Science Fiction Annotation

Vicious
by V.E. Schwab

Genre: Science Fiction
Publication: Tor (2013)
ISBN: 9780765335340
368 Pages

Summary:
Ten years ago, college students Victor and Eli had a theory: upon enduring a near-death experience, people could develop extraordinary abilities. Enacting this theory, however, leaves Victor in prison and Eli with his own god-complex on the hunt to remove any ExtraOrdinary (EO) people from existence. But now Victor is an escaped convict and he's out for revenge: 
 
“Victor was out. Victor was free. And Victor was coming for Eli - just as he'd promised he would.” 
  
Caught in between this conflict are two sisters--both with extraordinary abilities of their own--and Victor's cellmate, a talented computer hacker, who all have something invested in this feud. 


Vicious is a play on the superhero genre with an added dash of the revenge tragedy, where the lines between hero and villain are hair-thin:

"The paper called Eli a hero. The word made Victor laugh. Not just because it was absurd, but because it posed a question. If Eli really was a hero, and Victor meant to stop him, did that make him a villain?"
  

Setting, Tone & Pacing:
The story is centered around one specific day, with the majority of the narration taking place through flashbacks with shifts of the timeline between each chapter--"10 years ago", "1 year ago", "2 months ago", "6 hours before," etc.. Within those shifts of time are shifts of narrative. One chapter we get Victor's POV from '2 months before,' the next is through the perspective of a sister, Sydney, from 'last night.' These sudden changes create a fast-paced narrative that's a bit mysterious. So mysterious I barely want to touch on the plot because it felt so rewarding to read each bit of new information (what are the sister's abilities; why was Sydney found on the side of the road with a gunshot wound?).

There is a dark and strange atmosphere that permeates the novel--we enter upon Victor and a young girl digging up bodies in a graveyard, with the girl terrified that she will "wake up" these long dead people. Heavy rain and nighttime seem to be present consistently.

Strangely, it's suggested that the story takes place in Amsterdam, or at least in a neighboring town within a short driving distance, but nothing is hinged on the location; the writing is vague enough that it could be set anywhere. However, I was so invested and immersed in this world that Schwab created, that it felt off for it to suddenly have a real-world setting a third into the novel.

Characterization & Language: 
Spoiler alert: no one is a hero in this story--each and every character is morally grey from the megalomaniac Eli to sweet, endearing Sydney. Victor cares nothing for the people who have died in the testing of their thesis--in the lives that Eli takes; all Victor wants is his revenge. Yet, I was still cheering on Victor throughout the entire book.

Schwab is the master of short, pithy sentences that she scatters throughout the text that hold immense weight. Something that was said off-hand in one chapter kept me considering it throghout.Vicious is compelling and engrossing--each twist and maneuver between Eli and Victor was exciting and never wanted to stop reading. The sequel, Vengeful, is on hold for me at my library.

Characteristics of Science Fiction (sans spoilers):

• The setting is arguably contemporary even though it spans 10 years--but it does explore moral and ethical questions through several character's 'abilities.'
• There is a strong Otherness that sets the novel--so much that it bothered me to have a contemporary, earthly location. 
• Vicious has ties to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (if the name Victor and introduction of a man digging up bodies in a graveyard didn't give that away), and it lyrically mimics Shelly's language at times. The technical language is similar as well--undergrad college students with a thesis relating to death--or near-death as it is.
• The true focus is the confrontational meeting between Eli and Victor and while the jarring shifts in time and narrative should hinder the story's pace, it never meanders.

Read-Alikes:
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Death of a Superhero by Anthony McCarten
The Prestige by Christopher Priest 
Indigo by Charlaine Harris, Et al.