Odyssey Book BloG

★★★★☆

Vicious and Vengeful were both such fun quick reads. While I can definitely tell that this was some of Schwab’s earlier writing, it was still great- and managed to get me out of a slight reading slump with the fast pace! The story isn’t as rich in prose or emotionally heavy as some of her later works but definitely worth a read.

Spoilers ahead

Villains as Protagonists?

I loved that pretty much this entire story is told from the perspective of villains. Two psychopaths really- with one being way more likable than another. I think it’s Eli’s self-righteousness that makes him so unbearable. It’s one thing to be a villain, but an entirely distasteful personality addition to lack self-awareness and honesty about being a villain. He’s a mass murderer that believes he’s doing God’s work (even though he seems to genuinely have a good time murdering people) which is sort of a cliche trope and makes his most villainous trait that he’s unbearably annoying.

Victor is refreshingly honest, he knows he’s morally compromised and doesn’t seem to excuse it. He just doesn’t really care. His intensity makes him easier to take seriously than Eli, so he’s just a little cooler.

Pain, fear, and what makes us human?

Victor’s observation’s of pain are interesting, and in line with some of the themes VE Schwab explores consistently. As Victor loses his ability to feel pain, his fear leaves him, and his humanity seems to erode along with these things. This again, begs the question; is pain essential to being human? Is it what keeps us empathetic, emotional, and aware enough to care? According to Victor, yes, probably.

Enter; Marcella

Marcella is my favorite character and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

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

Her ability to “ruin” was devastating and wonderful. Her POV was absolutely my favorite and I am SO SO disappointed that she was killed. I was (lowkey) rooting for her. A jaded mob wife that murders her pos husband is just the material I’m looking for when I read an author like Schwab- I think she generally has a strength in writing female villains. I think it could have been a mistake to kill her, her chapters were the most compelling in book 2 and were ultimately what kept me flipping the pages.

Enter; Marcella

There were some aspects of this story that fell short form me. For instance, at some point the feud between Victor and Eli begins to feel thin the longer the story goes on. At times, I genuinely forgot why they wanted the other dead so much.

I half expected them to team up in the end and was sort of looking forward to it but maybe that would be too predictable. Victor’s obsession with killing Eli often comes off less like righteous vengeance and more like “I just hate your stupid face.” I’m hoping the next book doesn’t focus in so much on their feud. After two climaxes around it, I’m sort of underwhelmed.

Enter; Marcella

All in all, this duo was a really fun read. It wasn’t the heaviest hitting emotionally like Schwab’s later books that I happened to start with, but there are definitely similarities in her way of thinking throughout all and she remains a fav of mine. I’m so looking forward to seeing where she goes with the third.

Although that is the last we saw of Marcella, I’m hoping that’s not the last we see of Eli. After all, with regeneration and resurrection abilities floating around this narrative, anything is possible really.