A tale where the villain cannot be differentiated from the hero.

Vicious is the first book in V. E. Schwab’s Villains series.

The series currently has only two books, but a potential third and final installment has been announced to follow soon.

Written in 2013, Vicious mixes fantasy with the moral greys of the real world. One cannot truly tell on which side the two main characters – Eli Cardale AKA Eli Ever and Victor Vale – fall.

The series focuses on the existence of ExtraOrdinaries, or EOs, who are born from near-death experiences and their powers relate to the last wish or thought a person had before dying.

Eli and Victor work together to prove that it may be possible to create an EO by artificially simulating a near-death experience.
However, in proving this, the two men gain powers that turn their lives upside down.

Eli develops the ability to heal himself, which means that nothing that hurts him can leave a wound or a scar on his body.
Victor gains the ability to control pain – to give it to someone or take it away entirely.

Both of their powers resemble each other’s, but the simple nature of human self-importance and self-righteousness make these two the strongest of enemies.

The book begins with Vale escaping from prison after 10 years, with a heart full of hatred for his once best friend, Eli.

Diving deep into the book’s chapters, it is revealed that the nature of Eli’s healing powers has given him the illusion that he has been chosen by God himself.

Eli runs rampant, finding other EOs and killing them, simply because he thinks that EOs are ‘wrong’ and not supposed to exist.
The irony in this whole situation is that had it not been for their experiment, they would never have gotten here.

Victor understands his role in the fate of EOs and tries his hardest to stop Eli.

However, he is not free of all fault. Victor has a deep, dark desire to defeat Eli because of certain events in the past, including his imprisonment.

Both men make use of people they have met in the time since they became enemies, to defeat each other.

While the end of this book works out in Vale’s favour, one can never know what Schwab has in store for us until the very end of the series.

And if anyone is dissatisfied with how this ends, the second book in the series, aptly titled Vengeful, gives readers another chance to try and reevaluate all the moral greys.

Although this is a fantasy novel, anyone can relate to the concepts of selfishness and power that lead the two main characters astray.

Readers who have been wanting to get into the fantasy genre but are not a fan of fantasy romance may find Schwab’s work to be right up their alley.

Her other books like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, follow suit and give readers a lot to think about while being set in the fantasy fictional world.