Vengeful

This was decent enough to read to the end, but doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor. It utterly fails to fulfill the promise of [b:Vicious 40874032 Vicious (Villains, #1) V.E. Schwab https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532011194s/40874032.jpg 19250870].Really, this series would be great if it stuck to the basic framework of (don't laugh) Megamind - guy who sees himself as a villain winds up protecting people from his creation, who sees himself as a hero. The protagonist isn't perfect, but learns and grows into a true hero, even if he has flaws.Instead of pursuing the continuing story of Eli's evil pushing Victor to be better, this book creates a new supervillain and focuses a large percentage of the book on her, leaving Sydney, Victor, and Eli to function almost in the margins of Marcella's story. Unfortunately, Marcella is pretty much the most boring character ever conceived. There are Bond villains with more depth and charm.And Victor doesn't offer a foil to the power-hungry, amoral Marcella. Much more than in the first book, Victor is simply a clever psychopath rather than a flawed character we can identify with. I mean, he spends the entire book hunting down innocent people and murdering them in cold blood when they can't help him - even when they try to help and are no immediate threat! And no one (least of all the author) seems terribly fussed about this. Sydney raises one concern and is scared into shutting up, but Schwab can't seem to commit - she could have leveraged that moment to draw Victor as a really bad guy (arguably worse than Eli, since his motivations are less selfless!), and told a story about the people around him having to deal with that. But instead she has one character ineptly try to question his actions, and then treats Victor like a hero for the rest of the story.I was also disappointed that we didn't get much about the idea that EOs are missing some integral human element. I think there's one offhand mention that maybe people just become more themselves when they transform. But this was a major issue in the first book, and basically gets dropped in favor of lingering descriptions of Marcella's hair, eyes, legs, and outfits.If Victor couldn't embrace the Megamind role, at least we could have had Sydney as the protagonist, as she deals with having a guilt-ridden, messed up relationship with a father figure who is becoming more and more evil. Instead, we got a story mostly about:Marcella (violent sociopath)Victor (violent sociopath)Eli (violent sociopath, but at least gets an interesting origin story and thinks he's doing the right thing)June (marginally sympathetic at times, but ultimately a violent sociopath)(Also, a random complaint - EON was pathetic. This supposedly formidable quasi-military group could have solved 90% of their problems with lots of snipers and decent IT security.)

Unfortunately, I didn't find this as captivating as the first one. Schwab decided to focus on new characters (in an effort to bring a more female presence, I guess?) when I just wanted a continuation of Victor and Eli's saga. Mitch was also pushed aside as a character (except when someone needs IT) and even Sydney had little to no development (beyond development of her power). June, the most interesting new character, was mostly auxiliary, a means to move the plot forward, but because of her power, we also don't really get a feel for who she is, her main motives (her weird obsession with Sydney is seemingly out of nowhere), or any development outside of the epilogue and even that is a bit of a cliffhanger. I was a little disappointed. I would probably have preferred the version of the book her editor told her to rewrite because, as Schwab put it, “it was just a continuation of Vicious”. That's what I wanted as a reader. Marcella and June's stories should have been saved for a Tor novella or as more secondary characters instead of having the focus shifted to them.

Pros:
- World. I loved being back in this world with the EOs and Victor and Eli. I loved that we also got to meet new characters
- Pacing. This book gave me serious Illuminae Files vibes because every chapter was counting down to a specific moment. Everything took place in relation to this event, one we did not know was coming.
- Eli. I loved every scene with his scheming and plot. Honestly this book was made better by him and I know most people hate him but he is by far the best character in this world.
Cons:
- Hype: I think this book was so anticipated for me after how much I love Vicious, but this one did not live up to the hype. Do not get me wrong, I loved this book, it just was not everything I needed in the book.
- Are we getting more books? Vicious ended in a very complete way even if I wanted more. Now I got more and it definitely was left open this time for more in this world, but I'm not sure I want more.

alright i definitely liked it better than the first one, and it was a pretty good book overall.
i liked how it introduced a lot of good characters that added to the story in really good ways. the only criticism i have is that we didn't really see that much of victor or eli in this book, which disappointed me.
but yeah, really loved the concept and story! sometimes it was a bit boring tho

Convoluted structure asides, my main issue is how seriously this thing takes itself. First one was fun, the sequel... not so much. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I think it was a bit too long. Lacking cohesion, additionally. The June stuff just felt unnecessary unless she's being set up for something in the future (which I suspect is the case, but the point still stands). I didn't feel attached to anyone in this story, contrary to the last book. Anyways, pretty good book
Marcella was just a poorly done character tho. I think V.E. Schwab was possessed by some old guy while writing all the parts with her because... seriously lmao. not compelling in the slightest, irritating at best. I wish this had stronger villains in place of Marcella and June, Eli was pretty okay in this book though.

