Author: V. E. Schwab
Published: 2013
Target audience: Adults (appropriate 14+)
What makes a hero or villain? Is it how others see you, or how you see yourself? From the bestselling author of ‘A Darker Shade of Magic’ and ‘The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’, V. E. Schwab presents ‘Vicious’ - an urban fantasy novel and riveting tale of vengeance.
Victor and Eli were university roommates; brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognised the same sharp ambition in each other. During their senior year, they discovered an intriguing possibility: during a near-death experience, people might develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moved from academic to experimental, things went horribly wrong.
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to hunt down his old friend, now foe. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every super-powered person that he can find. Armed with terrible power, driven by betrayal and dogmatic conviction, these arch-nemeses are set on unwavering course for collision. And it will be deadly…
‘Vicious’ is a revenge story made enthralling by complex characters and self-righteous ideologies. The interactions between Victor and Eli are fractious and magnetic - two young men coloured alike and driven apart by ambition, competition, and envy. And at their sides are two sisters, Sydney and Serena. Once loving siblings, their near death experiences and subsequent supernatural abilities changed Serena into someone willing to sacrifice her little sister to Eli’s crusade, leaving twelve-year-old Sydney to being found by Victor. Former friends and former sisters pitted against each other, ‘Vicious’ is a tale of warped second chances and long-awaited reckonings.
The story is told through short chapters which switch between present events to what happened ten years ago, or last night, or two hours ago. The third person point-of-view also alternates between characters, providing fascinating insights into Victor, Eli, Sydney, and Serena’s motivations and rationalisations. While this changeable storytelling style won’t suit everyone, it imbues the novel with a propulsive pacing that will have readers hooked. Each addictive snippet reveals the arrogance of youth and the obstinance of self-centred adults hurtling towards confrontation.
For how effectively Schwarb crafts ‘Vicious’, there is one inconsistency that jumped out at me while reading. Victor is a meticulous planner, someone who spent his ten years of imprisonment planning “the details of the prison break down to the minutiae.” Yet once he is out, he hasn’t any idea where or how to start looking for Eli until he spots a random newspaper article and later serendipitously drives past a bloody Sydney on the side of the road. What would he have done without these lucky coincidences? Thankfully, such contrivances are limited to the book’s opening.
‘Vicious’ is a dynamic, compulsive novel, and the first in V. E. Schwabs ‘Villains’ series. If you’re looking for a fast-paced superpowered read, this might just be the book for you.
