2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Vengeful by V.E. Schwab, the second book of the Villains series.


Pages: 462 pages


Length: 1 Month (July)


Participants: SarahKat, Ilse, Trisha, Ilona, Marleen, Stuti, Maisha, Heather, Alya, Chika, Amy .


Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Oh goodness I can't believe June is ending already! I am still working on the first book, but I am determined!

I have already started this one. About 110 pages in, just finished Part 1. (view spoiler)[ Marcela is suuuuper intriguing. Her power is really disturbing. Sydney seems like she's going to be a bigger part of this, which I like. I love her relationship with Mitch, and even Victor even though there's definitely issues there. I'm concerned about Victor's health. (hide spoiler)]

I also started early, and agree with you SarahKat that (view spoiler)[ Marcella is super interesting! A bit disturbing as well, yes, but mostly cool. (hide spoiler)]

I'm joining this month too.

Through Part 3: (view spoiler)[ Marcela is still really interesting. I like her little crime syndicate of EO's. I wonder about the limitations of some of the powers. Like, can Jonathan still get sick and die of something internal? Thus, could Victor still use his power against Jonathan and Marcela even with the shield up? Also, I know June said she ages but do her aspects age? Or do they always stay the same age they were when she collected them?

I wonder if Victor will get fixed somehow. Since Sydney's power is getting stronger could she fix him herself now?

I think everyone's parts in this are really interesting. Lots of things going on and lots of people all with their own motivations. (hide spoiler)]

I finished last night, here are some of my thoughts: (view spoiler)[I enjoyed this book more than the first one. An interesting new set of characters is introduced, and there are lot of things going on at the same time.
I did really enjoy learning more about Eli's background and how he became the person he is today in part 2, but would also have liked some more character analyses for other characters. Especially June is still very much a mystery to me.

I do feel like there could easily be a 3rd book, for which there is a page on Goodreads, but I also read that this was originally supposed to be a trilogy before Schwab ended up combining the ideas for book 2 and 3 in Vengeful. (hide spoiler)]

I finished also and I agree Ilona! (view spoiler)[This one pulled me in from the beginning, whereas the first one was really slow until two thirds of the way in. I really loved the new characters and how everything fits together. I also liked getting a bit more Eli's background, but I do wish we had more about other characters.

I didn't know this was potentially the end of the series! DC and Marvel have been making new superhero content for over 60 years. You'd think Schwab could put out a few more books. With the addition of new characters and problems, this could go on for a while before I got sick of it. I mean, Victor, June, Sydney, and Mitch are all alive and doing their thing. I definitely want to see more of them. Even Eli may not be gone forever. The evil doctor said that serum slowed his healing down, didn't stop it completely. He could just take a really long time to come back. (hide spoiler)]

SarahKat wrote: "I finished also and I agree Ilona! "

Re Eli: (view spoiler)[His death made little sense to be. As you said, his healing was slowed down, but not completely gone. The doctor pulled out his heart before and he didn't die, so I guess he should be able to survive anything. There was also no mention of the body being burned or buried, so anything is still possible! (hide spoiler)]

Starting this one next and I’m excited to see if I like it as much as book 1.

Haven’t even picked up the first one but like Amy, I am determined 😤

We will prevail!

I just finished part 1.

(view spoiler)[I’m having a bit harder of a time than in the first book of keeping track of what is happening in each timeline we are following. (4 weeks ago, 3 years ago, etc) I’m still enjoying this structure, but the events so far feel a bit more blurred together, maybe because I’m not sure where the story is going this time.
I’m glad we still have our little trio Victor/Sydney/Mitch. Victor feels more dangerous than in Vicious, he doesn’t seem to mind killing people at all, and it makes a creepy sort of sense from his POV. I still like Mitch a lot. And like SarahKat, I like that Sydney is apparently playing a bigger role.
June is interesting, I’m curious to find out more about her, and her ability can cause a lot of misunderstanding and trouble. I like Marcella too, and she will be a force too I think, a woman scorned searching for revenge?
I wonder when we get to see Eli. In book 1 it took quite a while before he really showed up. (hide spoiler)]

I also haven’t read book one, but I’m determined too!

Just finished part 3.

(view spoiler)[I really like that we got all that background on Eli. He had a crappy childhood… Not that that’s an excuse to murder people, but it does explain some of his thoughts and actions. Eli and Victor really are a strangely good fit. Almost destined to become best friends turned arch enemies…

I love the powers of Marcella and June. Marcella is just a force of destruction with massive ambition, a very dangerous combination. And June feels pretty indestructible and she could go anywhere unnoticed, I wonder if we will get a little more background on her in the last part of the book.

I’m glad Stell stopped that horrible doctor experimenting on Eli, that was horrific… I’m not very clear on what the doctor is doing in his own personal lab now though and what that device does that was introduced by the EON Board (who are these people anyway??), so I’m afraid we have some horrific things to go still… (hide spoiler)]

Annnd I’ve finished. It was a 4 star for me, which is a slight disappointment after the 5 stars for Vicious, but still a great read.

(view spoiler)[Although I enjoyed myself a lot again, I actually think I would have been happy with Vicious as a stand-alone, despite the unresolved bits. Most of the extra bits we got this time in terms of story or character development was not absolutely necessary for me for the story of Victor and Eli I guess, maybe apart from Eli’s background story. I think I felt everyone’s motivation and the dread and urgency of what was going on a lot more in the first book.

About the ending: I loved the final showdown in the courthouse. The fact that the only way Marcella could be stopped was by Eli and Victor working together again, was very poetic. And I loved that whole fight and the collapse of the building. I also liked that the creepy doctor showed up again. But that anti-power serum he suddenly turned out to have invented felt very much like a ‘Deus ex machina’ to me: very convenient, appeared out of nowhere, and a sudden easy way for Victor (or Sydney in the end) to stop Eli.
What was the meaning of that final blackout poetry page from Victor, did any of you understand that part? (I really liked that idea in both books by the way and almost want to take a marker to one of my books myself…)
Like Ilona I would have liked to learn more about June, her background and motivation. I also didn’t understand what she was doing at the end, I had expected her to go after Sydney. (hide spoiler)]