Vicious
Adult Fiction; By V.E. Schwab (Villains #1)
~ “There are no good men in this game” ~
Letter Grade: A+ (90%)
Victor Vale and Eli Cardale were once innocent university students working on their theoretical theses. Jealousy brought on by believing he was being replaced as a best friend, Victor encourages Eli to take a more applied approach to the research. And that’s when things go horribly wrong. In an effort to give themselves their very own abilities, tragedy strikes, and Victor is the one in prison. A decade later, Victor has yet to forget how he will take his vicious revenge on Eli.
Can V.E. Schwab do no wrong in the literary world? In this age of the superhero fatigue, Schwab – like other authors – has shown just what creativity can do. I loved the fact that the characters were university students. Thinking about theses is something I can relate to on a way deeper level (shoutout to all my profs helping me out). Schwab takes a universal idea that is often passed over in YA and turns it into the driving force of this dark tale. Jealous drives Victor to get Eli away from his girlfriend and focus more attention on him. Jealousy makes Victor turn a failure into a success. But jealousy is also what drives Serena and Sydney. The duality of the Sydney/Serena and Victor/Eli pair was exquisite, and the flashbacks separated by present-day chapters worked really well to instil in readers their own measure of rage and desire for peaceful reading vengeance.
The simplicity of the writing style paired well with how much we get to learn about all these characters in such a short span of time and pages. I aspire to have this level of show-not-tell that Schwab employs. Victor has always lived in the shadow, and his belief of being replaced pushes forward the whole plot. In not so many words, we know his coping mechanism is blacking out words to make his own messages – such a unique thing! Now it’s going to be hard not to do that myself hahaha. In not so many words, we know Eli was abused by his religious father, and made him fearful of being a “sinner” as his father described him. That fear makes Eli not want other EOs (super-powered people) to be sinners with their unnatural abilities. It makes him believe himself a god. It begs an age-old question: are parents at the fault of the short-comings of their kids?
Which makes the ending such sweet vengeance because of how Victor planned it all. Him killing Victor and being caught red-handed being a pretender-hero by the Merit detectives (after Serena’s influence died off). Him finally being sent to jail and exposed while Sydney just brought Victor back from the dead. I was smiling like the Grinch, I tell you.
Even smaller characters shone in Vicious – Mitch and the Detectives were instrumental in bringing the plot forward, and helping to understand what went wrong in the past. I’m thrilled that there’s a second book and that I can keep reading about Mitch (I still stand by my theory that I think he’s also an EO, but we’ll see).
And Serena and Sydney, oh my goodness…their story is tragic, and the fact that Sydney is only a pre-teen I think emphasizes how badly things have gone in her family relationship status. Her parents don’t really care, her sister always gets her way, and she’s left alone. Literally. I think it sad that, just like Eli, Serena started hated herself because she didn’t believe that it should be easy to get what she wants. She hated not feeling any resistance, until she met Eli…And I swear I was waiting for the shoe to drop and for it to be revealed that she was the big bad all along, but I was only partially wrong. I don’t think she loved Eli as a person. She loved his mind and his resistance, but she still didn’t want to die, hence being a controlling witch who essentially sent her kid sister to her death. I felt for Sydney in those flashbacks, and understood her rage. A rage not unlike Victor’s. It will be interesting to dissect the new dynamic between Victor, Mitch, and Sydney in the second book once she discovers who really killed Serena. Because despite everything, despite the nature of the necromantic powers, Sydney still loved her sister.
A small note on the powers used: not 100% original (healing and siren abilities, among other cooler ones), but I’ll take it, because of the stories of how they got there. The characters’ near death experiences relating to how they wanted to live, which would enhance the person already inside and give them abilities. It was insane. Insanely good!
On the other hand, if I could change anything about the book, it would be that I so wanted to see Victor and Mitch’s escape from prison. I also wish there could have been a TV series to accompany ever draw-dropping moment of Eli getting served, but…here’s to still hoping!
“Be lost. Give up. Give In. in the end It would be better to surrender before you begin. be lost. Be lost And then you will not care if you are ever found.” – Victor Vale
Will Eli Ever escape from prison? What will Sydney do when she finds out who really killed her sister? Is Victor Vale really the hero, or is he still the villain?
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