ARC Review: THIS SAVAGE SONG by Victoria Schwab

by - 6:50 PM



Title: This Savage Song
Series: Monsters of Verity #1
Author: Victoria Schwab
Publisher: HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books
Release date: July 5th, 2016
Pages: 464



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.


In This Savage Song, Victoria created a city of monsters and fights and blood. She created a girl who wanted her father to be proud of her. She created a boy who wanted to be anything but a monster. She knows how to keep someone's attention when it concerns to the story itself. Kate and August were characters you - I - couldn't help to root for. They wanted stuff they couldn't have but either way they did their best to achieve everything they wanted. It's so relatable to people's stories and everyone will find themselves immerse in this story quickly. 


August and Kate were two characters I so very much enjoyed meeting. I'm sure this happens a lot with her books, but her characters are so intriguing and it's like they're showered with light and darkness and stars and dust. It was a wonderful experience and people will definitely love it when it comes out. My heart raced in between pages and was so there in the city with August and Kate running away from the monsters that were after them. It was so thrilling and exciting! 

Victoria's writing is definitely one of my favorites. I read her The Archived series and I could say the same about the writing: it's enchanting and lyrical and it makes you so into the story that you can't let it go until you're done. And maybe not even then! I'm still in a state of happiness even months after being done with the book. It is definitely one of my favorite 2016 novels. 

I loved the Romeo + Juliet bit but also liked that it didn't have romance. (I'm not sure if the 2nd book will but) This book #1 in the duology is all about an unlikely friendship or comradery between two sides of a city. Kate is the one with a father that commands all monsters and their part of the city is where the rich lived. On the other hand, August is one of three rare monsters that live with the rebel side of the city that ones to kill all the other monsters. August fights with the humans to stop other monsters of killing innocent people. Yet he is also a monster so he is also fighting against himself because he doesn't want to be that way though he can't do nothing about it. He goes undercover to this school where Kate also goes to, and that's when they meet! 

I'll definitely read the second book, I'm excited about it and I'm so waiting for it when it comes out. This Savage Song gave me the good kind of shivers, it was a bit scary but the monsters part was UH-MAZING! Victoria really knows how to write haunting stories and plots. 


Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say "tom-ah-toes," "like," and "y'all." She also tells stories. She loves fairy tales, and folklore, and stories that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems.

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