This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)

by Victoria Schwab

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city, a grisly metropolis where the violence has begun to create real and deadly monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the inhabitants pay for his protection. August just wants to be human, as good-hearted as his own father-but his curse is to be what the humans fear. The thin truce that keeps the Harker and Flynn families at peace is crumbling, and an assassination attempt forces Kate and August into a tenuous alliance. But how long will they survive in a city where no one is safe and monsters are real...

Reviewed by Leigha on

3 of 5 stars

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Two archenemies learn to trust each other in this young adult dystopian fantasy.

This book had some really wonderful main characters. Their archetypes are not new to the genre - the tough girl and her "monster" counterpart. However, their personalities felt unique and their arcs ended in a satisfying way. I enjoyed their burgeoning friendship. I could see the second book in the series taking their relationship romantic, but in this novel no romance brews between them. I LOVED the author putting them in dangerous situations, and it actually being dangerous. Usually main characters are placed in dire circumstances, yet escape it at the last second. Not this book. You will feel every painful hit, emotionally and physically, Kate and August receive.

If I loved the characters so much, why am I only giving it three stars? Reasons - world building and pacing. The beginning of the novel is so...very...slow. Honestly, it didn't actually get interesting until 58% into the book. That means over 50% of the book is buildup. In regards to the buildup, the book needed better world-building. I found myself really confused about the actual setting of Verity - the layout of the city, the different types of monsters, and the history behind the setting. I don't need everything explained, but the world-building seemed very jumbled. This book felt very uneven, but I do plan on checking out the next in the series.

tl;dr Great characters, slow pacing, and jumbled world-building.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 19 January, 2017: Finished reading
  • 19 January, 2017: Reviewed