elinorn's review
4.0
Graphic: Death
Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts
lizziaha's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Infidelity, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Addiction
donatio'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? No
5.0
The multiple POVs, the new characters, the writing, the plot... just brilliant.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Violence
rae_kjise'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gore, Drug use, Blood, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Drug abuse
lucyyvonne54's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Death, Torture, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Violence, Animal death, and Gun violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
alexandrabelze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Spoiler
first of all, i expected that when sydney found out that victor was the one who killed serena it would be more dramatic? maybe a little tense? but instead i was let down and we moved on almost immediately. like hello??? next, and i hate to say this, i think dol should have stayed dead this time. i’m glad victoria kept him for a majority of the story, but it would’ve felt more complete to add him to the final deaths. and it would’ve built up sydney’s character. speaking of building her character, WHY did we go through ALL of that with the dead birds just for sydney to decide in ONE PARAGRAPH that she did not want to revive serena?? i honestly would’ve preferred she tried it and failed. finally, eli’s death was boring. i was expecting an insane emotional battle between him and victor that ended in something so dramatic and lowkey sensual, but instead he just…died. like that was next level disappointing.Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death and Stalking
wrestleacademic's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Suicide attempt
emtees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The story picks up five years after the events of Vicious. In the aftermath of the showdown with Eli Ever, the odd little family of sociopath Victor Vale, his gentle hacker friend Mitch, and their surrogate daughter Sydney have stayed together, but they have their share of problems. Sydney’s powers mean that she is aging very slowly, stuck in the body of a preteen while her mind matures, and she is becoming frustrated with the protection and restrictions her guardians impose. Meanwhile, after being resurrected with Sydney’s powers, Victor’s own powers have gone “wrong.” He seems to be stronger than ever, now able to control people’s bodies as well as their pain levels, but there is a trade off - every few weeks, he re-experiences the events of his original death by electrocution, and each episode comes closer to killing him. Desperate for a cure, Victor drags his companions around the country on a quest to find an EO who can heal him, killing all those who fail to cover his tracks. And former Detective Stell is now the founder of EON, a secret government organization that tracks down, contains and in some cases kills EOs, with the help of their secret weapon, an imprisoned Eli. There is also a new EO causing trouble - Marcella Riggins, a former mob wife who uses her powers to take over the organized crime of Merit and then sets out to expose EOs to the world and let them take their rightful place in the spotlight. All these plot lines converge on a single night in Merit for an explosive final chapter.
First, the minor criticisms. Like Vicious, this book cuts back and forth in time, and uses those cuts to propel the story forward, creating a false sense of momentum even at times when the actual plot is quite slow. (I called this book medium paced because there is no option for “fast and slow, at the same time.”). But while Vicious had two timelines, Vengeful has a lot more. There is the main timeline, the month leading up to the super powered fight. There are separate sets of flashbacks to cover the last five years in the lives of Victor, Eli and Sydney. There are flashbacks to Marcella’s backstory, and to fill in the gaps in Eli’s. Victor’s flunky, Dominic Rusher, gets his own set, as does June, a new character who is part of Marcella’s entourage but has a connection to Sydney. It’s a lot of jumping around and it makes the book feel unfocused. It doesn’t help that all these flashbacks aren’t equally interesting, or important. It was good to finally get some insight into Eli, and I enjoyed seeing the last five years for Victor and Sydney set side-by-side, seeing the ways they were keeping things from each other despite sharing a home. But Marcella ultimately ended up feeling like more of a plot device than a character, and there was nothing revealed in her flashbacks that I couldn’t have figured out from the way she was in the present, and some of the other scenes felt like they could have been explained in a few lines rather than getting entire chapters. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this book tightened up a bit.
But those are minor quibbles because this book was fun and just as compulsive a read as the last one. I didn’t want to put it down. Considering how far apart the characters seemed at the beginning, Schwab brought them all together in a clever way, the multiple threads of the plot all winding together with interesting revelations. I also liked a lot of the character moments, whether it was Victor’s slow acceptance of responsibility towards his new family and for creating Eli, or Sydney’s conflicted feelings about Victor, Mitch, June and her late sister, Serena. The character work is done with a very light hand in these books but Schwab still has interesting things to say about heroes and villains and where the line between them is.
Unlike Vicious, which I felt ended on a final note but with options open for a sequel, it is clear that Vengeful is set up to continue these stories. I hope Schwab decides to do so because as much as I’m not sure they’re good people, I still really want these characters to get a happy ending.
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Child abuse
There are minor hints of child abuse and other forms of abuse in character backstories. Several relationships are toxic and the relationships between characters who have hurt each other or done bad things in the past is a major theme. One main character is a victim of violent domestic abuse.sunrae_booknook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Drug use, and Death
Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Animal death, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Violence
nyssbomb's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape