Vicious

Villains, Book 1

By: V. E. Schwab

Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

V. E. Schwab's New York Times bestseller Vicious is a masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

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.

"A dynamic and original twist on what it means to be a hero and a villain. A killer from page one…highly recommended!" —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Marvel Universe vs The Avengers and Patient Zero

One of Publishers Weekly's Best Fantasy Books of 2013.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2013 V. E. Schwab (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2013, Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

Entertainment Weekly's 27 Female Authors Who Rule Sci-Fi and Fantasy Right Now

"Fresh, merciless, and, yes, vicious. Wow." (Mira Grant, New York Times best-selling author of the Newsflesh Trilogy)

“Schwab's characters feel vital and real, never reduced to simple archetypes.... In a genre that tends toward the flippant or pretentious, this is a rare superhero novel as epic and gripping as any classic comic. Schwab's tale of betrayal, self-hatred, and survival will resonate with superhero fans as well as readers who have never heard of Charles Xavier or Victor von Doom.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“A fun, morally-flexible revenge tale...Vicious methodically ratchets up the tension as Victor and Eli circle each other for the inevitable kill.” (Daniel H. Wilson, NYT best-selling author of Robopocalypse)

So far so good!!!

Theres just not enough reviews for this book yet, but I wanted a thriller so I went for it. It's got a touch of sci-fi it it. I'm halfway through and find myself sucked in every time I start listening. Narration is really good. Story goes back and forth with past and present, but it's all pretty juicy stuff. I'll update when I'm done but so far this book has been great with how it doesnt lag and keeps you coming back to listen.

captivating

from tension building to character pov's and the great job of Arthur, every moment was a joy

Very nice!!

There’s nothing like a small self contained yet interesting story... this book is the best of both worlds.

A good morally grey protagonist paired against an equally interesting, intelligent, villain with a good origin story. Worth the credit.

Narrator was Rough

I really enjoy VR Schwab and the story was intriguing. But the narrator was beyond dull. He could not sound more bored and drab. And it takes a lot for me to let a narrator’s voice bother me. For now it’s a DNF, but I’m sure I’ll come back to it just to finish the book.

I loved it

Captivating until the end. A wonderful book that unfolds so beautifully with excitement and mystery!

Really enjoyed this

I got this because of the strong reviews. I really liked the concept behind it and the overall feel of the story. I had no problems staying focused on the book, which I have had with other books recently. The story also stays focused without a lot of trivial subplots, which I appreciated. I am glad that I purchased this.

Excellent

Don’t listen to the bad reviews. This book was excellent. It’s Unique take on people with powers. The story kept me interested and I wasn’t sure how it would conclude. The narrator is also very good!

Succeeds at what it wants to do, but...

...what it wants to do isn't very ambitious. The capepunk genre is a combination of noir and pulp, and here the pulp is lowered to a minimum, the pacing almost at a crawling speed. Why does that matter? Well, if I could see the story told very similarly without including superpowers at all (and unfortunately I can) then it is definitely not taking the most advantage of its niche.

I will commend it on presenting a better example of a villain protagonist than other books that have attempted to do that (the poorly written Broken Empire springs to mind for that separate niche) so I would recommend it for anyone looking to read a book with fantasy lite elements as a character study.

The narrator was mostly ok - his monotonous tone matches well the attitudes and general personalities of the two characters the book revolves around, so is immersive in that regard, but I feel that the cold and dispassionate voice did not work as well for everybody else involved. A few times the text clearly described that someone has said something somewhat emotionally right after the narrator read it with the most deadpan tone and it immediately broke me out of the experience.

Fav author

It’s official! I have a new favorite author! V E SCHWAB! She is incredible! I have not read anything like her work. The magic is phenomenal. The characters are so well put together, I feel they are real. I live the foundations and dynamic between the 2 MMCs and the sisters are great together! I am going to read the second right after this review!

Slow start..

Overall I ended up really enjoying this book. It didn’t grab me right away like Addie LaRue did. It was a little bit slow to start for me, I think it picked up about half way through. I’m glad I stuck it out and did not DNF. Starting on Vengeful now :)