This book got me in a reading slump honestly. I was excited to read it after the first one. I feel like the focus really shifted from Victor and Eli to a much more varied cast of characters, which is why is was so jarring that the ending was yet again all about them and they're weird relationship. 

I liked the story and understand why some things near the ending had to happen for the story to be able to progress. Yet some things I really didn't like about the ending. And as I see it now this is supposed to be the last book in the series? Which makes it worse because it really didn't really end at all. Maybe it's just a open end figure it out for yourself kinda end but I have never liked those. As the second in a trilogy I would have rated it 4 but as the end of a duology its just not worth that. 

After seeing Vengeful win Goodreads best of list for 2018, and I wanted to check out V.E's latest series - and after a strong first book I continued to #2. I have mixed thoughts on this one though. I love the world, I love the two main characters and I love their rivalry. Unfortunately, those parts of the story were minor details in a larger battle between the cast. I could've used more exploration into the world as a whole.

I'm still stuck between 3 and 3.5.

This series was always on the periphery of my mind but I only picked up Vicious close to the release date of Vengeful, probably because it was being hyped so much in the community and I wanted to give it a try. It was an interesting read but I didn't feel compelled to pick up the sequel immediately, waiting for the right mood. I also didn't have a lot of expectations and the book seems to live up to that.

One of the most interesting part of Vicious was the rivalry/revenge plot between Victor and Eli. There was always the showdown looming at the back of my head and I was excited for it. But this book fails to create the same excitement. The author recreates the same non-linear timeline and I found it easier to read this time around. I found the pacing also quite better and finished it much faster. We also discover some new kinds of EO powers which were very fascinating and I wanted to know more. The book is also much more darker than the first - more blood, more gore and just more killing. But the story never managed to make me feel invested in what was happening, so when any twists happened, it didn't feel like a gut punch. The plot also meandered a lot and there just wasn't a cohesive tight story. However, there are some amazing and highly quotable lines peppered throughout the book and I had a fun time highlighting.

I had a hard time liking the characters in the first book and nothing much has changed. Eli maybe imprisoned but his motivations haven't changed, so I still hate him but the flashbacks from his childhood were probably the best part of the story, and it was interesting to see how he became the killer he is. But he is also imprisoned for most of the book, so there wasn't much he could actually do. Victor is on a mission to find out what's wrong with him after being resurrected, but his story gets too repetitive too quickly. I could sympathize with Sydney for feeling lonely and missing her sister, but she hardly had any development. It was the same case with Mitch who is still the nicest guy in this series but doesn't get to do much. Dominic had a very good arc this time and I definitely came to like him a lot.

Now it's the new characters Marcella and June who are much more fascinating. June's powers are supercool and I liked the way she handled everything, but I never did understand her fixation for Sydney. And Marcella is the most badass character of this series, she has immense power and ambition, and isn't afraid to use them. She is completely unfazed by any opponent and is ready to take on everyone. She also has the best lines in the book. But ultimately, I felt that the author did a disservice to her character. For all the potential she had, her arc felt very anticlimactic and and I just wanted more for her story. Also because of the many characters and POVs, we never spend enough time with anyone and it felt unsatisfying.

Finally, I just want to say that this sequel didn't feel better than its predecessor. It's written well and is a fast paced read, but just not impactful enough. You should obviously check it out if you loved Vicious, but I still feel that book could have been left as a stand-alone. Also, I hated that this book has an open ending without giving us a clear indication whether we'll have another book.

This is a good sequel to “Villains” and it explores the consequences of having super powers. You get to learn more about the supporting cast of characters, which helps with the story build. I believe that there is going to be a final book and I am interested to see where the story goes after the ending of this book.

It felt like I had to read through the first 400 pages of prologue just to read the actual story in the last 75 pages. If you're in love with the diction the author writes with, or the characters the first novel introduced, then this might be a worthwhile read for you. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up another novel which can tell a story just as riveting in a far more concise format.

I'm still sticking with three stars out of five because the ending cohesion was well written and satisfying, albeit long overdue with the dullness of the first three acts. I believe you could comfortably read the first 50 pages, skip to the Fourth and final section of the book, start reading, and miss almost nothing.

DNF at 45%

Not sure if I'm being more cynical and just becoming old or whatever or... authors are really selling their souls for being marketable, but this book is not what I felt like the sequel of Vicious was going to be.
I will be brutally honest, the two new characters, Marcella and June did nothing to me, other than make me roll my eyes at how abysmal Miss Schwab is at writing female characters that don't make me pissed off. She really showed that in A Darker Shade of Magic, with Lila basically being your typical special snowflake, perfect little thing who is brilliant and just can do whatever, because it will be justified at the end and no negative consequence will come to her.
The two here are basically just horrible assholes who are supposedly empowered. Honestly, I am over that, female characters being cardboard muh empowerment violence fantasies. Now some people will say “b-but women are not allowed to be angry in society so ridiculous tantrums are so new and subversive”, which is bullshit. Intellectually dishonest bullshit to justify bad behaviour.
Other than being badly written characters, they just didn't feel like they had a place in this story. The core characters from book one had so much extra to give that adding these two for marketability to big spender demographics (young women and girls) was basically just... a good financial decision, but a bad artistic one. Especially because that group already LOVED Victor, Eli, Sydney, Mitch, Dol and just yeah. Them. The ones I actually cared about. The ones whose chapters are broken up by stuck up bitchy mafia wives and crazy doctors and needless, over the top bullcrap.

I think that was one of my main issues here; we didn't need all these things. Random shit thrown in. I actually liked Vicious for being a pretty straight-forward story that didn't need a gazillion and one story lines and elements to make it enjoyable. The message was simple too; Eli wanted to do the right thing and was so wrong, while Victor didn't aim to be good but ended up doing good things.
Here? I don't even know. Honestly, it's a mess. We jump around so much with so many different things I don't care about that the actual interesting parts take forever to go anywhere and by then I'm too frustrated with meaningless crap and characters sitting around, thinking about stuff. And things. It wasn't a coherent story, but random ideas thrown into a blender without consideration.

All in all, I have no idea why this was needed, other than the author becoming a big name and now having a big market to make more money on it. Again, I have probably changed as a person and a reader since Vicious, but this really missed me with everything. I'm starting to feel Miss Schwab is one of the authors I liked that one time and now I should give up trying to recreate that feeling with any of her subsequent books. It's gone.

Have a nice day and know when to end a story!

Vengeful is an exciting second entry in the Villains series. It carries the same comic book style characters and plot in a full length novel. Schwab sure knows how to build up to a great climax! Vengeful was a very fun read that introduced awesome new villains. It's as good as it gets for this style, it just doesn't have enough depth for me to consider it 5 stars.

~ Perhaps she was glass. But glass is only brittle until it breaks. Then it's sharp. ~Goh, toch eigenlijk weer een beetje ontgoocheld over dit vervolg op het fantastische [b:Vicious 40874032 Vicious (Villains, #1) V.E. Schwab https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532011194s/40874032.jpg 19250870].Het verhaal begon goed, met weer leuke nieuwe personages (ik wil het verhaal van June!), maar wanneer de nieuwe personages het spotlicht van de oude personages volledig stelen, voelde ik met toch een beetje bedrogen. Ik wou het verhaal van Eli en Victor, en van Mitch en Dom en hoe Sydney verder ging na de gebeurtenissen. Dit krijgen we wel een beetje, we krijgen meer achtergrond van Eli en een beetje inzicht in Sydney, maar alles voelde een beetje aan als bijzaak. Victor was voor mij opeens een volledig ander personage en zijn verhaallijn vond ik echt maar povertjes.Het plot zelf vond ik eigenlijk maar een beetje cliché en saai. Ik weet niet hoe het komt, maar ik vond het eigenlijk totaal niet spannend, ook al was het duidelijk wel de bedoeling om spannend te zijn. Ook al waren de personages weer schitterend, ze slaagden er niet in emotie bij mij los te weken, waardoor ik eigenlijk niet echt geïnvesteerd geraakte in het verhaal en het lot van de personages.Misschien waren de verwachtingen te hoog, maar na een beloftevol begin, voelde Vengeful voor mij wat plat en gebroken aan.

After seeing Vengeful win Goodreads best of list for 2018, and I wanted to check out V.E's latest series - and after a strong first book I continued to #2. I have mixed thoughts on this one though. I love the world, I love the two main characters and I love their rivalry. Unfortunately, those parts of the story were minor details in a larger battle between the cast. I could've used more exploration into the world as a whole.