Editors Reads Verdict
A masterwork of moral complexity: Schwab writes two antagonists so compellingly that 'villain' and 'hero' become genuinely meaningless distinctions, and the dual-timeline structure — cutting between past and present — maintains pressure from first page to last.
What We Loved
- Both Victor and Eli are given full interiority — neither is a villain from the outside, only from the other's perspective
- The dual-timeline structure maintains pressure from first page to last without a wasted chapter
- Powers as trauma externalized is a quietly radical premise that runs beneath everything
- The restraint is the achievement — Schwab never tells the reader how to feel
Minor Drawbacks
- The premise's moral complexity requires readers willing to sit with genuine ethical ambiguity
- Some secondary characters (Mitch, Sydney) feel more functional than fully realized
- The ending is very dark, which will not suit readers expecting any conventional resolution
Key Takeaways
- → Hero and villain are perspectives, not properties — the same actions look different depending on whose side you're on
- → Extraordinary abilities that emerge from near-death reflect something real about the person's psychology
- → A religious conviction that you are uniquely chosen to survive is indistinguishable from narcissistic pathology
- → The most frightening antagonists are those whose internal logic is entirely coherent
- → Revenge sustained over a decade becomes the organizing principle of a life — which is itself a kind of loss
| Author | V.E. Schwab |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Pages | 364 |
| Published | September 24, 2013 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Thriller, Dark Fiction, Superhero Fiction |
Vicious Review
Vicious is the book that established V.E. Schwab as a writer worth taking seriously, and it remains arguably her most formally accomplished work. The premise — a superhero story in which both the protagonist and antagonist are unambiguously the villain — could easily collapse into clever-for-its-own-sake territory. Schwab makes it work because she is genuinely interested in the ethical questions she is raising, not merely posing them.
Victor Vale and Eli Ever are thesis partners at a prestigious university, competing intellectually and socially in the way that very smart people who respect each other sometimes compete. Their shared research into near-death experiences and adrenaline leads, through a chain of escalating recklessness, to a discovery: people who survive death under certain conditions acquire extraordinary abilities. The nature of those abilities reflects, in Schwab’s telling, something about the person’s psychology at the moment of dying. The implications of this — that powers are essentially trauma given form — run quietly beneath the entire novel.
Ten years later, the structure alternates between past and present. Victor has just escaped prison, where he spent a decade because of Eli. Eli, who calls himself a hero, is hunting down ExtraOrdinaries and killing them, sustained by a religious conviction that he alone is supposed to have survived. The reader assembles the full picture as the timelines converge.
What is most impressive is the restraint. Schwab never tells the reader how to feel about Victor or Eli. Both are given full interiority. Both have logic that is internally coherent. The darkness of the ending is earned rather than imposed.
Reading Order
Vicious is the first Villains novel and should be read before Vengeful. The series is complete at two books.
Reading Guides
- Books Like Good Omens: 11 Novels of Divine Comedy, Unlikely Friendship, and Cosmic Chaos
- Books Like American Gods: 11 Dark, Mythological Fantasies With Big Ideas
- Books Like Assassin
- Books Like The Name of the Wind: 11 Fantasy Novels with the Same Brilliant Prose
- Books Like Fourth Wing: 11 Romantasy Reads for Dragon-Rider Fans
- Books Like Red Rising: 12 Brutal, Epic Reads for Fans of Pierce Brown
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Vicious" about?
Victor Vale and Eli Ever were college roommates and best friends — until their thesis research on near-death experiences led them to discover how to grant humans extraordinary powers. Ten years later, Victor has escaped from prison with one goal: to find the man who put him there and kill him. A superhero story told from the villain's perspective.
What are the key takeaways from "Vicious"?
Hero and villain are perspectives, not properties — the same actions look different depending on whose side you're on Extraordinary abilities that emerge from near-death reflect something real about the person's psychology A religious conviction that you are uniquely chosen to survive is indistinguishable from narcissistic pathology The most frightening antagonists are those whose internal logic is entirely coherent Revenge sustained over a decade becomes the organizing principle of a life — which is itself a kind of loss
Is "Vicious" worth reading?
A masterwork of moral complexity: Schwab writes two antagonists so compellingly that 'villain' and 'hero' become genuinely meaningless distinctions, and the dual-timeline structure — cutting between past and present — maintains pressure from first page to last.
Ready to Read Vicious?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: