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Inhalt: Victor Vale und Eli Ever wollen sterben. Allerdings nicht, um tot zu bleiben, sondern um mit außergewöhnlichen Fähigkeiten wieder aufzuerstehen. Als junge, brillante Medizinstudenten wissen sie genau, was sie tun. Sie planen das Experiment minutiös ­- und haben Erfolg: Beide kommen verwandelt wieder ins Leben zurück. Eli entwickelt eine erstaunliche Regenerationskraft und wird praktisch unsterblich, Victor kann anderen Schmerz zufügen oder nehmen.
Was sie nicht unter Kontrolle haben, ist die Tragödie, die durch ihr Experiment ausgelöst wird. Denn Superkräfte allein machen keine Helden...

Meine Bewertung: AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, so verdammt gut!!!!

Ich wusste wirklich nicht was ich von dem Buch erwarten sollte, ich habe zwar schon viele Leute darüber reden hören aber ich hatte trotzdem keine Ahnung was es genau mit dem Buch auf sich hat und was ich allgemein von der Geschichte erwarten sollte.

Anfangs war ich skeptisch, ich konnte weder mit Eli noch mit Victor irgendwas anfangen. Sie waren nicht wirklich Charaktere die ich gerne lese. Aber die Geschichte an sich hat mich super interessiert und hat mich auch von Anfang an angezogen.

Im Laufe des Buches konnte ich dann auch mehr mit den beiden Hauptcharakteren anfangen. Den einen mochte ich auf einmal unheimlich gerne, vor allem in Momenten mit anderen Charakteren wie Mitch und Sydney (die beiden habe ich ja gleich ins Herz geschlossen, beschützt die beiden um jeden Preis). Eli hab ich mit jedem Kapitel, mit jedem Satz mehr und mehr hassen gelernt.

Ich mein das Buch hat nicht wirklich den moralisch guten Charakter. Sie sind alle im grauen Bereich unterwegs aber Eli, ugh, nee danke!!!

Ich mag total den Schreibstil von V.E. Schwab, es hat mich gleich von der ersten Seite reingezogen und gefesselt. Es war großartig. Außerdem waren die Charaktere einfach wirklich gut geschrieben und waren vielschichtig.

ICH BIN EINFACH BEGEISTERT UND ICH BBRAUCH UNBEDINGT BAND 2. JETZT!!!!!

***

Summary: Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, 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.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

My review: AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, so damn good!!!

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this book, I heard a lot of people talking about it but I still had no clue what all of this was about and what to make of the story itself.

In the beginning I was really not sure about this, I couldn't stand either Eli nor Victor. These two aren't characters I really like to read about. But the story itself was super interesting and sucked me in right from the start.

Through the book I actually felt something for these two maincharacters. One of them I started to actually really like, especially in moments with Mitch and Sydney (who I loved right from the start, PROTECT THEM AT ALL COST). Eli, I just hated more with every chapter and every sentence.

I mean in the end, this book doesn't have really one morally good character. They are all somewhere in the grey zone but Eli is just, ugh, no thanks!!!

I just really love the writing from V.E. Schwab, right from the first page it sucked me in and held my attention. It was amazing. Also, the characters were so well written and so layered.

I'M JUST SO STOKED AND I NEED THE 2ND BOOK. NOW!!!!!!

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

It took me a while to get through this one. I’m not exactly sure why I wasn’t thrilled and not in the mood, but part of it probably had to do with the fact several characters have their arcs develop throughout the book, without enough screen time for each. When this happens Moreover, while there will be a second volume, and I didn’t expect everything to be solved here, some of these arcs were also cut short, without any proper ‘aftermath’ time being given. It’s akin to someone being deemed as super important because they will save us all, then that person suddenly refuses to do it, or dies, or is out of the picture for any other reason, and… that’s all. It’s supposed to be bad, but no one really dwells on it. It felt very strange.

I also struggled to get through and not skim. Not sure if it was the style (present-tense narrative is fine with me in small doses, but not for hundreds of pages). Or the apparent ‘main character’ who turns out to be sidelined pretty quickly, and wasn’t super pleasant to read about anyway. Or the plot jumping between characters but without really giving a feeling of cohesion. Probably a mix of all. In the end, the story deals with heavy themes (acceptance & rejection, internment for people with powers instead of trying to integrate everyone in a new society, being killed just for being different…), that affect the characters a lot, but… I didn’t really care about the characters. In fact, to the risk of sounding awful, the one character I enjoyed reading about the most was Owen Curry. Yes, that one. Also the circus/freakshow subplot. I guess that’s quite telling.

