Are you Vicious?

V.E. Schwab’s Vengeful was one of our most anticipated September releases, and we’re partnering with Tor Books to give away a Vicious prize pack! You can read the details of the giveaway below, but first, we want to share this review of Vengeful by guest writer Ashley Weber.

There are no heroes, only villains. This is what V.E. Schwab promises us in Vengeful, the sequel to her 2013 novel Vicious. For those who patiently waited the five years between installments and newcomers alike, the book well lives up to and surpasses its predecessor.

Vicious and Vengeful take place in a world not unlike our own, except for the presence of EOs, ExtraOrdinary individuals imbued with superhuman abilities. It is near death experiences, coupled with adrenaline, fear, and the person’s final thoughts that determine their powers. This hypothesis is tested in the first book by Victor and Eli, college roommates who want to manipulate the circumstances necessary to give themselves powers. A successful experiment results in Eli being granted seemingly limitless self-regenerative abilities. Victor, unwilling to be in Eli’s shadow, orchestrates his own near-death, and gains the ability to manipulate pain in himself and others, though the experiment results in the accidental death of a bystander.

Their actions immediately place them at odds with one another, with Eli believing Victor’s power—along with the death of their classmate—is a sign that Victor has lost his soul. Motivated by his religious upbringing, Eli believes his own power is a gift from God, and that he has been given a mission to eliminate other EOs. Thus begins a years-long rivalry, with Victor seeking revenge after Eli has him sent to prison. The first book follows the ten years after their lives are irrevocably altered, and the allies and enemies they gain as they circle closer to one another towards an inevitable confrontation.

Many of those characters return in Vengeful, set five years after the first book. Victor and Eli, hardened by the events of their last confrontation; along with Mitch, Victor’s cellmate from prison and hacker friend; Sydney Clark, a teenage girl whose brush with death on a frozen lake dramatically slowed her aging and gave her the ability to resurrect the dead; Dominic Rusher, a man who can slow time to a crawl; and Detective Stell, a government agent attempting to track and capture EOs.

The events of the first book leave Victor in a position where he is racing against the clock, getting more desperate to find a solution that will fix him, while keeping his makeshift family together. For Eli, the tables are turned, and where once he was in charge of men like Stell, he now finds himself at their mercy. New to the stage is Marcella, an ambitious woman whose intelligence has always been dismissed and diminished. After a violent encounter leaves her close to death, her fury unlocks a destructive ability that may, finally, give her the power she needs to make people take notice.

“Perhaps she was glass. But glass is only brittle until it breaks. Then it’s sharp.”

Most striking in this book are its women. There’s Marcella, who understands the way beauty must be weaponized as she demands to be taken seriously. Another new character, June, is a shapeshifter, whose ability protects her from any harm. And Sydney, now eighteen, feeling frustrated and frightened that the side effect of her near-death has left her barely older than when it happened. Given the political atmosphere of the last year—the last week—it’s hard not to see some element of wish fulfillment in Marcella’s destructive potential, or in the fact that nothing can hurt June. And it’s easy to empathize with Sydney’s fear and frustration.

True to the series title, Villains, there is no black and white morality to be found, or many characters who could be considered truly good people. The book confronts what it is to be good or evil. Many of the characters do things that are despicable, yet the motivations of all the characters make sense, and more than a few times you’ll find yourself rooting for someone who is decidedly not good. Even Eli, who in the first book is the primary antagonist, is given depth and development to the point where he becomes a sympathetic, tragic character.

The timeline of the book, like its predecessor, is nonlinear. It moves between perspectives of characters, taking time to show events from years, months, weeks ago. This keeps the pacing of the book flowing, and also gives the impression that all the events are dominoes being set up towards the climax.

V.E. Schwab has spoken some about her process with Vengeful. The large gap between the first and second book cannot be attributed only to the several other books she’s published in that time. She had struggled to write a manuscript for her Vicious follow-up, and when she turned a complete draft over, her editor knew that while it was good, it had the potential to be better. She scrapped the entire manuscript and rewrote the book in a matter of months. The amount of work Schwab put into the story is apparent. This book is a labor of love, in all of its morally grey and complex glory.

Learn more about Vicious and Vengeful on the publisher’s official site.

Purchase Vicious & Vengeful

Ashley Weber loves reading, writing, and getting emotionally compromised by various TV shows. She is certified Space Trash™ when it comes to franchises like Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, or any of the Stars (Gate, Trek, Wars). When she isn’t writing fantasy, she spends time on the couch with her girlfriend and cats, and romances aliens in Mass Effect.

Giveaway

Now, let’s talk about the giveaway! Tor Books has provided a fantastic prize pack for one of our readers.

One (1) winner receives a Limited-Edition VICIOUS Prize Pack including:

  • Copies of Vicious and Vengeful;
  • “Hell, we could be heroes” hoodie;
  • Vicious pencil set;
  • and a Vicious tote bag!

Follow hashtag #VillainsSeries to also enter giveaways for the Limited-Edition VENGEFUL prize pack!

While we love our readers all around the world, the Vicious prize pack is open to our U.S. readers only. Prizes and review copies provided by Tor Books.

Are you ready to enter? Check out the giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions: No purchase necessary. Must be 18 to enter. The contest is open to US residents only. Contest runs from 10/3/2018 12 am to 10/10/18 11:59 pm. Winner(s) will be determined after the Contest’s end date and notified by email. Winner(s) may be required to provide mailing address which will be used to fulfill the prize. The winner(s) of the Sweepstakes will be selected in a random drawing from among all eligible entries received throughout the contest period. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received.