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Vengeful by V. E. Schwab

A Book Review

By DruneiaPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Vengeful is the twisted sequel to V. E. Schwab’s Vicious. It is the continuation of a fascinating story, but, unlike its prequel, it did not captivate me from start to finish. Though it has its flaws, Vengeful is still a great book.

The characters of the book are a mix of new and old. Victor Vale is once again the protagonist of the story. At the end of Vicious, he is resurrected by Sydney. Unfortunately, she is unable to bring him back perfectly; Victor now has a flaw that is a dangerous glitch in his system. His goal during the book is to find a way to prevent this flaw from killing him permanently. Victor is still accompanied by Dol, Sydney and Mitch. Mitch is helping Victor search for a cure to his problem with his computer skills. Sydney wants to help, but simply has no clue how. She is also planning to resurrect her sister Serena who was killed during the events of Vicious. Dol simply follows his mistress wherever she goes. They are a twisted little family, but they all seem to care for each other in their own way. Eli Ever is still the main antagonist of the book, though his involvement is not apparent at the beginning of the book. He is confined in a cell at EON, a facility created by Detective Stell to track down and neutralize EOs. Due to pressure from the funders of EON, Stell starts using Eli as a detective force to help track down EOs. Marcella Riggins is a new player in the game of EOs. Marcella’s world is turned upside down when her husband, a mobster, murders her after she confronts him for cheating. She returns as a catastrophic force, an EO with the power of true ruination. After taking revenge on her husband and his mistress, she decides she doesn’t want to hide. Marcella is determined to make the city hers. She gathers a couple other EOs to help with the task, June and Jonathan. June is a shapeshifter with the ability to borrow any human form, but can’t use the forms of the dead or the forms of EOs. Jonathan has a shield that appears when he is in danger; he is also able to project that shield onto anyone he is looking at. Both EOs are key players in Marcella’s plan to bring the city to its knees.

I rather enjoy the plot line. It is different from Vicious, but still has the brutal, murderous current that is in the first book. With every interaction between the main cast, you wonder which pieces of the chess game will be moved and which pawns or players will be taken down. My one annoyance with the book is it’s pacing. Vengeful is a little slow to get started after Marcella’s introduction. While it is interesting to have flashbacks with relevant information to the plotline about our main trio, there is not enough actual plot at the beginning to truly get hooked. I find the book addicting once you get to the point where the game begins among the main players. The flashbacks scattered throughout the later parts of the book have a better pacing to them than the initial ones.

The issue with pacing at the beginning of the story is the only thing I really didn’t enjoy about the book. I enjoy the new characters as well as the old ones. Marcella is an interesting wild card added to the mix, a catalyst for the ending of the deadly chase between Victor and Eli. I am very curious how V. E. Schwab chooses to continue this series in the future.

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About the Creator

Druneia

A Canadian who has too many interests.

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