So apparently I had read Vicious by VE Schwab before when it first came on the market in Australia but I Gandalf’d hardcore and I’m so confused why because, frankly, it’s freaking fantastic…
Let me start by saying it reads slowly. But not that slowly that you want to dispose of it in a sink fire, page by page (those who have read it will see what I did there..). At first there was eyerolling and I internally complained about the time jumps because, honestly who has time to keep track of time jumps let alone individual character POV’s. The disgruntled feeling quickly faded when I found out why a small child and a grown arse convict were entering a cemetery with shovels.
So the characters were splendiferous. Each was amazingly brave and heroic and all things cliched but also broken and faulted and just generally amazing. I had completely forgotten about Mitch’s chocolate milk, Victor’s obsession with Sharpie’s, Sydney’s sheer stubborn will, and Dol, because who doesn’t need a zombie corpse dog who has been stomped on then saved. I mean amirite? Also, if you haven’t read this yet, just know going in that Eli is a nutjob, like commit him in a padded room, god complex nutjob. Also Serena deserves everything she has coming to her/got.
Thoughts of the story? It was amazing. The bending of the superhero genre was refreshing and quite amusing to say the least. At one point during my read, I bumped onto social media, flailed to a few friends who simply responded with ‘Yep!’ and then told me to keep reading and stop trying to get spoilers… So, the premise is, as previously mentioned, a retelling of the superhero narrative. Heroes and villains and damsels in distress should not apply within because frankly, it’s not your usual superhero book.
First there’s Eli – a god complex in a genius body with stunning eyes and an amazing bod could be portrayed as a hero but he’s not. He’s a semi villainous type who is determined to rid the world of its filth because he’s just a jerk to be honest.
Then there’s Victor – a man with a complex with stunning eyes, amazing hair, and a hot bod. Who’s in prison… Sometimes… He’s not a villain but can’t quite be classed as an antihero. He’s determined to get revenge on Eli for getting him sent to jail. Also he’s a jerk, but he’s also soft and squishy. But also not so…
Add in Sydney, a girl who can raise the dead; Serena, a woman who can control any sentient being with her words; Mitch, a tower of a man with a penchant for chocolate milk and bulletproof skin; and Stell and Dale, two dumbass detectives who believe everything Eli says and you have yourself an epic story. Onwards to Vengeful! | 10/10
Vengeful starts off five years after the events of Vicious, which changed the world relating to EO’s. Victor, who everyone thought was dead was raised within a few days of his demise by Sydney, everyone’s favourite eternal tween (she’s like Claudia from Interview With The Vampire but so much more likeable and capable of reanimating the departed). Eli, my favourite serial killer/psychopath/charismatic “do-gooder” has been imprisoned since his capture at the building site, waiting patiently for the day he can escape, all the while helping Stell bring in undesirables. Mitch no longer seems to crave chocolate milk and Dom, the man who can shift outside of the stream of time is doing his part and being a good spy for everyone at the EON facility. Everyone is happy and together and it’s all sunshine and rainbows… But not actually because like V E Schwab would write a thing with a happy ending!
Enter Marcella, a stone cold mob wife whose husband crossed her and never lived to tell the tale. She’s super smart, mean, manipulative, and capable of giving Eli Ever a run for his money should they ever meet. To be honest, that could never happen due to the fact that she is free and smart while he is locked away, experimented on, and zapped by the walls of his plain cell whenever he so much thinks of life outside prison walls.
There’s also June, a timid young lady with a vendetta against mobsters. Or is she actually a big burly man? Or an old lady sneaking through the background? No one knows her true face, but everyone can tell there is something off when they find themselves face to face. She has implanted herself into Sydney’s life and isn’t planning on letting go any time soon.
I am going to digress slightly here and fill in the unknowing on a little fact. Victoria Schwab, Queen of All Things Stabby (it’s definitely her official title!) had this novel done and dusted. It was finished. Polished. All wrapped up in a tidy little bow ready to head to copy edits. And then she scrapped it and wrote the entire thing again early last year. ALL 600 PAGES GONE! She says it is better than the original. The majority will never know. But I am happy with what came out and I frankly could not care that it wasn’t originally like this because once again I am in my murdery evil happy place with this novel.
The whole premise of this second instalment (and pretty much anything within the repertoire of Queen Schwab to be perfectly honest) is amazing. Her boys are falling apart and nothing can stop it. Not content with telling her tale with the same old players, Schwab introduces new and diverse characters through which to voice her genius. Returning to old haunts, I thought the story may feel a little stale, but I was indeed wrong. The masterful manipulation of a small assortment of locations dragged me in and would not let go. More or less a game of cat and mouse around the countryside because… reasons… I fell in love with Merit and its surrounds more than I could have ever wished for. It was just as epic as its predecessor however I do need to say here that it took me a little to get in to. Vicious read slowly to start and so does this. After about 100 pages and working out who all these new stabby stalker ladies are, the whole thing gets on track for some pretty epic action.
By now, I acknowledge most people reading this double review (it’s a double because, well, they are amazing novels) will have switched off by now but, just know these books are a masterpiece waiting to be read. The characters are stabby and mean but also squishy and delightfully confused about their existence. Although Marcella and June don’t feature within Vicious, they are so expertly inserted that one barely notices they weren’t there the whole time. While the majority of both novels are set in and around the sights of Merit, it doesn’t feel stale as a whole with new buildings being explored and old being revamped.
Basically this reviewers verdict is that you just need to read them because they are amazing. At the end of Vicious, I was questioning what it meant to be a villain. By the time I finished Vengeful, Schwab had taken all her creative might and stabbed me right in the feels. Full marks from me for these works (as would be expected from an author who hangs with King Of Fiction, Neil Gaiman). Schwab is a genuine diamond in a mountain of rocks and deserves all the praise the public could ever muster. | 10/10
