Please note that this is a spoiler-free review for Vengeful. However, there may be spoilers for Vicious which were hard to avoid as I was writing this review. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out my review for Vicious.

The sequel to VICIOUS, V.E. Schwab’s first adult novel.

Sydney once had Serena—beloved sister, betrayed enemy, powerful ally. But now she is alone, except for her thrice-dead dog, Dol, and then there’s Victor, who thinks Sydney doesn’t know about his most recent act of vengeance.

Victor himself is under the radar these days—being buried and re-animated can strike concern even if one has superhuman powers. But despite his own worries, his anger remains. And Eli Ever still has yet to pay for the evil he has done.

Characters

• The morally grey characters get greyer. I liked learning about Eli Ever’s past which gave his character more depth and dimension. While Victor was clearly the hero in the first book (albeit a flawed one), this became a bit more muddled in this sequel.

However…

• There was a large cast of secondary characters introduced in this novel, including Marcella, Jonathan and June. Dom, Syd and Mitch’s stories continue as well. I found it difficult to keep track of these secondary characters’ motivations. As much as I loved Mitch and Syd in book 1, they seemed less central to the story and they weren’t as well-developed here. As for the newer characters, I felt there wasn’t enough backstory for them to be relatable.

Plot

• There were a few plot twists that I enjoyed.
• The ending left me with something to think about.

However…

• At the beginning of the novel, it wasn’t apparent what the story was. I found the plot to be unfocused and scattered until the second half.
• The pacing was quite slow, and it was hard for me to stay engaged throughout this novel.
• To be honest, I liked how the novel ended after the first book. There were a few loose ends but I didn’t mind them being left up to interpretation. I didn’t think there needed to be a sequel- it kind of felt like an after-thought.

Writing

• As usual, VE Schwab’s writing was brilliant!

However…

• There were lots of jumps in time which felt scattered and at times confusing.

The Bottom Line: 2/5 stars

As much as I enjoyed VE Schwab’s writing in this sequel and the morally grey characters, the pace was slow and the plot felt scattered.

Were you were disappointed by the second book or the finale of a series? Could a book ever have too many characters? What is your take on morally grey characters?