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 reveal 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 arch nemeses have set a course for revenge–but who will be left alive at the end?
About the Author:
V.E. Schwab is the author of The Near Witch, a YA fantasy from Disney Hyperion, as well as The Archived, the first book in a YA supernatural series, also from Disney Hyperion. The product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a Southern upbringing, Victoria has a penchant for tea and BBC shows, and a serious and well-documented case of wanderlust. Vicious is her first adult book.
Jennifer’s Review of Vicious
TITLE: Vicious
CHARACTERS: Victor, Eli and Sydney
AUTHOR: V.E. Schwab
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/24/13
NUMBER OF STARS: Five Stars
I was waiting patiently to get my hands on Vicious because everything that this author writes is amazing. Vicious tells the story of Victor and Eli, two intelligent, yet arrogant, college students who believe that they have the ability to become Extra-Ordinary individuals if they carefully create and experience near-death events. By coming back from the brink of death, they would develop supernatural abilities that would not only prove their thesis but put them in a higher class than those around them. Victor and Eli play with the delicate balance of their own lives and these events lead to tragedy and betrayal that will haunt them for years.
Vicious was such a great book for me because it reminded me so much of another novel, Frankenstein, that I still love after reading it so many years ago. Victor and Eli believed that by creating their own near-death experiences that they would achieve unbelievable power and used death to create a new life. By playing God, each of them had to deal with the tragic events that resulted, destroying a friendship and sending one character into the slow descent of madness. By becoming Extra-Ordinary, Eli believed that he had to right to get rid of others who had their own near-death experiences. Instead of becoming the hero he wanted to be, he in a way became a monster who had to be stopped before he harmed others. Now, Victor is on the hunt for his old friend and with each step that leads Victor to Eli, their story slowly unfolds in front of our eyes.
Vicious is an emotional thrill-ride about the consequences of life and death that is destined to become a literary classic. V.E. Schwab weaves a captivating tale that will haunt you well after you have finished reading the last page and I was sorry that we had to say goodbye to these characters. If Ms. Schwab isn’t on your list of authors to watch, she should be because every book is more amazing and thought-provoking than her last.
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