Vicious

Certainly not terribly written, but overall very underwhelming. Though the book wasn't short, by the end I was wondering what had actually filled up all those pages: the characters are not particularly deep (and in general I couldn't really tell you who these characters were as people outside of some very broad and heavy-handed traits), character relationships seem largely foundation-less and unexplored, the plot wasn't complicated or surprising, and in general I felt like nothing happened - and when something did happen, I didn't care.

I would say my main issue was the failure in the writing to get me invested in any of the character relationships. Victor and Eli's dynamic, both as friends and as rivals, should have been the backbone of the book (according to the plot) - and yet in practice, it was pretty much non-existent. Why were they friends to begin with? Or really, were they even friends, or was that just something I was told by the back cover? Because in reality, we meet Eli for one scene, Victor will randomly think something to the effect of “There was something tweaked in him, just like me!” while they have largely emotionless interactions, and then they are trying to kill each other. There isn't any foundation of actual caring between them, so when they “switch” from being friends to enemies I was completely apathetic.

On the topic of the powers, and the lukewarm philosophy topics that they inspire, again, I didn't care. I didn't connect whatsoever with the religious angle (which, as far as I could tell, was Eli's one-and-only character trait), the general “Becoming an EO changes something about your morals and humanity” idea wasn't nearly as fleshed out as this book seemed to think it was, and certain moral questions I definitely would have like to seen explored (mainly the extremely non-consensual nature of ever single thing that Serena does with her power) were never touched.

Overall there was just not a lot of substance, and I spent a good amount of reading time hoping to get to the end already.