πππππππ’π. V. E. Schwab. 2018.
Urban fantasy. Dark fantasy. Science fiction. Book Two in the Villains series.
A survivor of domestic violence gains supernatural abilities that allow her to take over a criminal empire and manipulate rival super-powered enemies while government officials attempt to track and neutralize people just like her.
This is a multi-POV story in which ordinary people come to terms with the sudden and unexpected gift of super powers.
The world in which they live is urban and contemporary, like ours, with an overarching spy-vs-spy vibe. New characters with extraordinary superpowers are being spawned regularly. But in spite of this, one of the main characters in this novel is forced to spend much of his energy seeking health care while another grieves the death of her sister.
ππππππ’π , the first book in this series, started slowly. πππππππ’π, Book Two, is interesting from the opening paragraph. For this reason, I preferred the sequel to the original.
AUTHORS – I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.