TITLE & AUTHOR: This Savage Song by V.E SchwabI was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT PUBLISHER: Titan BooksOPENING
WHAT I THOUGHT EDITION: Paperback
PUBLISHED: 8 June 2016
PAGES: 400 Pages
There's no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains-and friends or enemies-with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.
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.
The night Kate Harker decided to burn down the school chapel, she wasn't angry or drunk. She was desperate.
This Savage Song is a fantastic book. I loved the setting of the book, a world where two forces are fighting against each other and monsters are eating everyone else. The author cleverly shows that some of the monsters are more human than the humans who can be quite monstrous. Is that even a sentence? You know where I'm going right? Unfortunately, the plot is thin. Monsters ran around wishing they could be more human. Humans ran around either protecting monsters or being rather vile. Their goals are simple and include avoiding wars, staying alive or proving themselves. However, the author's fantastic skill as a writer more than makes up for a thin plot. I was sucked into the story from the first sentence and the author didn't let me go until the final page. The characters are so well written and alive I expected to look up and see them walking around my house. The author turns vivid descriptions into a fine art form. Kate is a deliciously complex character; she comes across quite nasty at times, the bad daughter ofa crime lord but at times I felt she was being cruel and hateful to impress her Dad but this wasn't her true nature. August was wonderful. He wishes he wasn't a monster and I wanted to give him a gig hug and feed him cake. The book is quite violent and gritty and a crazy ride. I look forward to the sequel and will probably read the author's other adult novels.
