Vicious- V. E. Schwab BOOK TALK

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There are no good men in this game.
This book was genius and almost five stars! I've heard endless hype about Victoria Schwab and after finally picking up a book of hers, I can safely say I'm obsessed.
The brilliance of this book was the complex and, more importantly, flawed characters we followed. It's a complete personal decision over who is the villain and who's the hero- if any of them can be considered a hero. I grew really attached to the characters (I was firmly on one team) and the events were exciting, unique and enthralling. I nearly had a heart-attack about thirty times through this book and I gasped so much, my family thought I was insane. Thanks, Victoria Schwab... I'll be entering an insane asylum any day now.

GOODREADS

AMAZON

 

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD

I was Team Victor through this whole book. I could relate a lot to Victor from the very beginning and Eli annoyed me straight away- he's very arrogant and has a very misplaced sense of self-worth. But what I loved about this book is that they can both be considered a hero and a villain depending on what angle they're portrayed. I loved how interchangeable their roles were.

When Eli got his powers I got really annoyed with him. Before he'd got his powers, he was fine for Victor to risk his life on the chance of becoming an EO but once Eli got powers.... you could see how hesitant he was for Victor to become an EO too. And I hated that! I would totally relate with Victor- hell no, I wouldn't want to be a sidekick. That's just a personality flaw that I happen to share with Victor- instantly making me warm to him.

I was pumped for Victor to try but I was not expecting Angela to die! I wasn't a massive fan of her anyway- how she just pawned off Vic when Eli came along- but that didn't necessarily mean I wanted her to die. This part is where Vic could be considered the villain but.... it's not like he did it on purpose.
We began to meet the two sisters and find out their past and how they became EOs and my instant reaction was; I love Sydney, I hate Serena.
I hate Serena and Eli for such similar reasons. They both think that EOs should be killed so try and murder their sister and best friend! But... they're EOs too! And they think they're somehow exempt from this rule! How hypocritical do you have to be?
I hated Eli because he thought he was doing such justice to God by getting rid of the EO when, in reality, he was actually the monster going around killing innocents. And through it all, he was still as arrogant as heck and insisted on being called a 'hero'.
Half way through, we switched to Eli's perspective as well which I thought would be really interesting. I was prepared to change sides but.... Team Victor was always pretty obvious to me.
We also got a little of Mitch's background which was brilliant. I loved Mitch and it was so great to see how and why he ended up in prison- he's such a nice guy it just didn't make sense! Poor Mitch had this curse but, really, it could totally be fate because where would our characters be without him?
The plot really began to spike when we had the countdown to midnight... I was on the edge of my seat at this point.
I absolutely loved how Victor deliberately kept Sydney busy at home with burning the papers to keep her safe. It was so heart-warming to see that he'd grown to care for her and wanted to keep her out of danger- it made me love him even more.
And then Eli shot Mitch. I was so mad!! Don't kill innocents my ass! This shooting had my emotions everywhere and then the relief of finding out that Mitch was wearing a bulletproof vest.... I was slightly hysterical.
We got Dominic on our side and, man is that a good thing because his shadow-walking helped us out a lot. (And by 'us' I mean Victor and his group).
We had Serena find Sydney and I was surprised she let her live. I had a strong feeling that Sydney would die and thank god she didn't. Serena ordered Sydney to go somewhere safe and when Sydney went straight to Victor.... my heart!! How cute is that?!
We then had Serena bump into Mitch and.... this was the second time my heart nearly fell in on itself. Serena had Mitch turn the gun on himself and pull the trigger and the whole time I was screaming 'Mitch you should've killed her quicker!'. Why did we have so many Mitch death-scares in this book! This was not good for my emotional stability. I really should've known Victor would be ten steps ahead and empty the gun of bullets. But, man, were my emotions all over the place at this point.
Victor then killed Serena and I was on such a high!
Victor and Mitch then used Dominic's shadow ability to save Sydney when she was seconds away from being shot and I was so excited. I felt so damn victorious and watching Eli get so frustrated was like Christmas morning.
We had the final conflict between Vic and Eli.... I really thought Victor would win. But, when he died, I wasn't too worried because I knew that Sydney could bring him back- why else would we have had the dog come back twice? It was proof and fore-shadowing that it could be done!
I found it interesting that their powers cancelled out when they died- so all the police officers that Serena had manipulated broke free and arrested Eli for murder. Justice, sweet justice!! It paints a funny image: Eli obviously a murderer but screaming that he's the hero.... you tell yourself anything to help yourself sleep at night, Eli.
I knew Sydney would bring Victor back and it was such a satisfying ending. Mitch, Victor and Sydney are like a family and watching their bonds grow through the book was so special.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe