Review: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

Title: Vengeful Series: Villians #2 Written by: V.E. Schwab Published: June 6, 2018 by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers (Amazon / Goodreads) 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?

Another amazing Victoria Schwab book. Vicious will always hold a special place in my heart because it was my first book by Victoria I read. So when I heard she was writing a sequel I was over the moon and she did not disappoint.

One of the things that I love about Victoria’s books are the characters. She has a real knack for writing morally grey characters who you still root for and that is absolutely evident in Vengeful. On Wednesday I saw Victoria in Boston and she mentioned how she always makes sure we know why the character is doing the awful thing and that’s why I think her characters are so good. They are not good people. They are basically terrible people doing terrible things and yet you still want them to achieve their goals. Most of that is because they are so sympathetic and likable. They are complex and fully-fledged characters who emerge off the page fully-formed and so engaging.

In Vicious the main focus of the book was on Victor and Eli. It was great to catch back up with those two and to see the consequences of their actions in the first book. I know Victoria said she was going to make us sympathize with Eli in this book and holy crap did she do it. I felt so much for Eli and it was so unexpected. He was always the characters doing the right things for the wrong reasons while Victor was doing the wrong things for the right reasons but here they seemed to flip and that was so interesting to see. But the real highlights of this book are the female characters. There is a lot of female rage in this book and it’s great to see. I think a lot of people are really going to love Marcella. She is fierce and badass and has so many amazing one-liners that I know people will connect with because I did. But I think the more interesting character is June. She is one of the most complex and intriguing characters I have read about in a long time. And like Marcella she is incredibly tough and you root for her to get her vengeance. But I really think we’ve only scratched the surface with June. I really hope Victoria writes another book because I want to know more about her.

As you can tell by the number of main characters here, this is a super complex plot. Like Vicious it interweaves flashbacks with the present timeline as we learn about the characters and how they got to where they are today. Not to mention all the perspectives intertwining. It would have been very easy for this book to get confusing and muddled but it didn’t. The stakes were high, the plot was action-packed and it all worked together to create one completely thrilling climax that had me totally enthralled. I listened to the audiobook for this and it only took me a few days to read it because I was that invested. And I listened to it on 1.0x speed. Usually I listen at 1.25x but her I wanted to take it all in.

Because seriously, this book is so immersive. The world Victoria has created is so fantastic. She is such a master when it comes to building a fantasy world. What I love about this one is that it actually feels grounded in reality. The rules are so clear and specific that it honestly seems possible. Seriously, a book about people with superpowers seems realistic. But that just goes to show you how good Victoria is at this. And let me tell you, these powers are amazing. We get a host of new powered people in this book and I loved seeing their powers in action but it was even cooler learning more about how Eli and Sydney’s powers work. I love stories about superheroes where they explore the morality and responsibilities that comes with powers and I think this series does it in a way that is so dark which makes it even better. It’s one of the best superpower based worlds I have ever read about.

All in all, this was a completely amazing read. I loved being able to return to the world of Vicious and to catch back up with the amazing characters but the new characters and the thrilling. Plot made this book just as good of not better.

I give Vengeful by V.E. Schwab 9.5 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: BUY! Definitely buy this book. It's amazing and and fantastic. If you liked Vicious you definitely need to read this book. It's a great sequel. And you haven't read that book, start there and experience one of the best books about superpowers and anti-heroes that exists.

Have you read Vengeful? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!