In Victorious, the conclusion of the Villains trilogy by V.E. Schwab, the final resolution to the hostility between two lifelong friends turned nemeses emerges out of a struggle for the future of the superpowered world.
Years ago, Victor Vale and Eli Ever discovered they could induce superhuman abilities, turning themselves into "ExtraOrdinaries," or EOs. The fatal results of testing their theory on themselves ignited a decades-long clash that expanded throughout the EO community and attracted the attention of an agency that would imprison them all. Although only one of the two was at large at the close of Vengeful, the second volume, new EOs continue to upset the balance of power, and the alliances that rose around Victor and Eli grapple over who will be conquered and who will endure.
From the beginning of the trilogy in Vicious, Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue; Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil) has built the bloody, beating heart of her conflict around the destructive but undeniable bond between Eli and Victor. They are in many ways two of a kind yet destined to oppose each other. Whereas Vengeful broadened the scope of the EO community, Victorious represents a return to form and a refocusing on themes of found family and love that twists into a horrible form. The superpowers make for a cinematic scale, but the trilogy finishes as it began: with the determination of the human soul to endure and connect. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library