Vicious

(2.5/5)  I have been struggling how to describe why this book was consistently falling short for me. I finally settled on the word “sloppy”, as many of the same things that bothered me with A Darker Shade of Magic were present in Viscious as well.

Now, Schwab does succeed in one thing: plot. It's well-paced and you want to know what happens next.

Where Schwab falls short is characters and (in the case of Viscious) rushing through and over simplifying the world building.

First the characters: Neither Eli nor Victor is likable. Worse, they're almost boring in how flatly they're written. There is little to no set up on Eli's character, except for passing comments in the beginning that Victor recognizes that Eli has a dark side which eventually manifests itself into a God-complex? But then that God-complex is never delved into.

It comes across as lazy, since God is only mentioned by name but there is never any scripture mentioned or why Eli is religious. It was like Schwab didn't want to put in the research in the manifestations of God and what are the best motivations for Eli to turn to God as a sign he must kill EOs. (Also, EOs or ExtraOrdinary, is a stupid name for super heroes in otherwise every day world.)

Another note about EOs: Schwab obviously feels the need the need to explain the origin but it's super rushed and (once again) lazy.

As for the other characters, Sydney is not a believable 12 year old and it doesn't make sense why she should be attached to Victor at all. (I'd believe Mitch, but not Victor.)

The only character that was interesting and believable is Sydney's sister, Serena. Who started as probably a spoiled teenager/college student but then gains the ability to control people just by requesting them to do something. And she goes off the rails, gets bored and disillusioned by not being able to trust anyone's true feelings, and exploits her powers. Her psychosis makes sense where Eli's falls short.

Selena would have been a better villain.

Oh and before I forget: they sort-of-kind-of fridge a female character at the beginning. I hesitate to call it a full fridging because even though Eli's girlfriend does die as a result of Victor gaining his powers, it's not really a motivation for either Eli (even though he mentions it every now and then, although it seems more like an after thought) or Victor.

Oh, and Victor... I don't understand why any one finds him sympathetic at all. His entire motivation is revenge from the moment he escapes jail, and possibly even before that. (Also he feels paternal towards Sydney for some reason? And both Sydney and Mitch are compelled to follow Victor even though they have ABSOLUTELY ZERO REASON to?)

The only thing I felt an understanding of is that jealousy of wanting to possess something your friend has that makes them special (Victor when Eli gets powers) or wanting to be the only person in possession of the thing that makes you special (when Eli gets powers before Victor). That nasty feeling was the only true motivation I could identify with in either character.

Schwab just can't sell her characters and motivations and therefore what drives her stories to me. The only reason why I can finish them is because I want to know what happens next, but all of the characters could die and I wouldn't care.

It made me think back a lot on why I didn't like A Darker Shade of Magic and then I realized that I couldn't remember any character's name from ADSoM. Which shows just how memorable they are.