Vicious

the premise of the story is really good and interesting, but i think what didn't work so well for me was how the story was told. like how the narrative kept jumping between past and present, and not just one linear timeline in the past but multiple points in time in the past. it was really confusing and kept making me lose interest and momentum in the first half of the book. this was especially confusing before i could piece together what exactly was even going on and what was the central mystery of the whole story, which i was only able to do around the halfway mark. once you got a grip on the story though, that's where it gets interesting and hooks you in, so the second half was a lot easier to read than the first.

the premise was very original and refreshing. i liked the idea about ExtraOrdinary people who gained superpowers after experiencing a Near-Death Experience, and their powers being strongly influenced by the kind of last thoughts they had before they “died”. i also liked that these EOs lose some part of their humanity after coming back from near-death, and they are all more than a little inhuman in some aspect or other. i liked the character dynamics between Serena and Eli running circles around each other, each trying to assert control over the other, Eli becoming some kind of religious megalomaniac going around self-righteously killing other EOs, Victor hell-bent on causing Eli as much pain as possible even when he knows he can't kill him, and Sydney being a huge wildcard in terms of how much humanity she really has in her, considering she seemed to be able to manipulate Dominic in the end in going back to save Dol her dog, although her power isn't like that of Serena's. so all in all, i'm a fan of the premise, it's just the narrative structure that really turned me off and would make me hesitate to pick up the sequel.