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Vicious by V.E. Schwab book cover
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Vicious

by V.E. Schwab
364 pages 2013 Dark Fantasy, Adult Fantasy, Thriller 🌶️ Clean Series: Villains
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The Vibe

Victor and Eli were best friends at university before their research into ExtraOrdinaries — people with supernatural abilities — destroyed everything between them. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison. He has a plan. Eli has his own agenda. Both of them are right. Both of them are wrong. V.E. Schwab on the nature of villainy.

Mood Meter

Romance
2/10
Fantasy / Magic
8/10
Pacing
10/10
Darkness
8/10
Humor
3/10
Angst
7/10

Mood Tags

DarkIntenseMorally ComplexFast Paced

Trope Tags

EnemiesSuperheroes/VillainsMorally GreyAnti-Hero

Spice Check

🌶️ Clean

Clean — this is about power and obsession, not romance.

Content Heads-Up

Is This Book for You?

Skip if you dislike:

Ending: Satisfying (open)
Pacing: Very fast

What This Book Feels Like

Moods: Dark Intense Morally Complex Fast Paced

Tropes: Enemies Superheroes/Villains Morally Grey Anti-Hero

Reading Order: Villains

1 Vicious You are here
2 Vengeful

If You Loved This, Try These

Vengeful
V.E. Schwab
Direct sequel — essential reading
A Darker Shade of Magic
V.E. Schwab
Same author, more adventure-forward
The Atlas Six
Olivie Blake
Morally grey characters in competition

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Vicious a superhero story?

Yes and no — it deconstructs superhero morality rather than celebrating it.

Is there a romance in Vicious?

Minimal — this is about obsession, rivalry, and power. Not a romance.

Should I read Vengeful immediately after?

The duology works best read together — Vengeful recontextualizes everything.

Keep Exploring

Books Like Vicious More by V.E. Schwab Villains Reading Order Dark BooksIntense BooksMorally Complex Books Enemies BooksSuperheroes/Villains BooksMorally Grey Books All Books Take the Quiz Subscribe

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How this guide was built

Every Sort By Cravings guide is written after a full read-through — not scraped from publisher blurbs or Amazon summaries. We map tropes directly from the text, cross-reference BookTok and Goodreads reader reactions across 500+ community posts, and calibrate heat ratings against reader consensus before publishing. Mood tags, spice numbers, and “skip if” notes reflect actual reading experience. Read our editorial standards.

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