Vicious

In Chapter 35, Sydney brings Barry Lynch back from death. As an EO, Lynch already cheated death once, and when Sydney raises him, his ability doesn’t work right. It may be that Lynch already had his second chance at life and with his third, he loses something related to his power—the thing he gained during his second chance. Victor’s power also doesn’t work on Lynch, something for which no explanation is offered. It may be that Lynch is too removed from “living” to feel pain. Sydney’s struggle to bring Lynch back foreshadows her later struggle with reviving Dol a second time and adds nuance to Schwab’s exploration of what it means to be alive. Life, Schwab suggests, is not an infinitely renewable state; there is something unique about each life lived, even if lived by the same individual.

Chapter 38 reveals Serena’s true perspective on EOs, death, and Sydney. Earlier, Serena didn’t stop Eli when he shot Sydney, showing her belief in Eli’s idea that EOs are unnatural. Here, Serena questions both Eli and herself. Eli argues that EOs are missing something after death and Serena feeling something missing within herself makes it easier for her to believe Eli’s theory. However, Serena still feels love for her sister and doesn’t really want Sydney to die a second time. Serena represents how misinformation creates confusion within a person and emphasizes the struggle of the EOs to reconcile with their second lives. Her own experience validates Eli’s beliefs, but her view of Sydney causes her to reject Eli’s ideas. As a result, she remains undecided about EOs, herself, and Sydney, just as Schwab resists tidy conclusions about the nature of living or the inherent morality of her characters.