The virus in 'How We Became Wicked' is one of those chilling concepts that sticks with you because of how eerily plausible it feels. The book frames it as a mutation that turns people into either 'wicked'—violent, irrational beings—or 'true'—those who remain immune but are forced to survive in a shattered world. What makes the spread so terrifying is the way it plays on human behavior. The 'wicked' aren’t just mindless zombies; they’re manipulative, using their remaining slivers of rationality to lure others into danger. It’s not just bites or bodily fluids—it’s deception, trust betrayed, and the collapse of social bonds that really accelerates the outbreak.
I love how the book leans into the psychological horror of it. The virus doesn’t just kill; it warps humanity into something almost recognizable but deeply wrong. The way it spreads feels like a commentary on how fragile our connections are. One lie, one moment of misplaced trust, and everything falls apart. It’s not just a biological pandemic; it’s a social one. That duality is what makes the story so compelling—and why I couldn’t put it down.
Reading 'How We Became Wicked,' I couldn’t help but draw parallels to real-world fears about pandemics. The virus in the story spreads through something as simple as mosquito bites, which is genius in its mundanity. Mosquitoes are everywhere, hard to avoid, and their bites are usually just an annoyance—until they’re not. The book takes that everyday irritation and twists it into a global catastrophe. It’s not about dramatic patient zero moments; it’s about the slow, inevitable creep of something tiny and unstoppable.
The real horror, though, is how the virus divides society. It doesn’t just infect; it categorizes. You’re either wicked or true, and that binary becomes a death sentence for entire communities. The spread isn’t just physical—it’s ideological. Neighbors turn on each other, families fracture, and the world becomes a place where survival means isolation. It’s a bleak but fascinating look at how pandemics don’t just kill people; they kill trust.
What fascinates me about the virus in 'How We Became Wicked' is its duality. It doesn’t just spread through one method; it’s a mix of biological and social vectors. Mosquitoes carry it, sure, but the 'wicked' also spread it through their actions—violence, deception, and the breakdown of society. The book does a great job showing how the two feed into each other. The more people become wicked, the more chaos erupts, and the harder it is to contain anything. It’s a vicious cycle that feels all too real, especially after living through actual pandemics. The story’s strength is in those layers—it’s not just about the virus itself, but about how people react to it.
2026-03-12 06:37:24
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Epidemic - A Scientific Mishap
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A Scientific Mishap led to an outbreak of Zombie disease which led to millions of people getting infected. The faith of the others lies on the shoulder of an eighteen-year-old Jason and his friends.
She was sent into his house as a weapon.
He let her in knowing exactly what she was.
The curse in her blood has killed every man who ever got close, but he doesn't care. He just watches her with those calm, knowing eyes like he has already seen every move she is going to make.
She wants to destroy him.
He refuses to let her go.
And somewhere between the poison, the lies, and the dead bodies they keep stepping over, something far more dangerous than the curse starts to grow between them.
They were never supposed to survive each other.
That was always the plan.
Neither of them knew.
## **The Wicked Games We Play for Love**
*Book One of The Wicked Series*
Fourteen years ago, Dorian Vanderbilt abandoned Troy Summers in an orphanage.
He locked her in a closet, walked away with his new wealthy family... and never came back.
She spent fourteen years preparing for one thing.
Revenge.
Now twenty, Troy earns a place at an elite university where Dorian studies, armed with a simple plan: make him fall hopelessly in love with her, then destroy him piece by piece.
Only Dorian isn't the boy she remembers.
He is quiet. Calculating. Beautiful. Dangerous.
A man with silver hair, ancient eyes, and a talent for seeing through every lie she tells.
As Troy's carefully crafted seduction begins to work, her plan starts unraveling. The university hides violent secrets. Men fight like predators. Wolves roam the forests after dark. A lonely vampire mourns the loss of sunlight. Ancient druids guard magic that should no longer exist. And Dorian is not simply the heir to a powerful family...
He is the nine-tailed fox.
Bound by an ancient fae treaty that has stolen freedom from every supernatural race, Dorian has spent centuries manipulating allies and enemies alike in search of a way to break it. Troy was never supposed to become part of that plan.
But the more they deceive each other, the more dangerous their game becomes.
Every kiss is a test.
Every touch is a lie.
Every act of intimacy is another move in a ruthless battle between revenge and love.
Until Troy discovers the truth.
The boy she swore to destroy may be the only one capable of saving them all.
And Dorian's greatest weakness has never been his enemies.
It's the orphan girl he left behind.
Lurking in the shadows, werewolves have always been there. For millions of years, they've been guided by powerful Alpha, subjected to the powers of those monsters, until one day, that hierarchy was dropped. This part of history is dark and unknown to the average population.
