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Becky'sBookBlog

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Becky'sBookBlog is Currently Reading

Becky'sBookBlog is currently reading

The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost, #1)

by C.L. Clark (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: physical, currently-reading

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— Aug 16, 2026 01:31PM

Aug 14, 2026 08:55AM

Becky'sBookBlog is currently reading

Vicious (Villains, #1)

by V.E. Schwab

bookshelves: physical, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in May 2023

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Becky'sBookBlog said: " As you all know, I adore Schwab, but I’d put off reading this series because it was surrounded by hype and I was afraid it wouldn’t live up, but it did and then some. Vicious is a story about the danger of believing yourself to be a hero and the simp As you all know, I adore Schwab, but I’d put off reading this series because it was surrounded by hype and I was afraid it wouldn’t live up, but it did and then some. Vicious is a story about the danger of believing yourself to be a hero and the simplicity in knowing your’re a villain. It’s slow burn, character driven and just builds and builds to an inevitable ending that, despite knowing most of how it would go down, still shook me.

Victor and Eli, seemingly two sides of the same coin, both broken in their own ways, until one day they decide to push the boundaries of reality and in doing so give themselves extraordinary abilities. Victor is your stereotypical morally grey character, an outsider, more prone to the fringes of society and those who reside there. Someone who knows they’re bad, but only acts at their worst in the direst of circumstances, and with a softer heart than they might like to admit. Eli is the golden boy with a troubled past. His religion is his crutch and, in the end, his downfall. He is someone who fits in wherever he goes, flashing a smile, seemingly normal, but with a dark underbelly that allows him to believe he is superior over others. When these two take the plunge to become Extra Ordinary they come back different, with something missing, but whereas Victor knows he is irrevocably changed for the worse, Eli believes that his gift was given for a reason, and thus sets into motion a chain of events that will change the pair, as well as multiple other EO’s forever.

Alongside Victor and Eli, Vicious is interspersed with POV’s from our side characters, the main three being Sydney, the girl Victor rescues from the side of the road, shot by her sisters boyfriend. Mitch, Victors cell mate in prison & Serena, Sydney’s older sister who falls in with the wrong person. These three characters play such a large part in the telling of the story and Schwab certainly never skimps on growing them as characters, giving them plenty of development and allowing us to decide on which side of the story they fall… bad or slightly less bad. In fact nearly every single character that is mentioned gets their own POV/backstory to allow us to see where exactly they fit into the story.

This isn’t going to be the superhero story you expect. In the world of Vicious there had always been rumours of EO’s, people who gained abilities after near death experiences and after Eli decides to do his thesis on proving they exist he and Victor decide to test the theory for themselves. Schwab goes into detail about the painful and quite graphic ways in which these two, as well as other characters become EO’s, something that certainly adds a dark quality to the story. Every power seems to be unique, some able to raise the dead, travel from place to place in the shadows, become immortal, but they are all linked to what the person was thinking, what they wished for before the moment of their death. Their powers added an emotional and sometimes incredibly dark and scary atmosphere to the book and I loved learning about the magic system and seeing our characters use them, for good or bad.

The story is definitely a slow builder, but Schwab ensures we stay glued to the pages by giving us plenty of backstory on our characters with the help of both past and present tense chapters, chapters that tend to end on some sort of cliffhanger leaving you desperate to get back to that specific timeline. But what was truly unique was how Schwab somehow managed to get the readers almost two steps ahead of certain characters, whilst keeping us two steps behind others. We have a general idea of where the story was going, but she still manages to shock us and keep us on our toes. The story builds and builds to one epic, and incredibly fast paced ending, but for me the build up was almost better than the inevitable clash between these two titans.

If you enjoy stories filled with morally grey characters, the weirdest of found families, magical abilities and anti-heroes you seriously need to pick this book up. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to pick Vicious up, and will definitely be getting round to Vengeful as soon as I can. ...more "

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(47%)
— Aug 17, 2026 11:48AM

Aug 17, 2026 11:48AM · see review

Becky'sBookBlog’s Notes & Highlights

Book cover for System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7) by Martha Wells

3 highlights

If it actually turned out to be a trap, I guess they could have sent in one of their SecUnits, which would have been interesting because surprise, me too, and I honestly had no idea what would happen next.)

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Becky'sBookBlog’s Quotes

“Everyone mistook her silence for being dim-witted, but Orquídea was as sharp as the knives in her pocket. She saw the truth in peoples lies. She saw the sin in their deeds.”
― Zoraida Córdova, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

1 likes

“As they piled into the minivan, Rhiannon said, "I talked to the moon again last night." She scratched her forehead. Her Rose had turned violet overnight. Rey examined his Rose. "How come I don't get to be a human mood ring?"
Marimar ginned and said, "because your only mood is dramatic.”
― Zoraida Córdova, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

1 likes

“There were hundreds of things Marimar wanted to know. Why is this happening? Why can't we stop it? Why didn't you try to tell me sooner? Who are you? Why do this? What broke your heart so completely that it's splinters found their way through generations.”
― Zoraida Córdova, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

3 likes

“It was difficult to explain to Mike the house where she'd come from. The things her father and grandmother had believed in. Stories of stars, or slippery mermaids, and enchanted rivers. Stories about ghosts that could enter the house if they didn't lay down enough salt. Fairies living in the hills of their fancy estate in Four Rivers, disguised as insects. Magic things. Impossible things.”
― Zoraida Córdova, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

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“Orquídea's favourite colour was the blue of twilight - just light enough that the sky no longer appeared black, but before pinks and purples bled into it. She thought that colour captured the moment the world held it's breath, and she'd been holding hers for a long time.”
― Zoraida Córdova, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

6 likes

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