Reviews with content warning for Torture - Vicious

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

223 reviews

aleareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This book swept me off my feet from the first few pages, and I’m still not ready to come down! It’s one of those rare books where every word is precious AND it’s also a page turner! It’s thought provoking and thrilling. Schwab’s writing is simply beautiful, and the changing timelines are incredibly fluid and effective to the story.

It has me thinking morality and what makes a hero vs villain, and I love that the motivations of the characters are so fleshed out.

I would absolutely recommend for anyone, but especially if you love:
🦸‍♀️ superheroes, villains, and super powers
🦇 the Dark Knight trilogy
✨ thought provoking and thrilling fantasy

I absolutely cannot wait to read book 2; I will
be getting my hands on a copy soon!

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livist's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.5

4.5 rounded up!

I started reading this because I saw Victoria was rereading it as she prepares to write the final in the trilogy. I had always wanted to read this series so decided to read along side her (though she’s long since finished and moved on to the second book).

I loved all of these characters, and loved the premise. It very much parallels X-men which is my favorite marvel series, with each EO having their own unique power and origin story.

The characters were deeply flawed but more or less lovable. You can’t help but root for Victor as he has struggled so hard. He’s at least honest about his feelings whereas Eli lives in denial and instead of taking any accountability chalks everything up to God’s hand. So I like the bit of social commentary regarding religious fanaticism.

Eli is such a good bad guy, purely delulu and Victor is just a guy who has just found himself on the wrong side. Angie’s tragic death never being addressed again was a bit frustrating but not so much so that it detracted from the ending for me.

I loved Sydney and Serena with their complicated sibling love. Serena oddly falling under Eli’s own spell despite her own abilities to put under hers. She failed to see how she was be-spelled to her detriment. Ending in the tragedy of Sydney which helps kick off the rest of the book. Her betrayal of her younger sister makes her death satisfying even though when she releases her sister you sympathize with her a bit, but mostly with Sydney as she processes her love for her older sister and how she’s no longer who she thought she was.

A lot of found family moments. The plot pretty cleanly tied up. I just loved it.

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teaxx's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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tamzy6's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

What a ride! This book read like a graphic novel without it actually being a graphic novel, and that's a testament to Schwab's writing skills. It's fast paced with sociopathic characters and everyone operates in a very morally grey area - just my kind of thing.

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outlast0002's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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queensplay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book sadly didn't live up to my expectations, since I was super excited to read it. It was still a really good read! I love morally gray people, and Victor did live up to that. I know he secretly cared about them, even though he didn't want to admit it.
I love love love Sydney. She was my favourite character.

Not to mention she can raise the dead??? That's so cool! Probably one of my favourite EO powers in the book. She also goes from a quiet kid to "I hope Victor hurts him." she said cheerfully, "A lot." Like??? She turns into someone who wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone, or be happy that someone is hurt, because they hurt someone else first, and I love that for her <3

Someone I love, someone I hate: Serena. She makes me so mad. It seemed like she had no guilt over her actions (but I mean, tHeY aRen'T hUmAn).

You mean to say you TURNED YOUR BACK ON YOUR SISTER SO THAT SOMEONE COULD KILL HER???? WTF Serena. And then you proceed to try to kill Mitch? Fuck no, not my Mitch.

Mitch's backstory is so sad. He deserves a huge hug, because honestly, he's not a bad guy. He's absolutely precious, and I love him.
Finally: This. Ending. The best ending I've read in a while. The conclusion came together so perfectly, and everyone I wanted dealt with was dealt with. And oh, did I love Eli's ending.

What they did to Serena? That scene-mwah. Chef's fucking kiss. Her telling Mitch to kill himself, but there were no bullets in the gun, and then Victor coming out of the shadows and killing her? 💅💅💅 The only thing about that, is something Sydney though after, about how Eli was going to pay for killing her sister, or something, and now I'm worried what's that going to do in the next book.
Eli's ending, though. Ohhhh, karma. What Victor first did to him, that was fucking awesome. And then when he though he won, killing Victor, but then the police come in, and arrest him while he's blabbing on and on about being a "hero" hahahahahahahaha. I suppose he quickly realized how much he needed Serena then hahahahaha. I loved it. One of the best endings in a book.
And see! This is why Sydney's power is awesome. She could raise Victor up from the dead! They're so Dad/Daughter 🥰

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alisa_justonemorechapter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

it’s was so fascinating and captivating, the first book i‘ve read by that author but i love her writing style

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capsandclauses's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”

Wow. I think anti-heroes might just be my jam. If you haven't read Vicious already (which you probably have because it was released over a decade ago and is really popular), Vicious is the vigilante origin story of Victor Vale, a prison escapee with the power to stop pain. Years ago in college, Victor and his sociopathic best friend Eli Cardale (now Ever), experimented on themselves to turn themselves into superpowers, until one night where it all went wrong. Victor ended up in jail and Eli ended up a superhero (but really not at all).

Now, Victor has broken out of jail and along with a young girl and his soft-hearted giant of a fellow escapee, is out for revenge.

I loved the reluctant found family vibes. The powers were cool. And the characters were absolutely ruthless.

“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”

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katebella's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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karissahodge's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

GREAT book! Kept me on my toes the whole time, and the predictable ending was made interesting by all the pieces that needed to fit before I got there. My only critique is that the different POVs all seemed to have the same voice. As I listened to the audiobook, I sometimes had to rewind to remember who was narrating that part of the story.

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