Vengeful takes all the original cast and then adds in a new trio to really crank things up, but I feel like the tension is missing from this trio, too.

There's no interpersonal connection between Victor and Marcella besides June's connection to Sydney which Victor doesn't know about until way later and a single confrontation. Between Marcella and Eli the connection is all indirect in an attempt to get to Victor which Marcella is unaware of. It feels weaker when they finally all meet and come head-to-head-to-head than when Victor and Eli lock eyes for the first time.

All the death in this book hit so hard because of the personal connections in the first book, but we never lingered on them long enough to acknowledge it happening which I felt like dampened the impact. While the characters didn't have to physically stop and grieve over the deaths, they could've done so mentally or emotionally.

I still really liked this book, but I think it could've done better and Schwab still writes beautifully.