Review: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Title: This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1)

Author: Victoria Schwab
Published: July 5th, 2016 by Greenwillow Books
Read: June 27th to July 7th, 2016
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review*

There’s no such thing as safe.

Kate Harker wants to be as ruthless as her father. After five years and six boarding schools, she’s finally going home to prove that she can be.

August Flynn wants to be human. But he isn’t. He’s a monster, one that can steal souls with a song. He’s one of the three most powerful monsters in a city overrun with them. His own father’s secret weapon.

Their city is divided. Their city is crumbling.

Kate and August are the only two who see both sides, the only two who could do something. But how do you decide to be a hero or a villain when it’s hard to tell which is which?

Even though I had been aware of Victoria Schwab's books for years and had owned The Archived [so far] duology for quite some time, I didn't fully discover her books until last year when I gave a chance to The Archived and loved it beyond words; the rest is history, as they say. After having read four of her published work by now, I can surely say that Schwab's books have something wickedly amazing, addictive and magical inside them that make her one of my favorite authors who writes some of my favorite books. This Savage Song is no exception.

Kate and August are great protagonist. I've seen a lot of praise for August, a monster of a boy, who's longing to be human. His character arc is extremely fascinating and compelling. I haven't seen that many people get excited about Kate, but I absolutely love her as well! Kate, a human girl who's looking for acceptance and approval from her father, a monstrous human, is a bit clueless at first about certain things, but she's a fast learner and not gullible, naive or someone you can walk all over and get away with it. She's got fire and spunk in spades, alright! There is no romance in This Savage Song. As much as I adore the tentative friendship Kate and August form, I'm not going to lie, as a sucker for romance, my opinion will always be that there is too little kissing in Victoria's books, especially this one, hah. I also loved some of the side characters, especially Ilsa whose story evoked a lot of emotions inside me. The sibling relationship between her and August was definitely one of the highlights in my eyes.

If you're acquainted with Schwab's work, you're aware that the themes throughout all of her books are: what makes a monster in its core; how thin is the line between good and bad; what is truly good and evil, is there such, how do they differ from each other and how does power (and magic) corrupt one's soul. The novel at hand is also a prime example in the category and, while slow in pace, This Savage Song still reads quite fast. (Faster than A Darker Shade of Magic, if you had any problems with that one's slow pacing.) The world itself has room to grow, but is well-developed. Things aren't overly explained, but you still get the hang of everything without the info dump feel attached to it all. I really liked the eerie tone of the way the different types of monsters are written and how, with time, we got to see how monstrous they truly can be.

My only complaint is that the book was a bit anticlimatic? There is a climax to the book, but the build-up towards it is also quite climatic, turning and turning into a big wave to hit the shore. You're expecting something to snap on every page turned, so when it does, it doesn't feel as climatic as it could have been. It was good, but it could have been even more epic, you know? Regardles, the epilogue is exactly what I was hoping for though and to think that this will actually go down in the sequel; WELLLL. Things certainly will get from bad to worse for one of our protagonists, if not both.

Even though there is no romance, which worked well since the book takes place over a handful of days, and the book was a bit anticlimatic, it was still oh, so good! If you're a fan of dark stories and topics such as what is monstrous, what makes a monster, the corruption of power and redemption of one's soul, you will, without a doubt, enjoy this book to the highest form.

PS. The hardcover copy that I obtained is super duper beautiful and I can't wait to see the cover for the sequel and hold the finished copy in my hands already! *waits excitedly*

My This Savage Song inspired picspam can be found here, on my Tumblr.  [Click on the photos to view them in HQ.]
Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★★

Meet the author

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Goodreads

Thank you to Edelweiss and Greenwillow Books for an ARC. My thoughts are 
my own and in no way did this review copy affect my thoughts.