Published: September 2013/ Collector’s Edition December 2024.
Pages: 402
My thoughts
Do you ever see a special edition of a book that you just need? I find lately that I don’t have that feeling as much anymore with how saturated the special edition book market is. With so many subscription boxes and often, the same book being done several times in several different ways, I rarely see a book that I want outside of the normal paperback. But then I saw Lit Pins & Co announcement of a 10th anniversary collectors edition of Victoria Schwab’s Vicious and I was elated!
I am a huge fan of Victoria, and I’m currently making my way through her entire bibliography (which I’ve almost finished). She has slowly taken over a whole row on my bookshelf which I have nicknamed ‘Schwab’s Shelf’.
So I knew I had to grab this book, and as I type this, the book is staring at me from my desk and it is gorgeous. If you have not read this book I highly recommend it, and as I share some of these pictures, I’m going to chuck in some of my favourite quotes in hopes I can influence you to give it a try.
Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.
One of the highlights of this edition is the art and skill that has gone into it. Alongside the book are 12 overlays for different parts of the story. If you’re unfamiliar with overlays, these sit on top of pages to bring a scene to life, and these are beautiful. They are very good quality and I’m sat here with them in my hands admiring the art (hello, inner art school student).
The absence of pain led to an absence of fear, and the absence of fear led to a disregard for consequence.
Check out the art!
Plot 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.
A Goodreads Choice Award and a rating of 4.20, this is a brilliant introduction to fantasy and I am SO glad I managed to grab a copy of the 10th anniversary edition.