Vicious: A Panoramic Review (NA/adult)

"A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question." (from Goodreads)

Note: This review includes some mild spoilers, as there was just too much I wanted to talk about. Major spoilers about the ending, however, are whited out.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

My reaction:    

This is the sort of book suited to readers who don't mind completely dislikeable, loathesome, irredeemable characters. Because that is what Vicious gives you. This book has the most vile, sickening characters that I've read about in a long time.

As is obvious from the above description, there are two main characters here, Victor and Eli, and really it's a six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other situation as far as I'm concerned. Victor specializes in magically torturing people and Eli specializes in killing them the old-fashioned way. If I were forced to pick, I suppose I would choose Victor, simply because he seems to be more sane and stable than Eli. I think that if, heaven forbid, I somehow got in his way, I might be able to reason with Victor if I had something to offer him (like a useful superpower), in order to keep him from killing or torturing me. Whereas if I was an ExtraOrdinary and I ran into Eli I would be just plain out of luck, convinced as he is that he is on a God-given mission to eradicate all ExtraOrdinarys (save himself, of course, because he's "special".) 

Joining their ruthless ranks is Serena, Eli's sort-of girlfriend, who specializes in compelling everyone around her to do what she wants. She sometimes sickened me more than the others because she was so slick in manipulating people. We're told she is unable to "turn it off" and likes it when people resist her; perhaps that was supposed to make us sympathize with her but it didn't really work. Personally I thought she quite liked getting her way and twisting Eli around her little finger. Add to that her betrayal of her younger sister Sydney and let's face it, she was not about to win me over.

The only characters I actually liked were Sydney, Mitch, and the dog Dol. Sydney was a sweet, relatively innocent young girl who, despite the many obstacles she'd faced, had not turned all brutal the way Victor, Eli and Serena had. She was gutsy and had a quiet inner strength – sort of an "old soul." It was kind of sad and pathetic the way she saw Victor as her "safe place," given that the reader is well aware of his less-than-friendly attitude towards anyone who gets in the way of his plans. Mitch really seemed to care about Sydney and acted protective of her. And the dog, well, his loyalty to and bond with Sydney was admittedly adorable.

Best aspect: the complex, thought-provoking nature of Victor's and Eli's relationship and views of each other, both in college when this whole mess began as well as ten years later. While they may see themselves as vastly different (and they make every attempt to repeatedly tell themselves that) they are really two sides of the same coin. 

For Eli, there is a good dose of religious fanaticism motivating his "mission", whereas Victor is all about the cold hard facts. Eli's more impulsive and passionate, Victor more clinical, clever and exacting. In college, Eli was the charismatic one, naturally claiming the spotlight, easily charming the girl, whereas Victor lurked in his shadow, always a step behind. Victor has a glint of humanity left, evidenced by his befriending of Sydney and Mitch, while Eli appears to care for no one.

Yet their similarities are far more striking than their differences. Each determined to prove himself — Victor to Eli, who he seems to hero-worship; Eli to the world, and perhaps God. Each willing to take risks, to be utterly ruthless, to get a step closer to their ultimate goal. Each with a cruel sadistic streak that only widens when they become ExtraOrdinary. Each fascinated with pushing the boundaries of science and ethics. It is the height of irony that they both consider themselves to be on the side of "right" and the other on the side of "wrong" when from the reader's perspective it is easy to put both firmly in the category of "villain." (In fact, to underscore this point — the story primarily alternates between Victor's and Eli's perspectives, and I had a lot of trouble remembering which character I was reading about at any given time. Their mindsets just seemed so similar to me.)

If I could change something... I would tighten up the middle section plot-wise. The story dragged in the middle; things were getting repetitive ("ho hum, who's going to get tortured or killed next?") and I started to get bored. Mainly I just loathed both characters so much that I wanted to get to the part where they died (a not improbable prediction given that each of them wants to take out the other). 

I would also introduce a couple more characters who were not as despicable as the rest. It was disheartening to read over 300 pages about sadistic people with no hope for redemption. A few characters with some humanity left in their hearts would have brought a better balance to this book. 

As well, I would have liked more insight into Serena's motives. We don't get a very strong read on her character or much information on her backstory, particularly regarding her relationship with her sister.

If you haven't read it: and you like reading books about horrible people doing horrible things, well then...Vicious is your book.

