VENGEFUL BY V. E. SCHWAB || BOOK REVIEW

Vengeful (Villains #2) by V. E. Schwab

Rating: ★★★★★

The sequel to VICIOUS, V.E. Schwab’s first adult novel.

Sydney once had Serena—beloved sister, betrayed enemy, powerful ally. But now she is alone, except for her thrice-dead dog, Dol, and then there’s Victor, who thinks Sydney doesn’t know about his most recent act of vengeance.

Victor himself is under the radar these days—being buried and re-animated can strike concern even if one has superhuman powers. But despite his own worries, his anger remains. And Eli Ever still has yet to pay for the evil he has done.

CW: torture, graphic violence, mentions of self-harm 

SCHWAB IS A GENIUS. Seriously, I’m one step away from chanting her name to the blood moon. The whole world just needs to know how great of a writer she is.

There is no denying that this series is now one of my all-time favorites. The first book, Vicious is one of the best books I have ever read in my 17 years of existence. That is why I was so looking forward to its sequel. I almost cried blood when Vengeful was released and I couldn’t afford it. Hardbacks are expensive sons that a broke student can hardly afford.

I’m just so thankful to Kaleena @readervoracious for gifting me this book. THIS DRAGON LOVES YOU SO MUCH I WANNA CRY. You’re a blessing to this community and to this world. Check out Kal’s spreadsheet for book bloggers! I assure you it will make your unorganized soul reconsider your life choices. She also has a program called Flapping Pages that aims to give ARCs to international bloggers. If you have ARCs to give away, check out Kal’s program and help in giving them out to bloggers all over the world!

Anyway, even though it took me a long time to start reading Vengeful (reality interfered with my plans) it didn’t dampen the hype I’ve been feeling since I’ve read the masterpiece called Vicious. VENGEFUL WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED AND MORE.

HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON V. E. SCHWAB’S VENGEFUL:

• Cleverly-written prose

The idea of EOs will never fail to make my brain short-circuit. It’s a fictional concept yet it’s scarily believable. Schwab makes it seem so real that I’m one step away from hunting down EOs myself and no I’m not gonna send them to the authorities. I’m gonna adapt them all so we can build one messy great family.

Vengeful is told in a series of flashbacks and I enjoyed every word of it. The prose is carefully stringed together, with perspectives from different characters such as Victor, Eli, Sydney, and Marcella. It was good to meet some old characters (Mitch is the most precious human being ever) and it was interesting to meet new ones as well.

• MARCELLA

Oh well she deserves the spotlight in this review. Marcella Morgan can step on my face and I’ll thank her for it. She exudes beauty, confidence, cleverness and power, albeit vain and self-absorbed. Most importantly, she wants to bring patriarchy to its knees and is willing to turn patriarchs to ashes and rule the world with blood and murder in her wake. A TOTAL ICON.

Here’s one of her most brilliant thoughts:

“How many men would she have to turn to dust before one took her seriously?”

• ‎The Eli and Victor rivalry

Victor and Eli will never fail to make my heart lurch out of my chest. I just love how Schwab wrote their character arcs—how two brilliant pre-med students went from friends to greatest rivals. The anticipation of their standoff and the question of who’s going to be the last man standing almost gave me a heart attack. Vengeful gave me the Victor-Eli showdown I wanted. Who won, you ask? READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT.

• ‎This book gave more dimension to some characters

Allow me to share this small excerpt from my good ol’ Vicious review:

“Eli, on the other hand, is someone I want to throttle and push off towards the void.”

Yes yes violence is not the answer but Eli was devil incarnate in Vicious and I just wanted to rip his face off. That is why I felt so betrayed when I ACTUALLY FELT SYMPATHY FOR ELI IN THIS BOOK. Why would you do this to me, V? Vengeful focused on Eli and his past and I couldn’t help but FEEL for him. Reading more about who he was before he met Victor made him seem more three-dimensional.

I also got to know more about Detective Stell, the officer who first investigated Eli and Victor and is now the director of EON (ExtraOrdinary Observation and Neutralization). He may be a minor character but he plays an important role in this book. Vengeful also gave insight on how Sydney grew up and coped with Serena’s death. I really hope to see more books from this series because I still want more of Syd’s character development.

• It is INTENSE

Vengeful is a thrill fest and the gripping story-telling will keep you up all night. The last chapters made me want to jump up and down. I COULDN’T SIT STILL, FOLKS. If you’re looking for a book that’s full of action, look no further. Vengeful is the one for you. 

I loved this book so much and I wish that I can read a sequel to this because I’m not ready to let go of this series just yet. I know that V struggled with this book (this was published 5 years or so after Vicious) and I’m willing to wait for the next Villains book even if it takes 10 or a hundred years for it to be published. I NEED MORE VICTOR CONTENT THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Even if this series won’t get another installment it will still have a special place in my heart as one of the best-written series of all time.

Have you read Vengeful? What are your thoughts on this series? If you were an EO (ExtraOrdinary) which power would you love to have?