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Haha, it’s funny, I always say what sets my YA books and VICIOUS apart is the kind of humor, not the darkness (VICIOUS has a sick humor I think we develop a taste for as adult readers more than as teens) but yes, I suppose there is a sense of doom. Or really, as Victor says in the book, a sense that everything is real, but nothing matters. (That said, people seem to care immensely about what happens to my motley crew, so it’s not really an apathy that translates to the readers.) But to your point, yes, this is a world where people do not become superheroes; they become real people with superpowers, and there’s no circumstance in which that ends well (or well-adjusted).

I actually wrote most of the book in chronological order (every single character’s own chronological order) and then went back and wove the present and past together so that the story is as much about how we got here as what we do now.

Thanks, I LOVE both covers, different as they are. Such different aspects of the same books. I kind of assumed the UK cover would have the broader appeal, but from what I’ve seen, people are heavily divided on that front, so I suppose they just speak to different readers. The two aren’t on an equal footing, since the US version is out and the UK version is not, so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out when people have the choice without an added wait.

Well, my background is in design, and after two books hitting shelves, and making the full spectrum of bookmarks, buttons, postcards, etc, I wanted to design something unusual, something that added to the experience of the book (there is a card for each EO, and one for me) and didn’t get lost in the bookmark haze.

Absolutely. First, I’ll agree that there’s a masculine tone to the book, but would also add that the two guiding forces in the present, and arguably the two most powerful EOs, are the Clarke sisters. But regarding Victor and Eli, I fully believe that something would have always led them to the showdown in the Falcon Price building. It was a fixed point in their lives, and inevitable intersection. They were just too different, and too strong-minded, to have it end another way.

I fully intend to continue the story. The only thing I’ll say is there’s a question people should be asking themselves on the last page, and I’ve yet to see it asked online. But it involves Sydney’s power, and her track record.

That teaser aside, I will simply say that I am nowhere near done with this world—or its characters—yet.

About the Author

V. E. Schwab is the author of The Near Witch, a YA fantasy from Disney Hyperion, as well as The Archived, the first book in a YA supernatural series, also from Disney Hyperion. The product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a Southern upbringing, Victoria has a penchant for tea and BBC shows, and a serious and well-documented case of wanderlust. This is her first adult book. 

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