This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab
After recently reading the City of Ghosts series from Victoria Schwab and not liking them as much as her Villains or Shades of Magic series, I was nervous about reading this one. Although I still loved Schwab’s writing just as much in City of Ghosts, I didn’t like the characters and would have been so upset if that happened again. But luckily, those books were the exception because once again Schwab has created these amazing antiheroes in a dark and chilling adventure in This Savage Song.
This book was difficult to put down; a page-turning thriller with multiple mini cliff-hangers at the end of certain chapters that made me crave more. There are monsters like vampires and zombies but they are born from a human’s darkest sins. And the city is divided by two governing factions that deal with the monster threat in very different ways. Callum Harker runs his city by controlling the monsters with money and power and Henry Flynn runs his city by ridding it of the sinners thus making sure monsters aren’t able to be born.
This is where the story begins, with the children of both Harker and Flynn. There’s August Flynn, a monster who wants to be more human. And Katherine “Kate” Harker who is trying to prove to her father she can be monstrous just like him to protect the city. The two meet at school but are then thrust together in a dangerous situation. Although there are both a male and female protagonist, there is not romance which I appreciated. It’s more about the struggle for survival and an uneasy friendship.
There were a few additional random things I liked about this specific story; I loved the use of music - the importance of it and how it affects others in different situations. It describes beauty and violence and added a deeper layer to this storyline. Schwab uses just the right amount of violence to add to the story but not make it overwhelming; although there is no such thing as safe. And there was a wonderful darkness to the main characters and a brilliant ending that perfectly added to the gloomy and thrilling story.
Once again, I am in awe of Schwab’s wonderful creations and can’t wait to pick up the second book in this world and see where she takes it.
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.