Villains Books in Order
Part ofVictoria VE Schwab Books in OrderSee the Villains books in order by Victoria V.E. Schwab, with quick summaries, series background, and a simple guide to where to start.
Last updated: June 10, 2026
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Publication Order
4 books
Vicious
by Victoria VE Schwab
2013
Victor Vale and Eli Ever begin as ambitious college friends studying near-death experiences and end as bitter enemies with extraordinary powers. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison to settle the score in a world where nobody is clearly the hero.
Warm Up
by Victoria VE Schwab
2013
David Lane survived an avalanche, came back changed, and has spent months hiding from the power that followed him home. This short Villains prequel tracks the day he finally steps outside, and discovers he is not the only danger out there.
Vengeful
by Victoria VE Schwab
2018
Victor and Eli's feud is still burning, but they are no longer the only dangerous people in play. As Marcella Riggins rises with terrifying ambition, the city of Merit becomes the stage for another brutal clash of EOs.
ExtraOrdinary
by Victoria VE Schwab
2021
Set between Vicious and Vengeful, this graphic novel follows Charlotte Tills after a bus crash leaves her with the power to see deaths in reflections. When she sees her own murder in the future, she decides to outrun it.
Series background & context
The Villains books start with a question that sounds almost clinical and turns personal very fast: what happens if near-death experiences can give people extraordinary abilities? Victor Vale and Eli Ever, brilliant college roommates with too much ego and too little restraint, decide to find out. What they uncover does not make either of them noble. It just gives their rivalry sharper teeth.
This is a superpower series with almost no interest in clean hero lines.
The world of Villains has the snap of a comic book, but the mood is darker, meaner, and more interested in consequence than wish fulfillment. People who survive death and come back changed are called EOs, and the books keep asking what power reveals rather than what power improves. Victor is driven by revenge, curiosity, and a dangerous amount of self-belief. Eli is just as intense, but convinced he understands what should happen to other extraordinary people. That clash powers everything.
Vicious gives you the origin of the feud, the prison break, and the first big collision between Victor and Eli. Vengeful opens the world wider, bringing in more players, especially Marcella Riggins, and pushing the question of control even harder. The short story Warm Up and the graphic novel ExtraOrdinary fill in corners of the same universe, showing how ordinary lives get bent out of shape when EOs enter the picture.
Nobody in these books is clean-handed, and that is most of the fun.
Schwab writes this series with a brisk, sharp rhythm. The chapters move quickly, the loyalties keep shifting, and even the quieter scenes carry threat. Supporting characters like Sydney, Mitch, Serena, June, and Marcella are not just side notes, they change the balance of the story every time they walk in. The books also know when to lean into dark humor instead of pretending the material should feel solemn.
If you like morally messy fantasy or science-fantasy, Villains is one of the strongest entry points in Schwab's catalog. It is stylish without feeling hollow, fast without feeling thin, and more interested in obsession, damage, and choice than in saving the world. Think antiheroes, grudges, and power used badly, or brilliantly, or both at once.
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