Now living side by side with humans, they were getting closer to extinction till an unknown Alpha raised out of the darkness to rule and tame the wild beast left to roam freely. Seen as the new hope of an entire nation, he was feared and praised, but overall, cursed with a position he never wished to be in.
But he's not sane, nor is she. When unhinged mates met, what else could unfold unless complete disaster and further destruction of what"normal" once signified? But what breaks, the world or themselves?
What baggage have they buried deep down for no one to see? What crime has been committed? Does love between themselves exist, or is it just fake lusting for each other's bodies?
Watch the world crumble because of both.
What started off as a plan to control the prince backfired in ways Anberine did not expect nor did she ever see coming.
Seeing this as her way of getting revenge for all the times he had tormented and made her life a living hell, she is now forced to see things in another perspective thanks to the side effects to the plan.
Will the original plan come to fruition? Or will there be unspeakable consequences unveiling more dangers that are concealed within the castle walls?
Outside the wrecked world of the Alphas, one could see the Neverseen, the light that spread about, form by the civilized world that far prime of the Alphas. The Neverseen have long been awake and far knowledgeable than the Alphas. They height above one can ever imagine. So tall that even the Alphas and its subject could comparable to nothing, not even dots.
There, one could see the march of Neverseen, or what could be called as giant in the Alphas World. Amidst the march, there's this tiny planet that surround with smoke that distorted about in the outskirt of the way, and comparable only as the dots in the Neverseen's eyes. So nothing that even they were the threat if discover, they able to overcome the changes.
Strangely, this dots of a planet connected, by the use of the white strand, to the tiny being that almost seem a dust that vibrated about. This tiny being as a whole that scattered around could fit at the hands of the giant, and can even form a city there and new system.
Only if they were awake that they will realize everything. In this time and age, their eyes have never been once open since the beginning of time. They as if sleep for all eternity, or was curse to never awakened!
But they have the blood of the Alphas, and even the curse that stop them to realize the Origin, they will to awake in no time!
The ending of 'How We Became Wicked' is a hauntingly beautiful conclusion that leaves you with more questions than answers—and I mean that in the best way. After following the intense survival struggles of Natalie and the eerie world overrun by the 'wicked,' the final chapters shift gears into something almost philosophical. The revelation that the cure might not be a cure at all, but a transformation into something else entirely, shattered my expectations. It’s not a clean resolution where good triumphs; instead, it’s messy and ambiguous, like real survival would be. The last scene with Natalie choosing to stay behind while others escape? Chilling. It made me wonder if 'wickedness' was ever the real villain or just humanity’s inability to adapt.
What sticks with me is how the book plays with perspective. The 'wicked' aren’t mindless monsters—they’re people twisted by desperation, and the so-called 'sane' are just as capable of cruelty. That gray morality is what elevates the ending beyond a typical dystopian wrap-up. I finished the book and immediately flipped back to reread key scenes, picking up on hints I’d missed. That’s the mark of a great story—it lingers.
I picked up 'How We Became Wicked' on a whim after seeing its eerie cover art, and wow, it sucked me in like a dystopian vortex! The premise—where society splits into the 'wicked' (infected by a parasite that twists morality) and the 'true' (uninfected but hunted)—is chillingly fresh. Yates crafts this world with such visceral detail that I felt the paranoia creeping into my bones. The dual POVs of Natalie (a 'true') and Astrid (a 'wicked') create this delicious moral ambiguity; you start questioning who’s really monstrous. It’s slower-paced than typical YA dystopias, but the tension simmers like a pot about to boil over. The ending left me staring at the ceiling for hours—partly because it’s open-ended, which might frustrate some, but I loved the lingering unease. If you’re into psychological horror spliced with societal collapse, this’ll haunt you in the best way.
What really stuck with me was how the book mirrors real-world divisions—us vs. them mentalities, the cost of survival—but cranks it to eleven. The prose isn’t flowery, but it’s sharp enough to draw blood. Minor gripe? Some side characters feel undercooked, but Natalie and Astrid’s arcs more than compensate. Bonus points for the creepy-as-hell wasps (you’ll understand).
The main character in 'How We Became Wicked' is a teenage girl named Astrid. She lives in a dystopian world where a virus called 'the wicked' has turned most of humanity into violent, insect-like creatures. Astrid's journey is gripping because she's not just surviving—she's trying to understand the line between humanity and monstrosity. Her curiosity and resilience make her stand out, especially when she uncovers secrets about the virus and her community's dark choices.
What I love about Astrid is how relatable she feels despite the surreal setting. She questions authority, bonds deeply with her family, and struggles with moral dilemmas. The book explores whether she'll stay 'true' (uninfected) or fall into 'wickedness,' and that tension keeps you hooked. It’s one of those stories where the protagonist’s growth mirrors the reader’s own fears about society’s fragility.