Book Review: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

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BOOK review
Started on: 5 May 2019
Finished on: 21 May 2019

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

Title:Vengeful

Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher:Titan Books

Pages: 575 pages / 336 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2018
Price: Rp 370,000 (http://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 4.5/5
*for those who haven't read the first book, this review may contain spoiler.
Review for Vicious by V.E. Schwab here.
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"Perhaps she was glass. But glass is only brittle until it breaks. Then it’s sharp."

Marcella Riggins was almost killed by her own husband. After surviving it, she finally gained the control she's always sought—and will use her newfound power for revenge and bring the city of Merit to its knees. She started recruiting other EOs as her sidekicks and took advantage of the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Cardale—putting them against each other once more. With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity—and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

"Maybe we are broken. But we put ourselves back together. We survived. That’s what makes us so powerful. And as for family—well, blood is always family, but family doesn’t always have to be blood."

 

I went into this book with a pretty high expectation, considering how much I love the first book, Vicious. I ended up really enjoying it but I still think the first book is better. I'm not sure if it's because it took me too long to finish this book (since I was quite busy this month) or I'm just not really digging the storyline. I do believe that I would've enjoyed it a bit better if I read in a shorter amount of time so I'll be able to immerse myself in the world with all of the different characters. One of the main reasons why I wasn't loving this book as much as the first one is because the story focused on too many different things. In the first book, we solely focused on Eli and Victor—how their relationship changed from friend to foe. The sequel still carry the same tone of dark anti-hero story and there are new characters being introduced; but all I want is just more Eli and Victor 😂. Not to say that they are not interesting, but I was already emotionally invested with the old characters so I don't really care much for the new ones.

"Some people were matches, a bit of light and no heat. And some were furnaces, all heat but little light. And then, once in a blue moon, there was a bonfire, something so hot and bright you couldn't stand too near without burning."

The book is written in a similar format as the previous one; it has multiple timelines focusing on different characters starting from the past until the present day. The first new character introduced in this book is Marcella Riggins, a new EO who just emerged after her husband almost killed her in a fire. Right from the start, Marcella is introduced as a really ambitious character who despised being regarded only as a woman with a pretty face. So after she gained her newfound ability, Marcella gladly showed off her powers and even took revenge on the people who looked down on her in the past. We are also introduced to June, a mysterious character with an unknown past who also befriends Sydney. Her ability to shapeshift into another person comes really handy in certain situations and she's also a highly-skilled assassin who has her own revenge agenda. Although these two characters are very strong and has amazing powers, unfortunately I wasn't rooting for them in any way. I feel like Marcella is just a very arrogant character who thinks she is invincible. But I do really enjoy her final battle when she went against another EO who's able to withstand her power 😏.

Now let's talk about the old characters that I love more 😂. First of all, I'm a bit disappointed because Sydney Clarke and Mitch Turner doesn't play a big role in this book. I was hoping that Sydney's power will be even greater and have a huge effect in the storyline; but unfortunately her side of the story felt a bit anticlimactic. Meanwhile, Eli Cardale is now being kept by EON (ExtraOrdinary Observation and Neutralization) to help track other EOs. I don't know why but I got the vibe of Hannibal Lecter, who's imprisoned but people needed his intelligence to assist them. I love Eli so much because I know he always has a plan brewing in his mind. Even though he's supposedly the villain of the story, I still think he's brilliant and at the end his plan almost worked perfectly. I also feel kinda bad when he became an experiment to test the limits of his ability. We also finally got a glimpse of Eli's past and it makes us understand where he's coming from—how he became the person that he is today. He definitely has a dark past and it's one of my favorite parts in this book. On the other hand, after the events in the previous book, Victor Vale was resurrected but he came back different. Something went wrong inside his body and he'll do anything to find someone who can fix it. Although he became very violent in this book, I feel like his actions are results of desperation. Despite everything, I'm still rooting for Victor throughout this book. He's one of my favorite characters of all time 😎.

"It was just so easy.
As if everything had wanted to come apart.
There was probably some law about that.
Order giving way to chaos."

Overall, this book is still very well-written just like the first one; the different plots that slowly intertwined with one another was done beautifully. The ending was totally unexpected. When I was questioning the relevance of a particular character, suddenly he showed up and abruptly turned things around (I'm trying my best not to spoil the ending here 😂). Everything happened so quickly and it felt very rushed. I'm still unsure as to how I feel about the ending. It's definitely not as satisfying as the ending of the first book. Nevertheless, this book is still a great read! It's suspenseful, action-packed, and it always made me feel like I'm watching a movie. V.E. Schwab successfully dragged me into this world of EOs that she created and made me grow attached to it and the characters in it. I will definitely try reading other books by V.E. Schwab, hopefully it will be just as amazing.

"A promise you can’t keep is just another lie."

"Every end may be a new beginning, but every beginning had to end."

by.stefaniesugia♥ .