Vicious (Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab

Vicious (Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab came into my life via that massive 100 Best Fantasy Books by Women list from r/reddit. Victor and Eli are college friends who share an interest in the conditions that create people who have extraordinary abilities. Soon they give themselves some of those abilities and they become enemies. Along the way, we meet other "EOs," a girl, a dog, and a hacker. 

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was fine. I was interested enough that I considered listening to the audiobook of the second book right away, but it wasn't available for immediate download, so now I have the second one tagged at TBR, but will it ever make my list of actual holds? I guess we'll see. 

It's tough because both Eli and Victor are legitimate bad guys. It feels like a Breaking Bad situation and, loyal readers who've been around for a long time might remember that I never got past the part in Breaking Bad when Walter White watched a woman die. But the book eventually brings in a child and a dog and, hey, I am immediately swayed into caring about the outcome when there is a dog involved. So, if you're into books with morally questionable characters, a little magic, and a dog named Dol, you might like this. 3.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

Is this what normal seniors did? Drank and danced with bodies interlocking like puzzle pieces to music loud enough to drown out thoughts? (timestamp 2:10:22) 

Sometimes I hear that people go to bars and I get confused. Why is that fun? I could be at home reading a book with a cat on my lap. 

He appreciated Mitch's incongruities. They made him interesting. (timestamp 4:20:07)

I was talking with a student today. He was ill-kempt with crazy hair and a backpack covered in patches of metal bands. He also had a 4.0 and was talking very earnestly about an internship over the summer. He was super interesting.

Each page had a block of text, lines of stolen information, names and ages and brief medical summaries following brief lines on their respective accidents or traumas, psych notes, police reports, antipsychotic and painkiller prescriptions. Information distilled. Messy lives made neat. (timestamp 4:21: 55)

I've been thinking about this ever since I finished that Martha Ballard non-fiction book. The author talked about how if Marth hadn't written a diary, we would really only know the days she was born, gave birth, and died. We wouldn't even really know she was a midwife. Our lives end up being distilled into so little and yet we worry about money, jobs, getting the trash out in time, and what to eat for dinner. I don't know what I think about all that, but think about it I do.

Eli was fascinated by kitchens, by the way people ordered their lives, the cabinets they used, the places they kept food, and the food they choose to keep. He'd spent the last decade studying people and it was amazing how much could be gleaned from their homes. Their bedrooms and bathrooms and closets, of course, but also their kitchens...(timestamp 6:09:53)

What room do you think you can tell the most about someone from? 

Hat mentions:

None.