6. Book Club: 'Vicious' by VE Schwab
Heroes, villains and everything morally grey
We can’t believe that we’re already on the second to last episode of the season! How did that happen?!
This week we’re looking at VE Schwab’s ‘Vicious’s, the first in the ‘Villains’ duology. VE Schwab is a hero in the YA book world and ‘The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’ exploding on TikTok brought her more legions of obsessed fans, so we had to delve into her backlist and take on ‘Vicious’, one of her earlier novels.
This was Sarah’s first VE Schwab novel - nothing like a bit of pressure when trying out a new author! Sophie had previously read the first two books in the ‘Shades of London’ trilogy and DNFed ‘The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’ and had actually decided to move on from Schwab’s books, so this threw a spanner in the works, but she took on the challenge.
Book Club Run-Down
Title: ‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab
Series: Villains #1
Release Date: September 2013
Publisher: Orion (UK), Tor (US)
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognised the same ambition in each other.
A shared 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 with 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 arch-nemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?
Sophie’s Thoughts:
I’ve read and tried to read a few of VE Schwab’s novels before, but I felt fairly ambivalent about them and I was nervous about starting ‘Vicious’ as it has such a dedicated fanbase. Honestly, it wasn’t for me. I struggled to connect with Eli, Victor and Sydney which made it a bit of a struggle at times, and I also felt like the anchoring of ExtraOrdinaries was a little vague. BUT, I love VE Schwab’s ideas and themes, it’s just not quite the right execution for me.
Sarah’s Thoughts:
A dark novel with an ambitious timeline. Vicious has all the ingredients to be a book I should truly enjoy, and I can understand the appeal, but I ended up not liking the flavour.
You can read Sarah’s full review on ‘Books, Burgers and Backpacks’ right here!
Discussion Topics:
Where are the lines between good, evil and morally grey?
How did you feel about the treatment of women and girls, particularly vulnerable women and girls, in ‘Vicious’?
Can a book hit lots of the bullet points that should create a dark academia book and still not be dark academia?
Make sure you’re following us on Instagram and TikTok as we’ll be delving into these questions over there across the coming weeks.
The full episode discussing the novel went live this morning!
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We’ll see you in two weeks!
Sophie and Sarah x