Review: Arrow Vengeance

Arrow Vengeance
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher, Titan

Slade Wilson. Sebastian Blood. Isabel Rochev. Their actions will determine the path of a hero.

SECRET ORIGINS

Oliver Queen returns from the dead to create his persona as the Arrow. Yet others work in the shadows to fashion his downfall… and plot the destruction of all he holds dear.

Also a survivor of Lian Yu, Slade Wilson’s ultimate goal is Oliver’s doom, and he recruits Isabel Rochev, whose hatred for the Queens knows no bounds. Brother Blood, while seeking to do what is right, also finds himself inextricably tangled in Wilson’s machinations. 

This is the untold story behind the rise and fall of the Arrow.

I am a HUGE fan of Arrow, I love the show, and I love the characters. I'm so pleased they've started doing books to go with the show, this being the first one, because more Arrow! In this book, we basically see the events of season 2 of the show play out,  but from the point of view of Salde, Isabel and Sebastian. 

Slade was my complete and utter favourite character, I loved him and how he was with Oliver on the Island and I was so heartbroken when he went to the dark side! Part one of the book kicks off with Slade's POV and it starts from the events of the Amazo. I felt more and more heartbroken for Slade, as we went further in to his mind and what was going on. It answers a lot of questions about what happened to him after the island, how he got off it and so on. 

Part two gives us all about Isabel, her past with Robert Queen, what happened, and what led her to seek revenge against the Queens. Through to the present scenes from season 2 with her and Oliver, as well as how she became involved with Slade in the first place. I always felt kind of sorry for Isabel, and I was never sure what to think of her...did she feel bad for going after Oliver? And so on, but this book kinda cleared that up for me, while I felt a bit sorry for her...she was waaaayyy more of a cow than I'd thought! 

Part three gives us Sebastian, I kind of liked him. Like not in the beginning because he was being mean to Oliver, but as he and Oliver became friends and then what happened at the end of the season, I kind of liked him. This book made me feel so sorry for him. You could see what happened in his childhood, what happened with his parents and it was heart breaking. It's also no surprise he became the person he is in the show. I found his POV the most interesting because he just wanted to help the city and do the right thing and he was more moral, in his own way, than the others. 

Part four gives us the events from season 2 from all three of them's POV. I'm talking key scenes that involve these characters, as well as other, brand new scenes. It was fascinating to see Oliver and scenes from the show through their eyes, and see what the characters where thinking, because Isabel in particular, was hard for me to read. Seeing their thoughts and motivations let you understand them better and changed your opinion in some cases. 

Like I said, we get brand new scenes that fill in a lot of the gaps from the show. Like how exactly did Slade get back from the island? What exactly did happen to Sebastian's father? and so on. It answers a lot of questions you might have had over the course of the season and at the end. It gives you scenes the show couldn't because of time. It genuinely fills in so much, and rounds out the season and was an interesting way to go about the book, like seeing the season through new eyes. After reading this book, I felt like the season was complete. 

Because of all this new content, the book was just as gripping as the show, just as fascinating and when we hit season two territory, it's key scenes as well as new, but because of the new perspective it was like an entirely new scene. The book goes backwards and forwards through the past brilliantly, maintaining a fast pace, much like the show. No surprise considering who the writers are! The book really helps to bring the show more to life, gives understanding to the villains. It's very cinematically written, again, no surprise. I also feel like the characters were carried over from the screen to the book fantastically, they where brought to life and portrayed incredibly accurately. 

All in all Arrow: Vengeance is a must for any fan of the show!