“Be lost. Give up. Give In. in the end It would be better to surrender before you begin. be lost. Be lost And then you will not care if you are ever found.”
I've heard all over Goodreads about how amazing VE Schwab is. How everything she writes is amazing. With the hype came me putting off reading this book. So, when Sandra picked this book out for us to buddy read I was happy that I would finally get around to it. Vicious follows Victor and Eli who were best friends and college roommates. When it comes time for their college thesis assignment starts the two of them begin working on the idea that under the right circumstances you could give a person extraordinary abilities. The two decide to take their theories a step further, and goes from idea to an experiment gone wrong. Ten years later Victor breaks out of prison determined to find Eli again, but when they meet again they will be meeting as enemies. Victor and Eli are some of my all time favorite male characters. Getting characters that are as dark, morally grey, and layered as these two is hard to find. They are complete anti-heroes. It's amazing how they can both be the hero and villain of the story, and that Schwab easily wrote them so. Victor and Eli character wise have the same relationship as Professor X and Magneto in Xmen. Eli is this smooth talking, genius, with the killer smile. While Victor is more of the odd ball loner. Them being two polar opposites perfectly sets them up to be enemies. Each of them brings so much to the table. Victor and Eli felt very real. That's because each of them had their own opinions about right and wrong. They both had this odd way of hating each other while admiring each other. This making them not only some of my favorite characters, but help build how complex and unique they both were. when it came to side characters, they were also flawless. There's one character I wont talk about. I know it wont be a spoiler if I did, but I honestly rather leave them out just in case. However the other two are Sydney and Mitch. Mitch is one of those characters you know you'll like right away, but still know he'll take some warming up to. His character is slowly revealed and as his traits are given to us, you'll fall in love with him. Plus all this quirky aspects didn't hurt. Sydney was my favorite character in the book. I loved how she was both an innocent and kind of evil at the same time. She's cute, funny, and her back story is amazing.
When it came to the plot-line for Vicious I just couldn't get enough of it. The opening scene of this book will without a doubt pull you in. It's one of the best opening scenes I've read, and perfectly sets the dark tone of the novel. From then on the novel bounces back and forth between past, present, and then even hourly. The first part of the novel breaks down how the two meet how their experiment became, and how to two turned enemies. I loved how deep and dark Schwab took the start of this story. Every little detail is perfectly planted. I couldn't get over why a certain person got the powers they did. It's perfection. The last half of the book is where all the set up, and add ons start revealing themselves. All this leading up to the epic conclusion of an ending. You know eventually the two will come face to face and when it happens you wont be let-down, because in the end...
Vicious was the perfect summer buddy read. I died when I heard there will be a second book, because that ending. Also re-died when I heard this has been opted for a movie. The entire time I was reading this I could see it playing out so perfectly on film.
10/10 Stars
-Angela
I buddy read this book with Sandra. This is the first time her and I have done a buddy read together, and so happy to say it wont be the last. She is a booktuber/review from Norway! She puts out amazing and hilarious videos on her channel, gotathingforthings, so check it out! We had so much fun reading and talking about this book together. I just wanted to comment on how great it is having this bookish friendship, and how reading this novel with her made reading it even better. Being able to talk to someone and have a connection with something as simple as reading is something I'm so thankful for.
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