Vengeful is the second book in the Vicious duology and takes place five years later. After the death of her sister and Victor becoming more preoccupied in his own goals again, eighteen-year-old Sydney is left with more leeway for independence. However, she’s furthermore stuck in the body of her twelve year old self following her near death experience, causing the rest of the world to view her as young and naive. She struggles to find her own sense of identity in a world where the people who made her comfortable to express herself are gone and everyone else sticks the age label to her. Victor is lethargically losing his own power and his plans of punishing Eli have been paused. Similarly, Eli has been imprisoned and scientists are analyzing the limits of his healing power, as if he is a lab experiment. Both forfeit their sense of purpose when the prospect of revenge has been removed. There are two new characters, June and Marcella, who seize the new roles of main characters. June is an EO whose power forces her to sacrifice everything that makes her who she is in order to increase her chance of survival. She has the power to modify her appearance to match anyone she sees and when she is wounded, the only person who undergoes pain is the person whose face she is copying. Finally, Marcella is an ex mob wife. The book opens with her making dinner for her husband until he comes home late. She notices from his appearance that he has been cheating and ultimately attempts to take revenge. He fights back and almost kills her, then tries to light the house on fire with her inside it. After a prolonged, brutal fight, Marcella overpowers him and kills him. The near death experience grants her the ability to turn everything she touches to dust and she labels it “ruining.” The book follows her as she endeavors to regain her own individuality after a life living as her husband’s sidekick. She follows her own ambitions, exerts power, and takes up space in ways she’s always been told not to. While her self expression is messy and mistakes are made, it is still heartwarming to watch her gradually begin to discover herself. 

While Vicious was a book about toxic masculinity and two men exerting control over their environments, Vengeful is regarding those same men losing sovereignty and the slow rise of female fury. I was instantly captivated by the first scene with Marcella’s backstory because it strongly hinted at this theme. I was disappointed that the theme of saviors and what makes a hero wasn’t further explored with her character, but still enthralled by the adjustment. However, she wasn’t seen again until far later because, similarly to the last book, scenes weren’t in chronological order. Additionally, I felt like this time, there wasn’t an overarching plot that was keeping everything going. Instead, it was definitely a more character-driven story, where everyone was working toward their own goals. While I love every character and their motives are interesting to watch, it’s also slightly tedious to watch them foreshadow elaborate plans and never follow through with them until after six chapters of other points of view. By the end, however, all points, goals, and characters were brought together and wrapped up well.  Each character had a substantial role played in the climax. Out of ten, I would give Vengeful a 7.

I would recommend Vengeful to fans of sci-fi, action, the supernatural, and people who enjoy books about the exploration of identity and self expression. 

Check out Vengeful from NBPL!