Vicious (Villains, 1)

A trade paperback repackage of New York Times bestseller V.E. Schwab's Vicious, a masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, and superpowers which will include:
*A new cover by Wil Staehle, cover artist of the iconic Shades of Magic trilogy covers
*Schwab's Tor.com short story set within the Vicious universe, "Warm Up"
*A teaser for the upcoming sequel, Vengeful
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
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Community Reviews
The worldbuilding and lore for superheroes were great as well. In this world, superheroes aren't out and about like in Marvel. Most of them are hidden and regarded with suspicion (like X-Men I guess, though I haven't seen that) and/or not believed in, which I felt was a lot more realistic for a regular world. So between the world and the characters, there was a recipe for a really great read, and I'm definitely looking forward to where the characters go from here in the next book.
3/23/22: I reread this book so that I could finally read the sequel and it had been four years since I first read it. I really enjoyed the reread - my opinions and rating stayed the same this time compared to last time I read this. Found family books always make me happy, and if there's anything Schwab is good at, it's found families and character development. I loved the original take on superheroes and powers and I'm excited to see what happens in the second book.
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