by V.E. Schwab
Genre: Adult superhero horror
My Rating: ★★★★★
Description:
10 years ago - A pair of ambitious university students set out to prove their thesis that ExtraOrdinary people are a scientific possibility -- but things go badly wrong.
Now - Victor Vale has just escaped prison, and he has vengeance on his mind. The target? His former friend, Eli Ever.
Overall Thoughts
The only word I can think of to describe this book is WHOA. It's a really quick read, just over 300 pages, and it feels even quicker because the chapters are so short, but WHOA. This book didn't need to be any longer to pack a real punch.
The Characters
The characterization is excellent. (I feel like I say this quite a lot, and I'm sorry. But that just means I'm reading a lot of excellent books, right?) We get to see the character development in a really interesting way. There are several different timelines running at the same time, with chapters alternating between ten years ago, last night, last fall, one hour until midnight, etc. and so we get to see the characters "before" and "after" before we understand exactly what happened to change them in that way. Throughout the book, you keep asking the question: what happened??? And it's really cool.
The characters are all morally grey, and it's impossible really to love or hate any of them. (With the exception of Eli Ever. I'm sorry, I did hate him.) (And yes, okay, I did love Sydney and Mitch.)
But Victor Vale is the prime example of a morally grey character that you can't quite love and you can't quite hate.
Plot/Pacing
The plot is engaging and original, definitely not your average superhero novel. The jumps back and forth between different timelines could easily have been confusing, but Victoria Schwab handled it masterfully.
Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding was also excellent. I found the concept of the EO's very interesting, and the powers, instead of being cheesy (like pretty much every superhero story ever conceived), just added to the overall storyline, theme, and tone of the book. The character's powers were actually really creepy/scary and make the book feel like a horror story. In a good way. ;)
My brother told me after he finished this book that it's "The Dark Knight of superhero novels" and I have to agree. It's really that good.
Content
Recommended for ages 16 and up.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Potential triggers for self-harm (not a result of depression, but it could be disturbing). A character overdoses on painkillers on purpose (not exactly a suicide attempt, but it could be triggering to some readers), and then tries to overdose again. A character electrocutes themselves on purpose.
Violence is definitely heavy in this book. Several on-page deaths, including several murders with details that could be disturbing. Descriptions of blood and wounds. Characters use guns, and the gunshot wounds are described. One character tries to kill a child. The characters' powers are not very "comic book", and scenes where the characters use their powers can be very disturbing.
In terms of sexual content, there are several kissing scenes, and two scenes that vaguely hint at sex. In one, two characters are lying on a bed kissing each other. In another, the same two characters lie in bed together, after a suggestive comment by the girl implying sex. Neither character is married. There is a couple in the book with a rather large age gap between them -- one character is college-age (maybe 19), and the other is close to thirty two. A female character manipulates another character into being intimate with her (being vague to avoid spoilers.)
Swearing includes several uses of the f-bomb, as well as other profanities. This is an adult book, and the language used definitely is more adult, as well as more frequent, than the majority of YA.
A character is known to deal drugs. A character uses painkillers to overdose (see triggers above.) A character attempts to use cocaine to overdose. Characters drink alcohol.
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