5 Reasons You Should Read Villains by V.E. Schwab!

 

Hey guys!
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I’ve been super busy.
I’m going to try posting more soon, hopefully, I’ll have more time/ can get more organised!

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1) Villain Story (duh).

The clue is in the title of the duology, it’s all about villains. Who doesn’t love a good villain? This for one contains some great complex, yet sociopathic characters that are just amazing. It gets boring rooting for the good guys all the time, change it up; read about morally grey anti-heroes instead. SO MUCH FUN.

2) Best friends to enemies

Probably the best trope ever, especially when executed well. And it is executed absolutely brilliantly in these books. Right off the bat, you know Victor and Eli were best friends and now enemies and it makes you dying to know how they end up this way.
Also, kinda reminds me of the Charles/Eric relationship in X-men and that’s not the only X-Men similarity…

3) X-Men-like powers

The people who have powers in this world are known as; ExtraOrdinary. They’re basically like X-Men and it’s pretty damn cool. The way they get their powers and what determines them is so interesting to learn about throughout the novels.  Just like X-Men, it makes me envious of their powers?? Why can’t powers exist? *sigh*

4) Weirdly relatable characters

I am no sociopathic killer with superpowers, yet I found Victor (and some of the other characters) weirdly relatable, easy to understand and super likeable. They do questionable things, I won’t lie, but I completely root for them.

5) Badass Ladies.

Sydney is a cool ass character from the beginning, I love her, she’s one of my favourites. But the second book, Vengeful, introduces some more badass ladies such as Marcella and Jude. Marcella is definitely a strong woman character, I love her revenge arc, it was such a joy to read. It’s nice to see a woman ‘villain’.

 

If none of that convinces you to immediately go out and buy these books; just look at the covers. They’re bloody gorgeous.

Review for Vicious | Review for Vengeful

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Review: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

Synopsis:
Eli Ever and Victor Vale were only medical students when their mutual discovery that near-death experiences can, under the right conditions, manifest extraordinary abilities.

They were best friends and rivals, and then enemies. They were dead, then alive, and then—Eli killed Victor, once and for all.

Or so he thought—but Sydney Clarke felt otherwise, and used her own superpower to tip the scales. Now, a trio hides in the shadows, while another takes advantages of post-death life to take over the city of Merit.

If there can be life after death—will there be calm after vengeance, or will chaos rule?

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Plot:
I really enjoyed the plot, it’s set 5(?) years after the first book and is so addicting from the first page. I literally have no idea how anyone survived five years without the second book, I binged both of the books back-to-back and it was amazing.

It was gripping and interesting, Marcella’s story was a great addition and I like how it weaved into Victor and Eli’s story. There’s no mention of Marcella in the synopsis for some unknown reason but she’s a huge part of the storyline!

Despite liking the plot and the new characters, I feel as though this book didn’t quite live up to Vicious. Vicious was SO good, can’t even comprehend. The dynamic between Victor and Eli was just unbeatable and I missed that in this one. Like I said previously, I liked the new characters and the new story but the thing I loved about the first was missing. Victor and Eli, I felt, were more in the background than anything, it was disappointing.

However, it was still brilliant. I seriously need more V.E. Schwab in my life, she is an amazing writer and I will be picking up more of her stuff in the future.

Characters:
Victor: I LOVE HIM. He’s just my fave. There was a serious lack of him in this book, he’s the best, most complex and interesting character, in my opinion. I really wanted more from him. 
Eli: I still hate him, but given his now revealed backstory, I can sympathise with him more. It takes a while before he is even introduced in this book, I kept waiting for him to make an appearance!

Sydney: I love Sydney!! I love the cute, dysfunctional family-like-thing between her, Victor and Mitch. (+ Dol of course!) I’m glad we get to see Sydney a lot in this one, it’s nice to see her character development!

Marcella: Badass. Awesome introduction. I really did enjoy her story and dynamic, it wasn’t as good as the Victor/Eli thing but it was definitely entertaining. I love her sassiness, recklessness and carelessness. Like, you go girl!

Jude: She’s cool, she was a nice introduction. There was a mystery around her character, that I feel still never really revealed itself? I still don’t really understand her intentions and her thing with Sydney but??

Rating: 4 Stars

*Thank you to Titan Books for sending me an early copy!
ps. Sorry, the review went up late! 

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Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

“When no one understands, that’s usually a good sign that you’re wrong.”
― Victoria Schwab, Vicious

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Synopsis:
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?

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I am super late to the V.E. Schwab bandwagon, this is my first book by her and I was not disappointed!

Plot:
The plot is slow but interesting, it wouldn’t be my usual type of book. I usually go for more fast paced, action packed books, however, this was really intriguing.
The story jumps back and forth past and present, with various characters, in the past, Eli and Victor are roommates working on their thesis, Eli’s being on EO (ExtraOrdinaries). Eli believes EO’s are real and wants to figure out how. Victor steps in due to being jealous of Eli and wanting some of the credit.
Flash forward to the present, Victor wants revenge on Eli, so we know something bad happens between them.

V.E. Schwab’s writing was so compelling and intriguing, I just had to keep reading to know what happened between Eli and Victor and obviously, how Victor was going to get revenge. I loved the characters, I love the little trio that formed between Victor, Mitch and Sydney.

This book is basically X-Men, serious Charles/Eric (Prof X/Magneto) vibes – which I absolutely love. If you’re a fan of villains + X-men, go ahead and pick this up because you will love it!

Characters:
Victor: I loved Victor as the main character! He was so interesting and complex, I instantly took to him and I loved reading from his perspective. His friendship with Eli was cool, to begin with, but their rivalry was much more interesting.

Eli: I didn’t mind Eli, at first. Something always felt a bit off with him, I didn’t take to him as easily as I did with Victor. I definitely didn’t expect him to be such an arse,

Sydney: She was such a nice touch to the story, I love that she brought out the softer side of Victor and Mitch. She also added some sympathy, I felt so sorry for her, she’s so young yet been through a lot. She’s basically alone in the world and I love that she found Victor and Mitch.

Mitch: I thought Mitch was a cool side character, I love the friendship/partnership between him and Victor. I also love the little team him, Victor and Sydney make.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

*Review of Vengeful coming soon*

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