Vicious by V. E. Schwab – A Dark Fantasy Story of Ambition and Jealousy

Title: Vicious

Author(s) Name(s): V. E. Schwab

Published in: September, 2013

Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy

• magic and superpowers,
• anti-hero perspectives,
• paranormal fiction, and
• dark stuff.

Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike

• revenge, or
• friends-turned-enemies plots, or
• betrayal.

Vicious is a fantasy novel written by V. E. Schwab and published in the year 2013 with over hundreds of thousands of ratings on GoodReads and an average rating of over 4-stars as of today. This is the story of Victor and Eliot, who are brilliant students who unexpectedly develop supernatural powers. They always had a strange relationship of mutual admiration and mutual dislike. But their real darkness comes out when they become extraordinary humans who go against each other. Driven by the thirst to defeat and the strength to destroy anyone who comes in their way, what will these two friends-turned-archrivals do?

Starting from the very beginning, this book comes across as a page-turner. Each chapter is hardly a few pages long, they are crisp and full of substance, so this way, the book becomes interesting for the young adults of today, who prefer short, direct, powerful writing over writing paragraphs and paragraphs or chapters and chapters describing something simple and not even all that interesting.

This is the story of two brilliant, young men, Victor Vale and Eliot Cardale, who have been friends since school. Neither one is interested in spending time with most other people in their class or outside, but somehow, they seem to have a liking for each other. Vic notices from the initial days that there is something different about his friend and roommate Eli, that he is easily charming on the outside but there is something beneath that nice, pleasant surface, something dark and sinister that he is hiding. Also, in many ways, Vic envies Eli, for example, how the uniquely brilliant, young student Angie Knight, who Vic finds very attractive, chose Eli over him, and the two have been girlfriend and boyfriend since then, how Eli gets special attention and respect from their science Professor, and most importantly, how Eli has discovered something dark and could potentially be dangerous and exciting while working on his thesis during the holidays, leaving Vic angry as hell – how could Eli always be two steps ahead of him?

Vic and Eli are both daring and bold, but they also have a few differences in their values, how they see themselves, and what they see as right and wrong. Vic is the son of two famous authors, he is not a bit proud of being their son, and he has developed a personality of his own. He is more on the amoral side, does not care much for those around him, and in this phase of life, his only motivation seems to be to prove to himself and Eli, but more to himself, that he is stronger if not equal to his best friend Eli. Eli on the other hand is a believer of God, he does not seem to follow a particular religion (which is how fantasy plots are usually!) yet has strong faith in some “God”, while there is something evil that hides underneath his charming, pleasant, agreeable, innocent side, and this side of his is something that only Vic can see.

At every point, Vic feels defeated by Eli, even if Eli does not intend to make his best friend feel inferior. Eli has his own interests. It’s when they all pick their topics for their science research papers and Eli announces that he is interested in understanding how EOs – Extra-Ordinary people, people with super powers – are born or made that Vic wants to take this research to the next level. Even though Eli strongly refuses initially, he begins co-operating with Vic, and the two end up experimenting on themselves to develop Extra-Ordinary human powers themselves! Not only do these events give them super-powers, but they also seem to have changed them, their personalities and who they are. And they become archnemeses.

The love-hate relationship between Victor Vale and Eliot Cardale plays as important a role as the plot itself, even though they are two separate things. The grudges that they both hold against each other, understanding this is key to following the flow of events, and what motivates both of them to indulge in the actions they do. Also, there are many other interesting characters, each with a unique character, related to these two main characters. The life events of all these people fall well into place, making the narration smooth.

After these two ordinary young men develop super-human powers, which lays the foundation for this fantasy story, what do they do? How do they want to make use of their powers? What are they driven by? Will they commit crime? Will they save the world? Will they want each other dead? To what extent will they go? How are others involved affected? The first half of the book has several interesting twists and turns. The book begins with Victor getting out of prison, but what made him end up in prison? The reader is motivated by what comes next from the beginning. The book has dozens of chapters that keep you focused on the tale and not on how many pages have passed by, and it all sounds almost perfect, but as we move on to the second part from the first, even though the writing style seems to be consistent, the story seems to slowly lose the reader’s interest.

As one gets past the first hundred or hundred and fifty pages, the frequent shift between the past and present can start weighing them down. Sometimes, here and there, one might feel that some chapters are even unnecessary. Should entire chapters be written merely to explain simple moves and activities to tie the past/present together, to prevent holes in the plot?

There are some issues with the plot, too. It’s when Angie agrees to work with Victor on something so unscientific, harmful, and illegal that the story loses its logic for a brief period, for a chapter or so. We’re told how intelligent Angie is, far more intelligent than her peers are, how good she is in science, yet Victor could convince her so easily to help him with something that strange? Hmm …

Despite all this, the author manages to bring up suspense and a few more twists and turns to still keep the reader interested. There are several new questions that come up with the addition of new or other characters, but still what happens in the end is the biggest question that would keep one going.

If you are a beginner or someone who is reading fantasy books for the first time, or the first time you are reading a book by Schwab, Vicious is highly recommended; it is an excellent choice for Young Adult fantasy reading. Even though it has about 400 pages, it feels like a simple read. But bear in mind that this is a dark story involving revenge, murder, supernatural powers, and hate, so it is not recommended for either children or anyone who would be sensitive to such stories.

If you enjoy dark academia, consider reading this one: Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson – a page-turner thriller novel.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson – An Unputdownable Contemporary Thriller