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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
outlast0002'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction
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 against another edition
- 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
crocs's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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.aggrano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
sn8man's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Torture, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement and Drug use
egg_apologist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
In order to keep the chapters short so that the novel could move the plot along quickly, we (the audience) get very few scenes showcasing what any of the characters (main- or side-) were like before they became ExtraOrdinary individuals (EOs, for short). For example, instead of showing us how close Victor and Eli used to be before their inevitable falling-out (something that would’ve enriched their personalities pre-EO life and fleshed out their characters a lot more), we are given only the shortest glimpse into their lives together in college. We’re shown barely anything at all of their lives before they both decided to become EOs. The flashback scenes pretty much jump straight into showing how those two became EOs, and then their subsequent falling-out in the aftermath. Therefore, we don’t really see much of what they were like together before they fell out with each other; the audience is forced to simply trust that (at least on some level) those two used be friends. Since we don’t get to see much of how close they used to be, their falling out with each other (and therefore their “showdown” that the plot is pushing us towards) doesn’t end up having the same emotional impact that it would’ve had if we’d truly witnessed how close they had been in the past. Not including enough scenes showcasing their backstories also ended up making all of the characters feel just a little bit flat overall.
It is also hinted at (but never outright confirmed) that
To be honest, I feel bad giving this book such a low rating because I truly felt like it had so much potential. But I really do think that the choosing to prioritize creating suspense in the plot (i.e., choosing to keep all of the chapters incredibly short and fast-paced) over prioritizing fleshing out the characters’ backstories (i.e, writing longer chapters in order to “show” the audience more about the characters rather than just “telling”) is a HUGE mistake if the aim is to write a character-driven story. It would’ve been a genius move for a plot-driven narrative, but in a character-driven narrative, that decision only served to undermine the amount of time needed to write characters that are truly three-dimensional. This book was overall a little disappointing, but since it is the first in a series, I’m still willing to give the series as a whole the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully, this issue of writing a character driven story that doesn’t actually quite succeed in fleshing out characters enough gets improved upon as the series continues.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Police brutality and War
madmadmaddymad's review against another edition
- 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
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!
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