Reviews

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

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jo_'s review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ellenrosef's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

hellobookbird's review against another edition

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4.0

How many men would she have to turn to dust before one took her seriously?

[b: Vengeful|26856502|Vengeful (Villains, #2)|V.E. Schwab|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519916942s/26856502.jpg|46895070] begins five years after the events of [b: Vicious|23688792|These Vicious Masks (These Vicious Masks, #1)|Tarun Shanker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428342329s/23688792.jpg|43297640] and those years have not been kind.

Victor’s power is far less reliable post-death, and has a tendency to overload and fry his own brain, killing him (again). With each consecutive episode, his deaths last longer and longer, causing him to seek out help wherever he can find it. Sydney struggles with her part in his pain and Mitch...well, Mitch does what he can to help Victor find a cure with his leet computer skills.

Meanwhile, Eli is locked up in a special prison called EON: ExtraOrdinary Observation and Neutralization, an organization set up to catch and contain EOs (led by none other than our very persistent Director Stell). After Stell discovers the mad scientist Doctor Hatchley's work, who dissected Eli daily to test the limits of his regenerative abilities in the name of science, Eli is relocated. Eager to end his torture, he agrees to help hunt his own kind using the agent's reports and a heavily monitored computer.

"People looked at [Marcella] and assumed a whole lot. That a pretty face meant an empty head, that a girl like her was only after an easy life, that she would be satisfied with luxury, instead of power—as if you couldn't have both."

But Vengeful doesn't just focus on our original motley crew and men don't have the monopoly on villainy. Enter Marcella Riggins: murdered by her mobster husband in the prologue, she becomes a powerful piece in the play for the city of Merit. She's beautiful, she's smart, and she craves power above all else (and doesn't particularly care who has to die for her to get it). She revels in her new-found power and plans to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She's done working from the shadows and she wants everyone to know it.

As with Vicious, the plot unfurls between past and present, through multiple perspectives. It's a little harder to track with the addition of Marcella, June, Dom, and Jonathan's perspectives but well worth the effort.

“I don't want to survive. I want to thrive.”

Vengeful is a story of amazing complexity. With Eli, the role religion and faith has taken in his life and how he internalizes that with his actions. With Victor, who doesn't believe in luck or a higher power, slowly starting to take responsibility for his actions even while causing more pain and leaving more bodies. With Sydney and Mitch, perhaps the only two good people surrounded by so much violence. With Dom, who we finally get to see beneath the addict that pain had turned him into. With Marcella, whose motivations extend beyond simple vengeance. With June, perhaps the biggest enigma of the book, a killer that longs to have a family to replace the one she refuses to go back to. The story asks deep questions about ethics, revenge, life, and death.

In a world where there are no heroes, who would you choose?

Recommended for everyone that doesn't mind a masterfully told story full of anti-heroes. After all, "there are no good men in this game."

jana_vukk's review against another edition

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5.0

i love my murderous boyfriends

eiiven's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

xcaity's review against another edition

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4.0

I can’t point out anything inherently WRONG with this book, but considering it took me a month to finish it, there’s something off for me.

I guess I wasn’t in the first book for the universe so much as the characters, and this book feels like it was written to expand the universe over the characters. That’s the best way I can describe it. I’ll likely re-read Vicious in the future, but I don’t think I’ll be picking this one up again.