Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Length: 478 pages
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: September 25th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.

With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

A super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions—#1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.

IT WAS TIME.

I’ve seen a little bit of marketing that the third (and final) book is finally coming out in 2026 so I figured it was time to see what the sequel was all about. I remember loving Vicious and the X-men vibes but make them all villains.

I don’t remember much from book one (I did not go reread it after 10 years), and I don’t think I really struggled with that fact. I was a little confused but the longer the book went on I did remember key pieces and that didn’t affect anything major. I’m grateful this book was pretty simple to fall into and the audiobook is fabulous.

The ever shifting POV is solid and makes the book flow well. There was less of Victor in this book than I was hoping and I think this lacked in some of the action I was expecting. The plot ramped up towards the end but was a slow starter in the beginning.

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how the conclusion pans out.

Overall audience notes:

• Fantasy/Sci-fi
• Language: mild-moderate
• Romance: very brief scenes (but this is a not a romance!!!)
• Violence: very high
• Content warnings: loss of life, murder, attempted murder, weapons violence, physical violence, torture, lots of death and discussions surrounding it

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