Vicious

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Spring 2023 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. It’s time for a TBR and I love doing these. Now I’ve completed my Read the World Project and have nothing that I have to read it’s really fun to look at my shelves and think about what I’d really like to pick up and read next.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
I’m going to Amsterdam in May and am planning on visiting the Anne Frank House, and while I learnt about Anne Frank and the Holocaust in school, I’ve never read her diary so thought it was about time to rectify that and I got the audiobook from my library.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
I read an ARC of City of Brass years ago and while I liked it, I didn’t carry on with the series, but now the author has a completely new book and it features female pirates which sounds pretty cool.

Vicious and Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
So, Vicious will be a reread and I did love it when I read it nearly 10 years ago! As it’s been so long since I read it, I do want to reread it before reading Vengeful. I’ve heard mixed things about the sequel so I’m interested to see what I make of it and hopefully Vicious lives up to my memory of it.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Firekeeper’s Daughter is one of those books I’ve seen around for years and have been tempted to buy it many times because of its gorgeous cover and after it was available for 99p on kindle, I finally succumbed and got a copy.

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
I saw a video where Matthew Sciarappa mentioned reading the latest novel in this cosy murder mystery series and it sounded like my kind of thing plus, I’ve not really read any books in translation since I finished my Read the World Project and I don’t want to get out of that habit. Turns out my library has the series available on audio so I’ve got a reserve on the first book and it should be available in May.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I am a bit hesitant about this one as while I loved The Martian, I didn’t think much of Artemis so Project Hail Mary could go either way for me.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Kindred is one of those modern classics that I’ve heard a lot of good buzz about but still don’t really know what it’s about. I think it’s a mix of historical fiction and sci-fi and time travel which should be an interesting and potentially hard-hitting combination.

The Beast Player and The Beast Warrior by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano
This is a duology full of mythical beasts and I’ve been doing pretty well at reading series so far this year aka I’ve read two trilogies (Winternight and Battalion of the Dead) and would like to carry on catching up on the series on my shelves this year.

What books are you hoping to get to in the next few months?

The Totally Should’ve Book Tag

I was tagged by Lauren at Never Anyone Else to do this pretty self-explanatory tag – her blog is pretty darn great so don’t forget to check it out! Now onto the tag!

1. Totally should’ve gotten a sequel
vicious_cvVicious by V.E. Schwab
I’d love to see what happens to these guys next, if the trio stick together or if they go their own ways.

2. Totally should’ve had a spin off series
Harry Potter (obviously!)
I want to know more about what happens to the likes of Seamus, Dean, Luna and Neville after the Battle of Hogwarts.

3. An author who should totally write more books
Christopher Paolini.
He certainly earnt a break after writing the epic Inheritance Cycle but it would be cool to see what other things he would write, would he stick to fantasy or write something completely different? I want to know! (more…)

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books I’d Love To See As Movies/TV Shows

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. This week is about the books that I think would make good films or TV Shows – Ii chose some because they’re my favourites and some because I think the world is so rich that it would make a great screen adaptation.

Five Ghosts by Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham
Five Ghosts would make an excellent adventure film like Indiana Jones but with some supernatural elements. I did hear there might be a TV show made out of Five Ghosts which would be equally awesome.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin
The Twelve is about a vampire-filled apocalypse. It would make a great TV show but I think The Walking Dead has filled the post-apocalyptic world filled with monsters quota for media. (more…)

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books I Read In 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. I read a lot more this year than I thought I would and a lot of what I read has been really good. So this weeks Top Ten Tuesday is the perfect time to look back at what I’ve read and pick out some highlights. I reviewed some of these books I’m going to mention, so if it you want to find out more about what I thought – just click the link and you’ll get to my review!

Young Avengers Vol 1: Style > Substance – Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelviephoto 1 (2)
Young Avengers really kicked off my comic book reading this year. I had read a few volumes towards the end of last year but this year I’ve read a lot. Young Avengers is a lot of fun and the story arc was very easy to get into even though I only knew one or two characters from the team before I started reading it. If you like teenage superheroes saving the world while having relationship dramas and having great banter – Young Avengers is for you.

Vicious – V.E. Schwab
I’m always intrigued about people with powers and I loved the take on that in Vicious. All the characters are interesting and no one is just a cardboard cut-out of a hero or villain. (more…)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Characters I Wish Would Get Their OWN Book

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. I love secondary characters, sometimes more than the main character, so this was the perfect Top Ten Tuesday for me as I always want to know more about minor or secondary characters.

photo 1Angela – The Inheritance Cycle – Christopher Paolini
I quite like not knowing much about Angela’s past but I think it would be cool to have a story about what she did after Galbatorix is defeated. I’d love to see her go on more adventures and get involved in other rebellions and excitements.

Robin Goodfellow – Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman
Robin Goodfellow is a very old puck so I’d love to read about his adventures before he met Cal and Nico in the twenty-first century.

Murtagh – The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
Murtagh is such a tragic character. I’d love to have a book from his point of view about when he is captured by Galbatorix and how he came to be bounded with Thorn, his dragon. It wouldn’t be a fun story but I’d like to see what was done to him to make him turn against Eragon, but at the same time what made him stay strong and try to protect Nasuada.

(more…)

V is for: Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

DSC02305Vicious is about Victor and Eli – two friends in college who decide to build a thesis about how EO’s (Extraordinary people) get their powers. They experiment on each other but nothing goes entirely to plan. Fast forward ten years and while they are no longer friends, they each have an extraordinary power, and they each want to kill the other.

I really liked Vicious. I liked the way it was structured, there would be a chapter set in the present and then the next chapter would be set ten years earlier. So you have two stories running at the same time – the first is how Eli and Victor got their powers and the second is how they use them in their quest to confront each other. The chapters were also really quick reads and nearly every single one left me wanting to read more (even when I’d reached my stop on the bus)

I also liked how it is left up to the reader to figure out whose side you’re on because while they are both super-powered they are most definitely not superheroes. That being said, they each have clear motives for their actions so it is difficult to label one or both of them a super villain. I love some morally-ambiguous characters and there is that dilemma – is a person evil if they do a bad thing but for a good reason? That’s a question Vicious asks.

Besides from Eli and Victor (who are certainly interesting characters) you also have Serena who can be very persuasive, Sydney who is a wonderful young character – I sometimes think children in books can be annoying but she fit into the story perfectly and also acted perfectly believable when she ended up in dangerous situations – and Mitch who may be huge and scary-looking but defies all stereotypes. To be honest there wasn’t a character I didn’t like.

I love the world that is built in this novel and while Vicious is a standalone book I would definitely like to see more of the EO’s and their powers – which is something I don’t often say  as trilogys/series are a hell of a commitment. The action scenes are well written, really vivid and tense. Overall I loved pretty much everything about this book – especially the cover, just look at the awesome cover!

I give Vicious 5/5.