Book: This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Pages: 407 (Paperback)
Publisher:Titan Books
Published: June 7th, 2016
Goodreads Synopsis:
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
My Review:
V.E. Schwab has done it again. What an amazing book that is!
First, the setting and the worldbuilding are amazingly written and described. Everything is so broken and destroyed. Humans can’t really trust each other anymore and to make it all worse, there are literal monsters, some in plain sight, some coming out at night only, some hiding between the people. But the story is not only about monsters and humans fighting each other, but more about the monsters that are some humans, and about monsters who want nothing more than be human and fit in. Of course, there is a lot of fighting, but that is only logical in a place where humans and monsters both are plotting, killing and doing worse. The most interesting thing about this world was, that when a human being commits a crime, they make monsters. The worse the crime, the worse the monster. But somehow the monsters coming from the worst of crimes are the most gentle souls, which I find fascinating. Schwab captures the dark, torn atmosphere fantastically, her writing style fits perfectly.
And those characters. The story follows two teenagers. One is a strong girl who just wants her dad’s approval and literally sets the world on fire, the other is a boy with a lot of secrets and a gentle heart. They couldn’t be more different, but become allies when they realize they have the same enemy. Kate is such a great character, strong in so many different ways and with different facets. On one hand she’s independent and nobody can tell her what she should do, but on the other hand she’s quite lonely and needs family. And both of them are so well developed and described. They harmonize really well with each other and fit perfectly into this world.
I stayed up all night just to read this book because it was so good and I need more of it.
Rating:
★★★★★/5
