Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 464
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
THE BLURB
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 the 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 from 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 rerurned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August's secrets, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
MY THOUGHTS
For the past weeks, I've buried my face in a series of books at princes and princesses, castle politics, and scheming villains. This Savage Song has none of those which makes it a perfect breather. What it has are Monsters!
"Monsters, Monsters, big and small,
They're gonna come and eat you all.
Corsai, Corsai, tooth and claw,
Shadow and bone will eat you raw.
Malchai, Malchai, sharp and sly,
Smile and bite and drink you dry.
Sunai, Sunai, eyes like coal,
Sing you a song and steal your soul."
I've had my fill of stories about monsters as a child but it's never a common one with Victoria Schwab. Her stories were always so deliciously unique and just the right amount of creepy. An engrossing supernatural tale is what this is. The moment I started reading, I was completely absorbedand it was just impossible to set down.
This is not the kind of book that you will love instantly after a few pages, but I tell you, Schwab knows how to handle a book. She doesn't dump information unceremoniously to her readers. I love how we came to know every character bit by bit. I love how she builds this dark yet amazing world that just keeps getting darker and darker as the story progressed. And on top of all that, I really love the idea of violence breeding actual monsters in this world. It kind of makes you want to do good, and only good, or else your own monsters will come hunt you.
"It hadn't been just about the sinner in the end, it was about the sin itself, the shadow that ate away a human's light."
Another interesting thing is that the two main characters belong to different sides of the divided city of Verity, which automatically makes them enemies. To make matters worse, Kate Harker is human while August Flynn is a monster. Just the word monster makes August sound like the villain, but in Schwab's dangerous world, the line between humans and monsters is a blur. Humans aren't all innocent and monsters aren't all bad.
Kate and August are two powerful characters with beautiful flaws. Kate hates monsters for a good reason. But as they come to realize that they were facing the same enemy, as they learn to watch each other's back, it was fantastically beautiful that I wished a spark ( make it a bonfire) to ignite between the two. Sadly, there's no romance in this book. But not to worry because the lack of it is not a deal breaker at all. Here we have two strangers turned from enemies to allies and later on developed a meaningful friendship. Anyway, the story was still awesome without romance, the characters were lovable, the angst were well-placed, and the suspense was gripping it's almost like the pages are all begging to be turned.
There are some parts I found a little bit boring but overall the story was just awesome that all those boring parts were cancelled out. The best part, for me, is that huge cliffhanger ending. I bet it will leave many readers wanting more like it did to me. I highly recommend this not just to Schwab's fans but also to those who love dark dystopian and paranormal reads.
MY RATING
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