Vicious by Victoria Schwab

4 stars

 I love the details in this cover. Amazing art!

Victoria Schwab has fast become one of my favorite authors. 

From the Near Witch, to The Archived, and now Vicious, I have to say that she writes engaging stories that absolutely thrill.

With her newest adult fantasy novel, Vicious, we are introduced to a new creative world. She gave a whole new spin to the idea of superheroes or ExtraOrdinaries (EO's). I loved how in this book, technically nobody is the good guy.

Both Eli and Victor have their dark sides, both have killed people in the pursuit for something bigger and greater.

The story swings between past and present and pulls together as we collect the little pieces of the puzzle to Victor and Eli's tale. A few chapters help us get to know the side characters like Mitch, Sydney, and Serena, in more depth.

Victor and Eli become involved in the study of Eo's and how they come into existence or whether or not they actually exist. After discovering how people attain their unique gifts, which is very fascinating and creative, they decide to take it a step further and experiment on each other to in order to attain results.

It's here that things start to get ugly and our characters begin to change. The boys split ways; Eli begins his killing spree and Victor his life in jail. Then the story amps up when Victor escapes from said prison, and picks up a stray on his pursuit on Eli who is trapped in his God mode.

The story dragged just a little at some parts, but I was otherwise highly entertained. (Out of all the characters I found Sydney to be my favorite!)

The ending was brilliant, and left it open in a way that was satisfying in my opinion. To others, possibly not so much, but this a book that's meant to be given a chance!