The city of Verity has been overrun with monsters, born from the worst of human evil. In North Verity, the Corsai and the Malchai run free. Under the rule of Callum Harker, the monsters kill any human who has not paid for protection. In the South, Henry Flynn hunts the monsters who cross the border into his territory, aided by the most dangerous and darkest monsters of them all—the Sunai, dark creatures who use music to steal their victim’s souls.
As one of only three Sunai in existence, August Flynn has always wanted to play a bigger role in the war between the north and the south. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate Harker, daughter of the leader of North Verity, August jumps on it.
When Kate discovers August’s secret, the pair find themselves running for their lives and battling monsters from both sides of the wall. As the city dissolves into chaos, it’s up to them to foster a peace between monsters and humans.
It's rare that I have to make notes whilst reading a book but I actually found it necessary whilst reading This Savage Song because I had so many thoughts going through my head throughout! Looking back, my notes are pretty illegible and incomprehensible. I think that's probably a good thing.
This Savage Song is the first book by Schwab that I've read. I know, that's pretty much sacrilege for a YA blogger, especially one that's been blogging as long as me (6 years this summer), but I guess I just never got round to it. I regret that, because This Savage Song was one of the most well formed that I have ever read. The world building, the characters, the messages included - it was so well done.
I loved the blurred lines that Schwab creates: To start with we are told that monsters are monsters and humans are good, but then we are brought to question this outlook when we meet August. This was a well done plot point and runs through the entirity of this book. I love it when things are introduced as black and white then the reader sees the grey space.
What really stood out to me was the love story, or the lack of one. I was expecting a Romeo and Juliet impossible love sort of thing. The romance was there, in the tiniest of hints, but it wasn't a central point of the book - in fact, it's very nearly not there at all. This was refreshing, especially since August and Kate were brilliant characters in their own ways and they didn't need anything to distract from that.
If I had anything to knock in this book, it's that the information is fed to us very slowly and as a result I felt at stages that I had no clue what was going on. i hate info-dumping, but it may have been a little necessary at points in this book. Still, if you can't already tell, I loved this book and really can't complain about much in it...
Book released 7th June 2016 by Greenwillow Books
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review
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