Last updated October 2026
Vengeful came five years after Vicious, and it introduced a new villain who almost steals the series. Marcella Riggins walks out of a fire with the power to turn anything she touches to dust, and she wants the whole city.
With Victorious, the final book in the Villains trilogy, out October 6, 2026, here is everything you will need to remember.
My sister-in-law and I are going to Schwab's Victorious tour stop at NC State's Stewart Theatre in Raleigh on Thursday, October 8, so I have been rereading the whole series to get ready
This post has everything you need before diving into book three. A spoiler-free review at the top, a character guide, and then below the spoiler line we have the full summary and ending explained.
The quick facts
Title: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Series: Villains, book two of three
Published: September 2018, from Tor
Before it: Vicious (2013)
Next: Victorious, the finale, out October 6, 2026
Genre: Superhero fantasy, crime thriller
Spice level: None. This is not a romance.
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Vengeful by V.E. Schwab Book Cover
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Vengeful Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Antihero | New Villain | Superpowers | Found Family
Spoiler free. Nothing below this heading gives anything away.
Vengeful is bigger, messier, and angrier than Vicious, with more points of view, more powers, and more bodies piling up.
Marcella. A mob wife whose husband tries to burn her alive, who comes back able to rot anything she touches, and decides she is done standing behind the throne. She is a fantastic villain because she is not wrong about how she was treated.
Victor. Coming back from the dead had a cost, and the book does not pretend otherwise. Victor is broken in a very literal way, and his search for a fix drives most of his story.
June and Sydney. June, a shapeshifter who has not worn her own face in years, and her friendship with Sydney is the quiet, tender side of a very intense book.
Structure. Like in Vicious, we jump around in time. There are more threads this time, so the first third asks for a little patience. It all comes together at one very big party.
Final thoughts. Vengeful gets the same hate you see for a lot of middle books in a trilogy. It isn't new and exciting anymore, and it doesn't give you all the answers you're hoping for either, so middle books tend to catch a lot of flack. I think of it like a relationship.
Book one is the new part, when everything is exciting. The middle book is when the relationship takes work. And book three is when you've lived through the tough parts and get to enjoy life together. Vengeful is never going to feel like Vicious did, but it's a solid four-star read, and I happily reread it before Victorious.
Vengeful Characters
Still spoiler free. Where a character has a big reveal attached to them, I say so without saying what it is.
Victor Vale
Alive again, but not quite right. Since Sydney brought him back, his power misfires and his body keeps dying on him, for a little longer each time. He is hunting other EOs, looking for one who can fix him.
Marcella Riggins
A mob wife whose husband tries to kill her in a house fire. She comes back able to rot anything she touches, and she wants to rule Merit openly.
Sydney Clarke
Older now and carrying the guilt of having brought Victor back broken. She is practicing her power and still thinks about bringing back Serena.
Mitch Turner
Still the heart of the family, still keeping everyone fed and hidden.
June
A shapeshifter and assassin who can become anyone she has touched, and who has not been herself in a very long time. Her friendship with Sydney is one of the best things in the book.
Eli Ever
Imprisoned at EON, the government agency that contains EOs. He is still dangerous, and still sure he is right.
Jonathan
An EO who can project an unbreakable shield around himself or anyone else. Marcella's bodyguard.
Dominic Rusher
The shadow-walking ex-soldier from Vicious, now working undercover inside EON on Victor's behalf.
Director Stell
The detective from Vicious is now running EON, and he is under enormous pressure to stop Marcella.
Dol
Still a very good dog.
⚠️ Full spoilers from here
Everything below gives away the twists, the deaths, and the ending. If you have not read it yet, stop here and come back when you are done.
Vengeful Summary
Marcella. Marcella Riggins is married to Marcus, a mobster in Merit. When he tries to kill her by setting their house on fire, she comes out the other side as an EO who can rot and ruin anything she touches. Her first move is to turn Marcus and his crew to dust. Her second is to start taking over the city's underworld.
She builds a crew. June, a shapeshifting assassin, and Jonathan, whose shield makes Marcella untouchable. Then she starts doing it in public. She does not want to hide. She wants everyone to know.
Victor. Sydney brought Victor back at the end of Vicious, but not cleanly. His power keeps shorting out, and his body dies over and over, staying dead a little longer every time. He, Sydney, Mitch, and Dol move from city to city while Victor kills other EOs, looking for one who can heal him. None of them can.
