Episode 3.5: ‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab
‘Vicious’ in the first book in a much-loved duology by and even more loved author, VE Schwab, and we’re super excited to tackle it for ‘The Dark Academicals’ this week.
Melding brilliantly clever university students, toxic relationships, danger and mysterious Extraordinaries, it already seems to tick some of our boxes. But does it pass the dark academia vibe check?
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates-brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in one another. A shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death-experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. They become EOs, ExtraOrdinaries, leaving a body in their wake and turning on each other.
Ten years later Victor has escaped from prison and is determined to get his revenge on the man who put him there, aided by a young girl with the ability to raise the dead. Eli has spent the years hunting down and killing every EO he can find, convinced that they are a crime against God, all except his sidekick, a woman whose power is persuasion and whom he cannot defy. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the arch-nemeses have set a course for revenge-but who will be left alive at the end?
We detail our entire framework that we measure our titles against in our very first episode of the podcast, so have a listen to that for some more info.
In this episode we discuss:
The treatment and abuse of vulnerable girls and women
The place, position and use of violence in the novel
The lines between good, evil and morally grey characters
YOU CAN LISTEN TO IT HERE:
TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab
‘The Invisible Life of Addie Larue’ by VE Schwab
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley
‘The Swallows’ by Lisa Lutz
If you’re new to VE Schwab and want a great place to start, grabbing yourself a copy of ‘Vicious’ from our bookshop.org affiliate link helps both us and independent bookshops.
You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways, including a paperback copy of ‘Vicious’!
