Best Read of the Month: Vicious By V.E Schwab

“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”

Vicious is a story about super-heroes and super-villains and how it isn’t easy to differentiate between the two. The story is split between present and ten years ago. The former tells of Victor, an escaped convict, who is on a mission to get revenge from his friend-turned-enemy. The latter tells of ten years ago where Victor is a young university student who is incredibly close to his best friend – Eli. When Eli plans to discover whether EOs (Extra-Ordinaries) exist, he and Victor become involved in a scheme that may grant them supernatural abilities. The complex friendship between the two men that was part admiration and part jealousy and how it developed as they grew and became more obsessed with power and their own view of right and wrong is brilliantly depicted.

Everyone in the book has their own problems to face, especially the moral struggles that go with having God-like powers. There was no clear-cut message of goodness versus evil here. All characters can be considered “bad,” even our main narrator, whom we are expected to side with.  Victor is not a good man, although he does have redeemable qualities, but throughout the novel, his good deeds are mixed in with sparks of inhumanity and violence. He kills, inflicts pain and tortures people to fulfill his purposes.

It’s all about the ambitions, feelings and conflicts of people who are far too clever for their own good. People who work together to obtain power end up with their relationships being torn apart by that power. The characters all have dark sides hiding beneath their calm, collected exteriors and walk the fine line between good and evil. Overall, we would highly recommend this.

On the nightstand:

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Lily has worked hard to get out of her past and make her way into a brighter future. And as she is immersed in her relationship with Ryle, her first love returns to her life, bringing her past and present together. 

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

A dark, urban fantasy about a city filled with monsters who can steal your soul with songs and an unlikely pairs attempts to navigate this terrain of villains and enemies.

Truly Madly Guiltily by Liane Moriarty

Moriarty shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don’t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.