If you have read it: did you find it as darkly harrowing and disturbing as I did?

Just one more thing I wanted to mention: I found the end of the book disappointingly anti-climactic, perhaps because it was not quite the ending I was hoping for. Spoilers, highlight to read: well, I was kind of hoping that Victor, Eli and Serena would all perish in a pyre of flames, as I said to my sister on Skype chat when I was partway through reading the book. Sadly, that did not come to pass. Serena did, in a manner of speaking, make it to the pyre, but Eli just ended up getting arrested (seriously, how long until he breaks out?) and Victor "died" but was conveniently resurrected by Sydney a couple days later. I would have appreciated more conversation between Victor and Eli at the end, hashing out what had gone wrong between them all those years ago at college, rather than simple physical battle.

Final verdict: This book is the antithesis of warm fuzzies. If you are looking for a book that delves into the inhuman lengths that super-humans will go to in satisfying their own ends, look no further. Vicious is aptly titled. 

 

Rating: 3.5 shooting stars. I struggled with what rating to give this book, simply because in all honesty I cannot say I liked it, but at the same time I cannot really say it is badly written. I will say that I think some of the violence was gratuitous, and overall I was left feeling sort of gross and tainted when I finished the book. I feel like perhaps Vicious tries too hard to be "edgy" without delving as deeply as it could into the real philosophical, ethical and psychological issues underlying Victor's and Eli's choices. 

 

Note: This book is only appropriate for mature readers (NA or adult), as it contains graphic violent content. 

The Sharp Time: Review

Patient: The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connell

Presentation:  

Sandinista Jones is a high school senior with a punk rock name and a broken heart. The death of her single mother has left Sandinista alone in the world, subject to the random vulnerability of everyday life. When the school system lets her down, her grief and instability intensify, and she ponders a violent act of revenge.

Still, in the midst of her crisis, she gets a job at The Pale Circus, a funky vintage clothing shop, and finds friendship and camaraderie with her coworker, a boy struggling with his own secrets.

Even as Sandinista sees the failures of those with power and authority, she's offered the chance to survive through the redemptive power of friendship. Now she must choose between faith and forgiveness or violence and vengeance. (from Goodreads)

Assessment:

Axis 1. Characters

Sandinista's a one-of-a-kind protagonist: quirky, dark, edgy, cynical, with a sardonic-verging-on-bitter sense of humour. She and I are very different in personality, so while her voice is powerful and present, I had a difficult time relating to her. Her way of looking at the world is not one I can identify with, but it's one that raises lots of questions. She's got a hard shell of protection around herself; her voice projects a "tough" image, her words continually loaded with sarcasm. It's clear that she had a close bond with her mother, and her death has left Sandinista feeling alone and desperate. You get a very strong sense of her personality, and it seems like she herself also has that strong sense of self; she sees things a certain way, and is not easily swayed by others to change her viewpoint.

Given the trouble I had connecting to Sandinista's perspective, her reaction to her teacher Mrs. Bennett's cruelty seemed extreme. Certainly the teacher was way out of line, both in terms of her continual verbal harassment of Sandinista and Alecia (her treatment of Alecia was particularly vicious, I thought), and her physical kicking of Sandinista's desk. But I wasn't feeling the venomous hatred that Sandinista was, and her obsession with revenge on the teacher — rather than a more rational course of action such as taking this to the principal or school board — didn't click with me. I had difficulty sympathizing with Sandinista's complaints about how no one from the school was getting in touch with her, when she personally had not voiced how she was treated to someone of authority. Admittedly there were plenty of witnesses, and Mrs. Bennett was undeniably in the wrong; but this inaction on Sandinista's part, followed by the festering desire to see Mrs. Bennett taken down, did not make it easier to relate to her.

Bradley is a very atypical teenager as well. He waxes philosophical on occasion, and like Sandinista has an extensive vocabulary. I must admit, while I could swallow Sandinista being so intellectual, I had a bit more difficulty believing that she would happen to find someone her age of a similar bent of mind working at the Pale Circus. 


