Cbr16bingo Part 1
This is the second novel I’ve read recently that deals with heroes and villains, and with the notion that “heroes” are actually pretty terrible people. Hench was a great read, and I was immediately sucked in to Vicious, too. In both stories, the “bad guys” actually are the people who seem to have a better sense of what is the right thing to do, but they still aren’t completely good people. This is a pretty dark novel and absolutely not for the squeamish. Suicide, torture, and bloody murder are almost a constant through the story, yet I couldn’t put it down.
Victor Vale and Eli Cardale are both promising students at Lockland University. They are roommates and best friends, but there is also a tension, a rivalry between them. Eli came late to the university and was roomed with Victor, which ended up working out surprisingly well. Sure there was the little issue of Eli stealing Victor’s crush, Angie, but Victor wouldn’t let that get in the way of their bond. Then, during their final year of school as they began work on their senior theses, the cracks in the relationship began to grow. Eli’s research is focused on EO’s, Extra Ordinary people, that is people with superpowers. It’s a controversial topic, one that many folks (including Victor) roll their eyes at, but then Eli makes a breakthrough discovery: EO’s are “born” after having died and been revived. Victor, who wants to be a good and supportive friend, suggests testing the theory. Both students contrive controlled situations in which they will die and the other will revive them. Victor’s attempt fails but Eli’s is successful, leading to changes in Eli for the worse and jealousy in Victor. When Eli refuses to help Victor “die” again, Victor takes matters into his own hands, with horrific results. Both guys are now EOs, but the process seems to have taken something of their humanity or conscience away.
Ten years later, Victor has broken out of jail with a friend and is intent on finding and getting revenge on Eli. Eli has spent the last ten years as a self righteous and self proclaimed avenging angel for God. Eli believes that EO’s are an abomination in the eyes of God, excluding himself of course. God loves him and blesses his work, which is to track down and kill every EO there is. Clearly these two are destined for a showdown, but the whole situation is further complicated by sisters Sydney and Serena, who are also EOs. Sydney is just 12 when Victor meets her and sees her incredible powers at work. Older sister Serena is one of Eli’s targets, but her powers are quite formidable and allow her to get the upper hand over Eli. Thus Eli gets a partner in his work, a partner whom he resents but whose powers help him enormously.
The final showdown is pretty tense, thrilling and yes, bloody. While I was rooting for Victor, I couldn’t deny that Victor himself could be a ruthless and heartless adversary. I like the way author VE Schwab shows that there is a price for acquiring a super power and that that price is an emptiness, a lessening of one’s humanity or conscience or spirit. Or perhaps the problem is that people who wish for such power are exactly the kind of people who should never have it in the first place. Victor and Eli set out to get powers, unlike the other EOs in the novel, and the other EOs are much more sympathetic characters. Anyway, there is a part 2 to this series and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next for Victor, Eli and the rest.