Vicious (Book Review)

Vicious

Author: V.E. Schwab (Victoria Schwab)
Publisher: Tor
Number of Pages: 368
Release Date: September 24, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world.

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 reveals 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 archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

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MY THOUGHTS:

I'm a bit stumped on how to write this review. Frankly, I'm always a bit stumped on how to write reviews-- no matter how many I write--but this one is especially hard. I knew that I wanted to read this book from the moment I saw the amazing graphic novel-y cover. I don't think it will shock any of you if I admit that I am a total super hero nerd. I cannot get enough of Batman and Spiderman and I adore the X-Men. Vicious just looked and sounded so amazing, and I wasn't disappointed in the least. Vicious is amazing and original. I really just cannot recommend it enough.

Vicious is the story of two men: Victor and Eli. The two are roommates at college and strike up a weird, competitive, yet close friendship. The two men are both brilliant and obsessed with making names of themselves. When they have to pick their thesis topics, Victor picks something to do with adrenaline while Eli chooses the taboo topic of EOs or ExtraOrdinaries. EOs are people who have developed powers of some sort and their very existence is up for debate. Victor is immediately jealous that he didn't think of this amazing topic and becomes more and more interested in it as Eli starts his study. The two boys eventually make a connection that EOs may be created through near-death experiences which leaves only one option: They need to die in order to test the theory. Through unforeseen circumstances their experiments both work, but they turn the boys into mortal enemies with Victor in jail and Eli free to live his life. 

One of my favorite aspects of this book is the unusual timeline. The chapters are all short and we consistently jump from 10 years ago, when the two men were in college, to the present where a final showdown is brewing. I loved seeing the events that lead to their separation and the jumping back and forth really added to the suspenseful nature of the climax. 

The secondary characters are also drawn brilliantly. On Victor's side we have a young girl with a special gift that Victor picks up on the side of the road named Sydney. She was easily my favorite character. Sydney is near death when we first meet her and I was rooting for her survival throughout the novel. Also on Victor's side is his cell mate, Mitch. Mitch is loyal and interesting in his own right, and I was happy for to see a positive friendship represented. On Eli's side we have the mysterious Selena, a woman who has a way of getting what she wants. Throughout the book, more and more connections are made between all of the characters, and I really enjoyed this aspect, as well.

Finally, I loved the philosophical debates that Vicious addresses throughout. Should people be able to play God if they have the powers of a god? Do near-death experiences--or the act of dying--strip away a part of a human's soul? This isn't a superhero book in the normal sense of the word. These men aren't Superman or Captain America using their powers for the betterment of mankind. There is no real hero of the story even though I was definitely on a side. I read an interesting article the other day, I believe in Entertainment Weekly (probably in EW as that is the only magazine I really read), in which the author was discussing the rise of the anti-hero. Shows like Dexter and Breaking Bad and Mad Men have made us, as a society, cheer for the hero that is maybe even more bad than good. Dexter is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I completely agree with the sentiment that we are more likely to connect with these types of broken heroes than those untouchable men in tights (although I totally love them all, too). 

Again, I really just cannot recommend this enough. It is dark and original and fast-paced. The writing is descriptive. The story is interesting. Victoria Schwab has definitely gotten a bump up in my book. I've heard wonderful things about her YA book The Archived and it has jumped several spots in my TBR pile.

Read this!