Axis 2. Premise/plot

I found the pace of this one quite sluggish, weighed down by a bit too much description for my taste (albeit well-written description). The 'revenge on Mrs. Bennett' storyline occasionally brought up the tempo a little, but then towards the end that plot sort of died, in a way I thought robbed Sandinista of making her own decision. (Spoiler, highlight to read: Bradley throws her gun away, and this seems to dissolve her nebulous revenge plans, rendering Sandinista's role very passive. I also wanted to see a confrontation with Mrs. Bennett, and we don't get that.) This resulted in the story losing its 'point,' so to speak, outside of Sandinista coming to some realizations.

Axis 3. Writing Style

O'Connell's writing style is very literary, her sentences peppered with unusual description and words you might find on the GREs (I consider my vocabulary to be quite broad, but I must admit she had me furrowing my brow a few times). There are artistic and cultural references throughout, many of which went right over my head, unfortunately. Indeed, I remember thinking that it could be read and analyzed in a classroom situation. 
  
I also think this is one that could fall into the elusive "new adult" category. Sandinista's 18 and spends most of the book out of school. This, coupled with the high language level, could make older YA readers more likely to pick it up.

 
Axis 4. Psychological Accuracy

The psychological elements of The Sharp Time are not as clear-cut as some of the other books I've reviewed for this event. Sandinista mentions ADD (attention deficit disorder) once or twice, but I'm not sure if she's officially been diagnosed with it, or simply been told about her poor attention span many times before. In any case, it's a sore spot for her, one that Mrs. Bennett attacks her about again and again. Sandinista's obsession with whether or not she is "paying attention" demonstrates that this is an area she feels defensive about, regardless of whether or not she actually meets the criteria for ADD.

Which, itself, is not so obvious. We're in her head a whole lot, and yes, her thoughts do cover an expanse of topics, but I don't know that her attention span is any shorter than the average teenager's. It's made abundantly apparent that Mrs. Bennett believes Sandinista needs to pay closer attention to the task at hand; whether Sandinista is actually having difficulty doing so is another question. One of the reactions to having ADD can, however, be violence/aggression, and Sandinista certainly displays impulses in that direction.

But I think Sandinista might show signs of an adjustment disorder as well. This is a response to a "life stress" — for instance, the death of a family member or problems in school, both of which Sandinista experiences — that is more extreme than one might expect. Symptoms Sandinista arguably demonstrates include: lack of enjoyment (her general outlook on life is dark and jaded, although she does seem happy when she's with Bradley), desperation, trouble sleeping, feeling overwhelmed, skipping school, vandalizing property, and avoiding family/friends (she avoids her previous friends, anyway, although she does make new ones). (There's also a scene with reckless driving, of a sort, but seeing as this is accidental on Sandinista's part, I don't think it counts!) At any rate, she certainly seems to have a dangerous amount of anger brewing into a stalker-ish, decidedly unhealthy obsession with Mrs. Bennett. 

A minor quibble: a couple of times the words "OCD" and "psychotic" are used incorrectly. It's true, these terms do pop up in daily conversations in a casual way, and they are generally not used properly. But nevertheless it irritates me. In particular: you cannot have a "psychotic smile." Psychotic refers to having hallucinations and/or delusions, and a smile cannot hallucinate much of anything.

Validity Score: How psychologically accurate was The Sharp Time?

Axis 5. Miscellaneous

Personally, I didn't enjoy the anti-Christian barbs made by some of the characters (including Sandinista) throughout. Other readers might not mind this at all, but it soured my own impressions. I can appreciate that a lot of teens do question, criticize, and make light of religion, so Sandinista's biting and satirical observations may well be realistic of that age, but regardless, I found myself feeling offended at times. Religion is a topic that I like to see handled with care, and that didn't happen here the way I might have wished.

I felt like there was some sort of message the author was trying to send, but frankly, by the end I still wasn't really getting it. I couldn't tell if it was intentionally anti-Christian, if it was just anti-organized-religion, or something else entirely. I think Sandinista gains a better understanding of spirituality and faith, but I'm not certain what that understanding is.

Diagnosis: 3 shooting stars. Don't get me wrong — the quality of writing is high, the themes and characters nuanced and complex, and begging to be analyzed. But I didn't like many of the characters (especially Sandinista), I had some issues with the religious aspects, and the plot was ultimately a letdown. 

Note: there is some mature language used in this book.

Disclaimer: I received this book for review for Psychtember from the author. 

For my interview with Mary O'Connell, go here.