The book alternates between present-day scenes and flashbacks, and a large part of the success of the novel rests in the fact that Schwab successfully pulls off this technical trick without blunting her momentum.

And on its own terms, it’s an enjoyable tale. If you do, you’re left with a well-paced and sharply-structured novel. In some ways, it’s best to simply ignore the ‘super-hero’ tag. Its handling of ideas of heroism felt like a reiteration of themes comics (Marvel, DC, and independent) have been interrogating relentlessly (if not neurotically) for at least thirty years. Reading it, I found that the book seemed interested in questions of morality, heroism, and villainy, but that the super-hero aspects were so attenuated I doubt it would have occurred to me to consider it as a super-hero story without the claims of the book jacket. Billed by some as a super-hero story, it had elements of that genre while also, to some extent, questioning its assumptions. Schwab had written a number of YA novels when, in 2013, Tor published her book Vicious. What I loved most about VICIOUS is that readers have to wade through a lot of gray zones, that nothing is black and white.V.E. Next September, a full five years after its debut, Schwab and Tor are teaming up to release a sequel, entitled VENGEFUL, and the hype is already high as fans clamor to find out what happens next to the characters they've grown so attached to.

Now, Schwab is a best-selling author and just signed a million dollar deal for more books. VICIOUS is the book that catapulted Schwab into a new genre and brought her new fans. She was too down on herself after everything she had been going through, and when Tor Books bought and published this, her debut adult novel, she never dreamed about how her circumstances would change. She has talked extensively about the dark place she was in, and how she wrote this odd little novel for herself, never thinking anyone would want it. Schwab had been writing YA novels and was having some trouble with her publisher.

The novel itself has an origins story, which is really cool, since within its pages lies the origins story of roommates Victor and Eli.

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