just didn't hit for me. It was a good time, but it didn’t blow me away. I'll put the sequel on my TBR, but i'm not gonna pick it up immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse

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

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.

strawberrytops's review against another edition

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

5.0

I could not put this down. I wanted to read it in one sitting, and had to actively stop myself from doing so knowing it would give me nightmares if I did. It’s haunting. Addictive. I highly recommend, but not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death

lanid's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Self harm, Torture, and Religious bigotry

themdash's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

strawberrytheauthor'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so good! Go into it knowing nothing! Just go read it! I’m literalLu screamed at the last line and at least 12 others in the book. It’s just so so so so so so good!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing

lottie1803's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, and Murder