Vicious by V.E. Schwab

So, this is my first review on this blog and I'm not sure how to start it. Let me give you some information about the book first.

A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?




Sounds cool, right? And let me tell you it's one of the best books I have ever read. I love Victoria Schwab. I have read all of her books and I'm probably gonna write reviews on them soon. I'll Try to devide this review into part like: Characters, World, Ending. And there will be a Spoilers Alert in big red letters, because I don't want to spoil the book for people who haven't read it yet.

Characters:  Super cool people and some not so cool people and some awful people:

There are all types of people in this book. And you can't really say: This one is good! or This one is bad. They are all a mash of good and bad, they are compicated human beings like all of us. And that, of course, makes them realistic which is a thing I love in books. It's really so hard to find realistic characters these days. Most of the time I see whiny Bellas, artistic Clarys, clever Annabeths etc.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
 Now people who have read the book will probably ask me who I prefer, Eli or Victor? I must say Victor. I don't even know why. Maybe because he didn't see himself as good. He knew not all things he was doing were good. He wanted revenge. If I were him I would have done the same. Well, not exactly the same, but I would have wanted revenge too. I couldn't see anything good in Eli. Victor hated him and I started hating him too. Even when reading through his perspective I couldn't stop disliking him. But as I said he did what he believed was right. (Even though it was wrong!) Maybe there are people out there who think Eli did the right thing. I almost expected Eli to kill Serena, because of that time when he said:

You are going to forget to say those words some day.

I don't know what to think of Serena. What kind of sister does the thing she did? Really, I know you became heartless after you died, but you must have some humanity or love left in you,woman. If not for your parents then at least for your sister. But she did the right thing in the end. I'm not quite sure why she killed herself. (I decided to call it like that. After all she ordered Mitch to fite the gun!) Maybe she finally saw that what Eli did was wrong. Or maybe it was because she loved her sister and didn't want Eli to kill her. (Sidney, not Serena!) I don't know! And I probably never will!

Moving on to Sidney. I had a hard time imagining her as a 13 year old. I imagined her as a 16 year old or as a little child. And she is practicly in the middle. I can't say much about her. She was a good character. Maybe the purest thing in this book.(If we don't count her dog, Dol!) I loved her in the end of this book. But about that later. Who is next? Oh, yes Mitch. He was...well, I can't exactly describe him. Even though there were chapters from his perspective I never got into his personality. Nevertheless I liked him. Really, I don't know why and I don't have anything to say about him I just thought he was a good character.

The Ending:

Now!! Let's talk about *Drums, please!* THE ENDING! After reading around 90% of the book I had the feeling that both Victor and Eli were going to die. It just couldn't have a happy ending. It was not right. And it didn't have a happy ending. Victor died and Eli was sent to jail. I'm wondering if he is immortal then is he going to stay in jail forever. I wish! I kind of imagine him in jail. Still looking 21, but infact 60. (He is like Dorian Grey, you know? But at least Dorian killed himself in the end!) So Eli is in jail and years pass and he is still there and can't get out, because his only power is regeneration. And as time passes people forget who he is or what he did and don't let him out. And then the jail gets abandoned and they forget about him. So he stays there forever and one day in desperation he kills himself. Or maybe he doesn't and he stays there forever. Yeah, my imagination running wild. So, lets go back to Victor. He dies. I was going to cry when he died, but I didn't. Because I knew Sidney will bring him back. I was laughing out loud and dancing around the room when I read the last sentence. It's good I wasn't in a public place when I read the end, but in my room. People would have thought I was crazy.
I like to imagine what happend after the end. Like did Sindey and Victor and Mitch lived togheter. What are they going to do now that Eli is gone. Maybe Victor is going to become a doctor or they will start training other EOs to use thier powers. Like X-men! That would be cool but I don't see it happenning. (Well, actually I do. I imagine it quite clearly. But it's never going to happen! So...) Or maybe they part ways and live different lifes. No, that's not going to happen! I like them being together!!

The World:

And now last, the world. The book was set in the not-so-far future. It wasn't that different from the present really. But there were EOs and technology and that kind of things. It really felt at times like it was set in some different place or dimention.

Recommendation:

I recommend this book to anyone who likes YA or books about heroes or dystpian books and even if you don't like any of those, you still should read this book. It's the best!


I'll see ya next time! Bye!