VICIOUS centers on two men, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, who first meet in college. Both are cunning, ambitious people, and quickly form an intense bond that culminates in a daring research project for Eli's senior thesis. Eli wants to focus on ExtraOrdinaries (EOs) for his thesis, and the theory that one can obtain "extraordinary" abilities like the EOs in the wake of a near-death experience. As you can imagine, the experiment doesn't go as planned: although both men gain their own abilities, a series of terrible events ends with Victor in prison and Eli starting life anew. Now, ten years later, Victor has broken out of prison and is looking for his former best friend. And this isn't one of those "Haven't seen you in years, let's have lunch and catch-up!" type of reunions. These two want each other dead, and will go to, ahem, ExtraOrdinary lengths to make that happen.
I'd been looking forward to reading this book months before it released in September. First of all, it's a novel essentially about superheroes. How many of those do you find floating around these days?!? Plus, I've been a fan of Ms. Schwab for quite some time, and she more than delivered with this book. I was captivated once I read the first page--a sequence involving two key characters digging up a dead body. And it only gets better from there.
What I loved most about VICIOUS was the character building. This novel does contain superheroes and supernatural elements, but it's no Avengers, which is certainly not a bad thing. Schwab chooses to pepper the story with action sequences as opposed to writing a new fight scene every ten pages. She goes for a more psychological approach, focusing on the relationship between Victor and Eli, as well as their individual motivations and desires. There are various flashbacks, most notably 10 years prior to the present action of the novel, which help to establish the beginnings of Victor and Eli's relationship and how it evolved to its current destructive state. There are also flashbacks that explain the "origin stories", if you will of a few other key characters: Sydney, a twelve-year-old EO who works alongside Victor; Mitch, Victor's cell-mate in prison; and Serena, Sydney's older sister and fellow EO, who develops a very interesting relationship with Eli. These detours from the main action of the story may seem tedious to some, but as someone who believes good character development trumps all, I simply loved the structure of this novel. The tender relationship between Victor and Sydney was sweet, whereas the complex mash-up that is Serena and Eli was great fun to read.
Speaking of structure, this novel definitely has a "slow burn" type of feel. As mentioned, the flashbacks contribute much to this, but the present action unfolds at a slower pace, too. We're with our characters in the present for the span of the day, but Schwab builds up the tension by creating a countdown within her chapter, dividing each one into hours or minutes until we reach the climax--which takes place at the often used but always sinister "midnight"--and the reader is about to burst from anticipation. I for one was dying to find out what would happen next, which I think was mainly due to this structural technique. If Schwab had chosen to add fight scenes in every chapter that ended with both sides retreating and preparing for another useless combat, the final confrontation between Victor and Eli may have been anticlimatic as opposed to exciting.
And then of course, there is the ending. I know some will either be unsatisfied or confused by it. I'll admit that it took me a day or two to fully digest it, because it wasn't what I was expecting. Now, however, I feel that Schwab went in the right direction, and that the ending makes perfect sense without seeming over-extravagant. The novel does feel complete at its end, though a development in the final pages does give Schwab the opportunity to explore a potential sequel. Not gonna lie, I hope she does! A
I really hope you guys check out VICIOUS! I don't know many people who have read it, and maybe with this review, that can change. But if you have read, what did you think? Feel free to let me know, and happy reading to you all. :)