It wasn’t a bad story in itself. Depressing in parts, sure, because we already have enough of that intolerance crap in our real world out there. But that doesn’t make a story bad. As far as I’m concerned, though, the above made it a slog for me, so it was okay-ish in the end, but I can’t say I absolutely liked it.

I think it is sad that not many readers talk about villains. Have you ever considered how much a well-written villain brings to the story? As they often say that a hero is only as good as the villain. It's the villain's job to bring out the best traits in heroes. So, I believe that a great villain can really take a story to the next level and maybe even make it epic.

When I say "favorite" I actually mean our most hated villains. Because the more you hate the villain the better they are. I think our hatred is kind of proof that the author has done their job well in developing a villain worth reading about. What do you think?

Some of my most hated and despised villains of all times are;

Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series:

She was the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher in Hogwarts (Book Five). Her purpose there was to keep a close eye on Dumbledore's activities and brainwash students into believing that there were no real threats to the wizarding world and Voldemort is just propaganda. She was an evil witch and I think it is safe to say that we all hated her with a passion. But did you notice how she brought out the best of Hermoine Granger? Hermoine was at her best in book five of the series and afterward. I think a lot of that credit goes to Umbridge, the most hated of all villains. We also hate Lord Voldemort, of course, but not more than Dolores Umbridge.

Bellatrix Lestrange is another character from Harry Potter that we love to hate. She was a lunatic and a follower of the dark Lord. Also, Sirius Black's cousin who ended up causing his death as well as murdering Dobby. How on earth can we ever forgive her? Not a chance.

Author: J.K. Rowling

Agatha Trunchbull, Principal from Matilda:

So, it was a long time ago when I read Matilda and what an amazing story it was. I loved every character and I loved the story too. I still remember the villain of the story, a dreadful Principal who punished children and was horrible to teachers, especially her niece and my favorit teacher of all times, Miss Honey. Although Matilda's parents were also part of the problem but it the oppressive principal who was the real villain of the story and who ended up bringing forth the abilities that Matilda possesses. To this day she remains one of my most hated literary villain. Also, I think it might have something to do with my own villainous high school principal. Oh, how I hate that woman even to this day (yikes!).

Author: Roal Dahl

Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones:

I think he is the vilest character ever written or at least I have ever come across. Seriously, that man is truly worthy of all our hatred. I am not really a Game of Thrones fan. I like it well enough, I suppose but it is not a series I am passionate about. Yet, it has some of the cruelest and most hates villains ever. Phew! The series is actually full of them and they do tend to bring out the best in our favorite characters aka Stark siblings. All of them are going to reach their full potential because of these vile beasts that the author has created. So, yeah there is that.

Author: George R.R. Martin

Lady Catherine de Bourgh from Pride and Prejudice:

As compared to other villains sighted here, Lady Catherine may seen like a sweet old lady, she was anything but. In her own way she did try to ruin our favorite love story of all times. So, she is definitely worth mentioning. She was an uppity woman who looked down upon anyone and everyone. She was the aunt of our favorite hero, Mr. Darcy and she hoped that he would marry her daughter. When Lizzie Bennett came into the picture she didn't take it so well and tried to come between her and Mr. Darcy. Not that it worked so, all was well in the end. But we still hate her for trying her worst anyway.

Author: Jane Austen

Every Other Character from The Great Gatsby:

If I have to name one character from this book, I won't be able to do it. I still don't know who was the real villain in this story. Was it Daisy Buchanan who only cared about money and prestige and used Jay Gatsby in the worst way possible? Was it her racist, cheating husband Tom? Or was it Jay Gatsby himself, an obssessive man who couldn't look beyond his obssession and idealistic views of the world? Honestly, it is hard to say. There are  a number of very flawed characters in this book and they all seemed to bring out the worst in each other. All in all, this was one messed up story.

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

P.S. So, this is a very short list of my most hated villains in literature. Who are some of yours? Do share and thank you for reading my post.

For this task, I think I'm going with some of the great classics that helped establish the hero / villain dichotomy ... as well as its recently most successful reincarnation:

1. Sherlock Holmes vs. Dr. Moriarty (and in pastiches, vs. everybody from Jack the Ripper to Count Dracula ... as well as ... really just everything, including boredom, as BT just reminded us)

2. The Four Musketeers vs. Cardinal Richelieu and Milady

3. Edmond Dantès aka The Count of Monte Cristo vs. the conspirators Mondego, Villefort and Danglars

4. The Hobbits, Gandalf and The Fellowship of the Ring vs. The One Ring, Sauron and Saruman

5. Harry Potter and his friends vs. Lord Voldemort and the Deatheaters