Vicious

Vicious feels like a morally grey comic book in novel form. The two main characters, Eli and Victor, already start mildly unhinged (as all high-achieving students do), but fully go off the deep end very quickly. Schwab does a fantastic job building two characters who are equally messed up, each with a belief system that is flawed yet somewhat sympathetic. They each have their moments of kindness, but also moments of incredible viciousness (heh). It’s a great balancing act that explores the definition of a “hero” that I think modern superhero movies fail to do. And while I liked Victor enough, I do have to say that he’s quite insufferable.

Vicious is told through alternating POVs, which I’m usually a little wary of, but Schwab’s pacing is tight and fast. Never once does it feel like the story is too slow, and each character, even the important side ones, is fleshed out. Some character motivations feel a little underexplored, but for a book that has a sequel and another installment coming soon, I give it a bit of a pass. The story revolves around EOs or “ExtraOrdinaries” who are essentially ordinary people with superpowers. The power system that Schwab designed is quite creative and it was interesting to see how different powers interact with each other.

Vicious is an action-packed novel with fun, memorable characters and a snappy plot. Schwab does a fantastic job starting multiple plot threads and bringing them together at the end to a satisfying conclusion. I was surprised at how neatly things come together – enough so that Vicious can be read as a stand-alone. For now, I’m on the fence about reading the next book, but I wouldn’t mind revisiting our students turned very questionable heroes (or villains?).