Mini Reviews: The Schwab Edition

Today I’m going to do some mini reviews of, you guessed it, Schwab books! You *may* have noticed I adore this amazing wonderful author, so, without further ado, I’m going to be reviewing the three Schwab books I’ve read in the past couple of months!

The Archived

by Victoria Schwab

WOW!! How is everything Schwab writes such utter perfection?!?! Like, HOW?! This book was so good, and emotional, and creepy, and WOW!!!

I read this ages ago, so my memory isn’t the freshest, but I do remember the wonderful world building, and the delicious creepiness. And just the overall, pure amazingness.

So. I few things:

-THE WORLDBUILDING!!!!!! 😍😍😍

Seriously, it was SO GOOD!!! The world was SO fascinating, and wow. Just wow. And some of the big reveals later on? OH MY GOSH, what even were those? THEY WERE SPECTACULAR!!!!

– IT WAS SO DELICIOUSLY CREEPY!!!

Dead corpselike things walking around and being weird? Sign me up! What an amazing concept, and it was just so well executed!!!!! It sent chills down my spine, and creeped me out, in the most amazing way, and AHJGJHGKEFGAGFADKAFDFSDKSFFKFKK!!!!!!!

-The characters were… good.

They were very well developed, they just weren’t… that original. I liked MC, but I can’t even remember her name. So. And crush dude? He was nice. I liked him. What was his name? Or his personality? I honestly don’t know. I did like best friend though, whatever her name was.

And mysterious boy… was his name Owen? Or Oliver? He was great!

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” icon=”chevron”]Honestly his development was spot on, and I was so wowed by it, and WHAT A CHARACTER!!! And I mean… I never quite trusted him, but I wanted to like him. I really, really wanted to like him. And then he was the villain, and I can’t say I was shocked, but I was sad, because I genuinely liked him, and still do, even as I hate him. He was a pretty amazing villain![/su_spoiler]

WHAT A SPECTACULAR CHARACTER!!!!!!

This is not to say I didn’t like the characters. They were very good. I liked them a lot actually. They just… didn’t stand up out of the large lineup of fictional characters I’ve read over the years. But they were likeable enough.

– IT WAS SO EMOTIONAL!!!!

Seriously, I was crying from page one. Not even kidding. It was SO emotional, because there was so much grief there, and it was so painful, and THIS BOOK HURT! A LOT!

– The plot was well woven!

It was intense and exciting, and unique, and twisty, and I am impressed.

– THE WRITING!!! 😍😍😍

The writing was gorgeous, as always, and also it would alternate between present time, and her talking to her dead grandfather, which sounds really weird when put like that, but… It was almost as if she were writing letters to him? Only minus the actual letter writing? Anyways, they were flashbacks, and GORGEOUSLY done ones.

So overall? Definitely read this book! It’s gorgeous, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!

Vicious

by V.E. Schwab

I really, really liked this book.
I think it was my least favourite Schwab book so far, but I really, really liked it still.

The characters were morally grey and wonderful!

• Victor was dark and murderous and also just a loveable sweetie. His development was A+ and I adored him. A lot. Plus he was a great narrator.
•  Eli was dark and murderous and evil, and most certainly NOT a loveable sweetie. At all. I hated him with a fiery passion, but his development was SO GOOD.
• Sydney was smol and scared and precious, and also somewhat badass and amazing! Plus her superpower was the coolest thing!
• Serena was an amazing character! I hated her, but at the same time, I felt a lot of pity for her, and I absolutely ADORED her chapters!
• Mitchell was a big loveable sweetheart, and he deserves the world.
• Plus there was a dog, which always makes everything better.

The writing was awesome (I mean, it’s Schwab. Of course it was.), and I adored it.

The world building was fantastic! I adored all the different superpowers, and the whole concept behind them was soooo unique. Love. It.

The plot was solid. Nothing more to say there really, but it was good. (I read this over a month ago and can’t remember what the plot WAS, so don’t mind me.)

Overall, I adored this book! I just sort of felt like something was… lacking. Just a little. I don’t know. But still, I loved it, and can I just flail please? Yes, yes I can flail. THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING!!!!

The Near Witch

by Victoria Schwab

WOW! I cannot believe this is Schwab’s debut! This was, in my opinion, one of her strongest works! I mean, maybe not *quite* Monsters of Verity or Shades of Magic good, but close! It was a stronger book than The Archived, and I liked it better than Vicious.

Because wow, this book was spectacular! Everything about it was just wonderful!

Let’s do a list of things I liked, shall we? Because I like lists, and also because there was literally nothing I disliked! (Except for the fact that it was so so good, and a fairly short book, and therefore not long enough. Or maybe I’m just mourning the fact that I have now read all of Schwab’s published works (except for the middle grade series about angels that I still can’t quite believe she wrote…))

• The GORGEOUS writing! I mean, it was Schwab. What did you expect? But still, it’s worth mentioning, because it was AMAZING!!!
• I sort of love her writing style.
• Okay, maybe more than sort of.
• The creepy, atmospheric, amazingness!*
• This book was sooooo creepy! I finished it late at night, and well. That went well for my sleep. (Not.)
• I swear, it was SO creepily written. It gave me shivers, and terrified me out of my wits, but in the very best way.
• Seriously. So creepy. Deliciously creepy. And I LOVED THE CREEPINESS OF IT SO MUCH!
• The world building! It was unique and eerie and atmospheric, and lovely.
• And by lovely I mean the world was terrible, but it was amazingly done.
• Because that’s what lovely means, right?
• The CHARACTERS!!
• I sort of adored Lexi. She wasn’t necessarily the *most* unique YA heroine out there, but she was likeable, and she was memorable.
• Lexi was a bit of a rebel. She didn’t like being told not to do something, and so she had a tendency to do it anyways. She was bright and fun, and a caring older sister.
• Cole was also awesome. He was a sweetie with a tragic past (which, let’s face it, is a wayyyy better trope than a bad boy with a tragic past), and I adored him. He was sweet. He was really, really sweet. But he also had a lot to him. His backstory was super sad, and also really interesting!
• I loved Cole. A lot.
• Like, a lot a lot.
• Wren was adorable. Seriously, she was SUCH a sweet, hilarious child. She was a very no-nonsense five year old, who couldn’t be tricked by silly stories.
• She was the absolute cutest.
• And the sibling relationship was beautiful!
• Then there was the romance.
• Okay, I have to say, it was SO insta-lovey. Ridiculously insta-lovey.
• But you know what? I don’t care. The romance was sweet and cute and I shipped it REALLY HARD.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! There’s so much I’m missing, but OH MY GOSH, I JUST LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! You should DEFINITELY go read it! Right away. Just don’t be dumb like me and read it late at night.

*Don’t question that completely grammatical phrasing, okay?

So I’m hoping that those reviews were semi-coherent? I am pretty much trash for Schwab, and will read anything this woman writes. Anything. And these three did not disappoint. The Archived was fantastic! Vicious was dark and morally grey!* The Near Witch was downright terrifying, in the very best way!

Wow, I loved all these books so much. So. Very. Much.

*Which also equals fantastic in Iris speak

Have you read any of these? What did you think? Are you planning to read these? Have you read anything by Schwab? (if not, hurry up and do) What’s your favourite Schwab book?