A review by obfuscatress
Vicious by V.E. Schwab

adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

To be honest, this book did not live up to my expectations based on some of the reviews I had heard of it prior to reading it. Until about 75% into it, I was looking at rating it just about (if not less than) three stars. My main issue lies with the fact that one of the main characters seems to suddenly acquire very strong motivations for their actions that are not foreshadowed nor are they ever explained or explored in any detail. To me personally, this change made no sense and made it difficult to connect with the story. That being said, there are several clever little twists added to the plot in this final quarter of the book, that I felt it ultimately deserved a better rating. In addition to that, virtually every other character is interesting and fairly complex considering the limited time we get to explore each individual and relationship within such a fast-paced plot.

While I can't say I regret reading this book, I could not in all honesty recommend it to someone else. However, now having read the book and found so much of the later plot and character development interesting, I will probably read the sequel too. If you're happy to be infuriated with the way one of the central characters is written for most of a book, maybe this one is for you too. 
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