The second book I picked up was much more better and much more of a page turner. In fact I read it all in about 4 to 5 hours from when I started it.
As its a pretty short book only 364 pages it is not that troublesome to read or get into or to finish. This book is something that surprised me, its
really pretty well done. The story and premise is something akin to Watchmen or Sin City as it follow the old premise of what will actually happen if
there really were people with extraordinary powers out there, in this case there called EO's, Extra Ordinaries.
The old Plato riddle of the ring. If anybody read the republic, I forgot were exactly but in there is a story which Plato recants in typical
Socrates fashion about a farmer who finds a ring which can turn him invisible. The whole premise then in typical Socrates fashion is, what then will
happen? They pose different outcomes of what exactly human nature is and what exactly anybody who comes across such power will do with it, and lets
just say the guy does not use the ring to help the needy and unfortunate. Which is a prime theme in all comic book and superhero stories.
In fact here is a summary of the story, this whole theme has been done before and through the ages this story influenced many others, including the
lord of the rings in some ways which is kind of obvious, but also other comics like I mentioned above like the watchmen or sin city.
Ring of Gyges
This story follows the same premise, but is concentrated on the charters more so then any overall meaning. The book
VICIOUS starts out pretty
harmless, about two teens more like frat boys at there higher end academy, introduces a few characters and there life's and relations, but quickly
sidelines from there into something entirely else. Don't really want to spoil the story but, the whole premise of the book is on something called EO's
or extraordinary people and the side project of one of the kids at that school Eli and his friend Vincent on do they exist and if they do how will
they come about. Which then deviates into trauma, and life or death situations which could bring about such extraordinary powers and there theories on
it and search for there project on it.
And the story wastes no time in getting right down to the point, and in to the thick of it. Shortly culminating in the twos own experiments at
becoming EO's, and not only that but there success at it, lets just say there powers and ways they come to it is pretty interesting and represent
something in there psyche or soul or even there last moments of thought as they die and are literally reborn, but they are also reborn missing
something for everything they gained. And from the get go it gets ugly, and the whole tale of revenges is told in a sort of- present to - past scenes
and chapters. A bit like pulp fiction were it starts at the middle of the story then goes back, in this case the story goes back the past ten years
to the twos academy years and to explain things. Its actually pretty well done, and keeps you glued and turning pages.
In fact the main protagonist if he can be called that, Victor also reminds me of another charter, this one from an anime. Taking the title of the
book "Vicious" and the description of the charter, a pale haired man in a trench coat, even his whole demeanor and attitude even his power to even
the whole revenge story line, I would say the author was influenced a bit by the Cowboy bebop anime who has a charter in it the main villain by the
name of vicious, which not only is dressed and has the same style and single minded demeanor of Victor, but also seems to be oblivious to pain as is
shown in many episodes, one which he takes a grazing bullet to the face without even blinking or being stabed right through without any sort of
feeling. Of which is Victors main power as he can either turn off pain in himself or give it to others, and is ruthless and single minded to the
point of being vicious. Even that whole story in cowboy bebop is ultimately after many escapades and wacky adventure a story about revenge between
two people, which is the culmination and final showdown in this book. I could be drawing highly unlikely parallels but the charter Victor does remind
me of Vicious from cowboy bebop in many ways, which probably the author could have been influenced by when writing this story.
Also the most important thing in the book is exactly what is written before the first chapter starts a quote by somebody named Joseph Brodsky a poet,
which again is a take on the old ring of gyges story.
"Life...the way it really is...is a battle not between Bad and Good, but between Bad and Worse.--- Joseph Brodsky."
And really that is the main premise of the story, throughout much of the story it leaves you wondering if your not really reading the events as they
happen from the eyes of the villains, and who is who. That is in till you come to know some of the other charters better, and you come to realize
that yes you are reading it from the villains perspective, but the other perspective is much worse, and much more crazy.
I never read any other books by the author V.E. Schwab, but I liked this book and will be keeping an eye out for her other works in the future.
edit on 4pmMondaypm032014f1pmMon, 03 Mar 2014 16:41:51 -0600 by galadofwarthethird because: (no reason given)