Vicious is a fantasy novel by American author V. E. Schwab published by Tor Books in 2013, focused around two college students who learn how to create superhuman abilities and later become archenemies.

Victor and Eli begin as college roommates and discover that near-death experiences, under the right conditions, can create superhuman abilities.

10 years later, Eli has started a crusade to kill every other super-powered person and Victor has broken out of jail.

[2] The Guardian called Vicious "a brilliant exploration of the superhero mythos and a riveting revenge thriller".

[3] It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which called Schwab's characters "vital and real, never reduced to simple archetypes" and praised the book as "a rare superhero novel as epic and gripping as any classic comic".