This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab | Review

Title: This Savage Song
Author: Victoria Schwab
Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: July 5th, 2016
Source: Purchased
Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

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?

What I thought

  I've been facing a sort of reading slump this year. I've grown to accept this fact. However, every once in a while a book comes and it captivates me and it momentarily pulls me out of that reading slump. This Savage Song was that book.

I love Victoria Schwab's writing. I genuinely do. She writes beautifully, yes, but the strength in her books are not the words themselves, or the plot, but the characters that populate them. This Savage Song was no exception to her wonderful character development.

The story follows August Flynn, a monster, and Kate Harker, who wishes she could be more of one. The characters are the story, they shape the world they live in and bring with them a perspective unique to their life experiences. They feel like real, breathing people. Their POVs are as distinct from each other as any two people's living the same day might be in real life. Not only that, but their development and growth was incredible. I am rooting for them.

Now, another thing I also enjoy about Schwab's books is the world building, all of the books I've read by her have unique worlds. However, they don't seem like they're so far fetched or impossible. Her world building for this book was also excellent, if anything I wish we understood a little bit more about how monsters (particularly Sunai) are created and just more about the monsters in general. However, I understand that because this fact remains a mystery in their world, it has to remain a mystery to the reader as well.

I loved This Savage Song, it was one of those rare books that pulled me out of my year long reading slump and made me want to know more. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel Our Dark Duet.