EON and Eli. EON, run by Stell, is losing control of Marcella. Their most dangerous asset is their prisoner, Eli, and Stell starts to consider unleashing him. Eli also figures out from the bodies that Victor is alive.
June and Sydney. June befriends Sydney and keeps her existence and her power a secret from Marcella, even while she helps Marcella hunt Victor. When she finally has to choose between them, she chooses Sydney.
The trap. Marcella makes a deal with Stell: she will hand over the EO killer (Victor) in exchange for being left alone. Victor ends up in EON's hands, and Dominic, working undercover inside, risks everything to get him out.
Vengeful Ending Explained
The Old Courthouse. Marcella throws a gala to reveal herself to the city. Everyone shows up. Merit's elite, Victor, and Eli, whom Stell has let loose to deal with her. Eli and Marcella go at each other, her power rotting the building while he heals as fast as she can destroy him. The floor gives way, and Marcella dies in the fall. Victor kills Jonathan.
Dominic. Dominic is shot helping Victor escape EON, and he dies.
Eli. EON's doctor, Haverty, has developed a drug that shuts EO powers off. He uses it on Eli, Eli kills him, and Eli nearly beats Victor in Haverty's lab. Sydney arrives and shoots Eli. With his healing shut off, it looks like the end of him. But Eli Ever is front and center in the Victorious blurb, and as Schwab herself likes to point out, nobody in this series stays dead for long. Go into book three assuming he is very much a factor.
Victor. Victor takes Haverty's serum, which turns off his power and stops the dying. Then he finds Stell and kills him. He tells Sydney to meet him outside the city, and he never shows.
Everyone else. Sydney, Mitch, and Dol leave Merit without him. Sydney is not giving up on finding him. June slips into EON, erases every record of herself, and disappears.
What to Remember Before Victorious
- Victor is alone and relying on Haverty's serum to keep his power, and his dying, under control.
- Sydney and Mitch are on their own and determined to find him.
- Eli was shot by Sydney while his healing was suppressed, but do not count him out.
- Stell is dead, so EON is under new leadership. That is where Victorious picks up the threat.
- Marcella, Jonathan, Dominic, and Haverty are dead. June is in the wind with no records left.
Victorious by V.E. Schwab Book Cover
Get it: Amazon | Bookshop | 🎧 Audible
Victorious brings it all to an end, thirteen years after Vicious. Victor, Sydney, and Mitch take on EON, and Schwab has called it her most ambitious book yet. It is out October 6, 2026, from Tor.
Need to go back further? My Vicious guide covers where it all began.
Books to Read If You Loved Vengeful
1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab. Where it all started. My full guide has the summary and ending explained.
2. Victorious by V.E. Schwab. The finale, out October 6, 2026.
3. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. More morally gray, power-hungry people who will do anything to win.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who dies in Vengeful?
Marcella Riggins dies when the Old Courthouse floor collapses during her fight with Eli. Victor kills Jonathan and Director Stell. Dominic Rusher dies helping Victor escape EON. Eli kills Dr. Haverty. Sydney shoots Eli while his healing is suppressed.
Does Eli die in Vengeful?
Sydney shoots Eli after Haverty's drug has shut off his healing, and it looks fatal. But Eli is a central character in the Victorious blurb, and Schwab has hinted that death in this series is rarely permanent.
What happens to Victor at the end of Vengeful?
Victor takes Haverty's serum, which suppresses his power and stops his recurring deaths, kills Director Stell, and leaves Merit alone. He never shows up at the meeting point where Sydney and Mitch are waiting.
What is Marcella's power in Vengeful?
Marcella Riggins can rot and ruin anything she touches, turning flesh, metal, and stone to dust.
Who is June in Vengeful?
June is a shapeshifting EO assassin who can become anyone she has touched. She works with Marcella but befriends and protects Sydney, and at the end she erases herself from EON's records and disappears.
What is wrong with Victor in Vengeful?
Because Sydney's resurrection did not come out quite right, Victor's power misfires and his body keeps dying, staying dead a little longer each time.
Do I need to read Vengeful before Victorious?
Yes. Victorious is the final book of the Villains trilogy and picks up directly from Vengeful.
When does Victorious come out?
October 6, 2026, from Tor. It is the third and final book in the Villains trilogy.
