I adore Sydney and I adore him, but their relationship seemed so flawed here (and not in a bad way) Schwab really highlighted the tensions of their growing pains well.

He’s angrier, seeking vengeance (ha), less reliant upon his family, more strict with Sydney. However, he has sharp-edges (and I do love sharp edges). And he formed the most…tender found family I have possibly read about. Not to mention, she masterfully writes two brilliant antiheroes, Eli and Victor, both of whom I simultaneously hate and love. She is one of the most skilled writers I have had the pleasure of reading. I could go on for hours about how effective Schwab’s writing is, how she drills her points in so easily, how effortless the writing reads (despite knowing how much effort is put in on her behalf), how descriptive yet smooth it is. Although, I am in the unpopular opinion realm with this.

So for me, Vengeful excelled where Vicious did not and that’s what made it a fantastic sequel. For some, this was disappointing, and while I do agree that there is a disconnect between the writing of both (especially considering how long was spent between the publication of both), I found this pacing to work more effectively for me. As for pacing, both books jump in time, but where Vicious is more methodical and slow, Vengeful jumps into action immediately and stays there. Vicious was difficult for me to read because of the “suicide” (not with intent to die) aspects and in that sense, Vengeful was much easier to swallow. However, Vengeful was darker in the murderous, violent aspects, which mentally, was better for me. Vicious dealt more with the intentional transformation to an EO, meaning that both Victor and Eli basically committed suicide to put themselves in that state. Both books are incredibly dark, but in different ways. It ended up working for me on two accounts: the dark aspects and the pacing. I actually cried when it ended, partially because “what on earth had just happened” and partially because “wow, I hate goodbyes.” If you’ve read it, you’d understand both perspectives, I think.Īnyway, I think one of the most important things to acknowledge is how different Vengeful is from Vicious. It really shouldn’t have taken me so long to get to this review honestly, considering I loved this book so much. If there can be life after death-will there be calm after vengeance, or will chaos rule?” ( Goodreads).

Now, a trio hides in the shadows, while another takes advantages of post-death life to take over the city of Merit. Or so he thought-but Sydney Clarke felt otherwise, and used her own superpower to tip the scales. They were dead, then alive, and then-Eli killed Victor, once and for all. They were best friends, and rivals, and then enemies. “Eli Ever and Victor Vale were only medical students when their mutual discovery that near-death experiences can, under the right conditions, manifest extraordinary abilities.

Vengeance ve schwab