*Contains spoilers*
For anyone who follows my reading habits, you'll know I'm a sucker for Victoria Schwab. I find her writing dynamic, her worlds engrossing, and her characters fascinating. I've read all of her work and come out of all of it with an overall positive opinion of each one—a rarity for an author with so many books published. However, "Vicious" is, without a doubt, my favorite of her works, and upon my re-read of it, I'm elated to say I loved it just as much as the first time.
"Vicious" is the story of two college roommates who, in researching for their thesis believe that an ExtraOrdinary (EO, for short)—a phenomenon thought to be nothing more than an urban myth or a bedtime story—is made from the trauma a person suffers when they have a near death experience. From there, Victor pushes Eli to test it with him, and once they become EOs, things spiral out of control. It's a tale of loss, of revenge, of anger, and of jealousy. And it's brilliant.
My favorite thing about this book is the dynamic between Victor and Eli. Their characters are the definition of morally grey. Both have done evil things and both have done great things. Eli is obviously the villain, and in him believing whole-heartedly that what he is doing is right, stemming from a fear within himself at what he became after his near-death experience, he becomes infinitely more complex than your stereotypical villain. And that's why I love this novel. It isn't driven by stereotypes or tropes, it's driven by dilemmas and sentiments that could easily be real. In a way, you can almost see yourself being in his position with all the life events that lead to where he is in the novel, and that's beautiful. Not knowing who you like and who you don't because every character is messed up in some way is as refreshing as ice cold water on a summer's day.
The storyline, as a result of those elaborate character dynamics, is also incredibly interesting. There is clashing, but not in the way that you're used to. The story being told at all different times, with conflict being more a series of moves and countermoves over a decade until the very end when they finally do meet, makes it a fascinating read. Piecing together the story as we go is part of the fun as a reader. And the dazzling end where Victor essentially arranges for his own death so that Mitch could kill Serena is nothing short of the genius I'd expect from Schwab.
But the brilliance of this story goes beyond the elements of storytelling for me. You can tell as you read the Schwab is researched in trauma and how the body processes it. And in a way, you find yourself wondering if maybe—just maybe—becoming an ExtraOrdinary is possible in our world. That real-life connection, the science she puts behind the premise of her book that makes it feel so real adds volumes to the novel as a whole.
Schwab handles her worlds and her characters deftly, always seeming to have a perfect scope for the knife she wields, but it shines through brightest in "Vicious." This book is intelligent, complicated, well thought out, and enormously captivating. If you haven't read it, do so. It's absolutely incredible.
As I'm sure you guessed, this one earns super high ratings of:
Characters: 98%
Plot: 100%
Depth: 100%
Style: 100%
Intrigue: 95%
Overall rating: 98%
