Grey Liliy reviewed The Vindico by Wesley King
Review of 'The Vindico' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I will fully admit, I was dragged into buying this book because I laughed at the wit from the scene included on the back cover, and the rest of the book did not disappoint. The Vindico was not without it's cast of sassy, witty students and teachers.
Overall, it was a quick read and a fun ride. The book was mostly set up, which is why I've got the sequel in my mental to-read list, but it wasn't without its plot. There was a great cast of characters, and I got to like all of the kids for one reason or another. Actually, pretty much the same for the Vindico crew. Honestly, the only characters I found myself disliking were the League members, which I'm pretty sure was intentional.
The book early on puts forth the message of, "Who's the real bad guys? Maybe it's not us!" from the Villains …
I will fully admit, I was dragged into buying this book because I laughed at the wit from the scene included on the back cover, and the rest of the book did not disappoint. The Vindico was not without it's cast of sassy, witty students and teachers.
Overall, it was a quick read and a fun ride. The book was mostly set up, which is why I've got the sequel in my mental to-read list, but it wasn't without its plot. There was a great cast of characters, and I got to like all of the kids for one reason or another. Actually, pretty much the same for the Vindico crew. Honestly, the only characters I found myself disliking were the League members, which I'm pretty sure was intentional.
The book early on puts forth the message of, "Who's the real bad guys? Maybe it's not us!" from the Villains point of view and...that's not totally right. The Vindico are all bad guys. They're sympathetic at times, but they are pretty much legit villains to the core. And The League isn't much better, truth be told. So you get down to a "Everyone's rotten" situation where the Kid Team of Protégées needs to figure which side is more beneficial to them. It works, more or less. I can definitely say toward the end, I was more sympathetic toward the Villains than the heroes, so take from that what you will.
If I had any complaints, it would be that the book lags in the middle. The classroom only training sessions were a little slow to get through, and didn't have quite as much impact as say the training missions or one on one time with kid & mentor. There's also a love triangle that develops and is removed almost as quickly that felt rather forced in. I didn't mind the one romance that happened, but I feel like the "Other guy is jealous" wasn't really needed. But, overall those are minor things.
The crowning point of this book was definitely the relationships between the Mentors and their Protégées. The three antagonistic pairings (Hayden & Leni, Lana & Avaria, and Sam & Sliver) were a nice contrast to the two pairs that got along better than expected (James & Torturer, Emily & Rono).
My favorite team up was by far though James & Torturer. We've got a kid who's always picked second, and used to being dumped suddenly not only being chosen first, but finds himself the center of genuine affection from a mentor. You can tell Torturer is proud of James, even up to the end, and you can feel James second guessing himself a lot over the issue. When James dives in to save Torturer at one scene, and the older man is so proud, you can really tell there's a bond between them. Which in turn makes events towards the end of the book a little rough to get through, when James betrays Torturer. At least he takes it well in the epilogue, mentioning he's still proud.. I'm hoping to see more of them interact in the sequel, myself.
Anyway, there's a lot in here and I'm pretty sure there's a character to love from the team of kids, whether it's the self conscious James, the over confident Hayden, the too sweet Sam, the impressive Emily, or the Good Girl Lana.
It's a fun super hero novel, and I'd give it a look if you're looking for a quick read full of wit and jokes. Lots of humor, lots of fun. :D
