This Savage Song

In a world where violence has created very real and very deadly monsters, Kate Harker is the daughter of V-City's ultimate crime lord, who runs the North and makes the citizens pay for his protection, while August lives in the South, where his father runs a task force to keep the monsters in check. Kate wants to emulate her father and be as ruthless, fearless and strong so he will finally accept her, while August wants nothing more than to be human and as kind as his father – the only problem is that August is one of the monsters. Now the already fragile truce between the two opposing sides is crumbling, and August and Kate are forced into an uneasy alliance to prevent the outbreak of an all-out war.

If the synopsis reminds you of show more Romeo and Juliet, then this is no coincidence as the author draws her inspiration heavily from Shakespeare's play (without the romance); by reversing gender-stereotypical characteristics of each main protagonist, and by placing the action within an alternate universe, urban fantasy setting, she ensures that the plot and the characters remain fresh, and there are plenty of surprises in store. Kate and August are wonderful creations, and you can't help but root for them; inside that big-city tough teenager with attitude and the confidence that comes with being the daughter of Callum Harker is a little lost girl who craves the praise and recognition of her father, while August turns the definition of monster on its head and is the most human and humane of all the characters in the book. I was also reminded of Helena Coggan's The Catalyst, in that both authors explore the deeper psychology of and differentiate between those who willingly embrace evil and those who commit evil deeds because they have no other choice. Was the author maybe moved to write this story by the flood of high-school and workplace shootings in the United States one reads about every so often?

The novel starts slowly, familiarising the reader with the protagonists and the strangeness of the set-up, and so when the tension increases and events begin to escalate, they are already hooked and the author has nothing else to do but reel them in. Almost the entire second half of the book is a real page turner, and I had to force myself to do some work before being inevitably drawn back. I loved the way V. E. Schwab uses music metaphors and allegories throughout the book, and in a way the entire work feels like a carefully composed symphony. The sequel can't come soon enough. show less

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book considering it had monsters, no romance, lots of blood and gore, and very little storyline. However, I loved the two main characters, Kate Harker and August Finn. Both were flawed and vulnerable in their own way, and so very, very likeable. Kate was a feisty, tough piece of works - clever, cruel, vicious, calculated and savage. In fact, she was a human trying to be monstrous to impress her father. August, on the other hand, was a monster trapped inside a human body. He was a tortured soul, full of self-loathing for what he was capable of. His inner battle, and desperate need to protect the innocent, had me wanting to hug him. He was such a sweetheart.

Then there were the monsters. The show more blood-drinking Malchai and the flesh-eating Corsai were evil and murderous, determined to kill as many humans as possible. However, the Sunai were totally differen; they only feasted on the souls of sinners. It was such an unique concept and the author's world-building had me drawn in almost from the start.

As for the ending - wow! It was left wide-open for the next book and I can't wait to get my hands on it. This is the first book I've read by this author, but it certainly won't be the last. show less

Told from the alternating perspectives of two young people, this vaguely dystopian young adult fantasy from Victoria Schwab follows the fortunes of the city of Verity, and of Kate Harker and August Flynn - one a human girl determined to be more like her monstrous father, the other a monster who longs to be human. Having done everything she can to get herself expelled from the string of boarding schools to which her father has sent her, Kate heads home to V City, hoping to convince Callum Harker that she is worthy of being his successor, worthy of ruling the north half of the city, which is kept in line by the monsters that Harker controls. August, for his part, longs to convince his adoptive parents that he is ready to join the Flynn show more family in their fight to rid the south city of violence, and to defend it from Callum Harker's monsters. Both Kate and Harker end up at Colton, an elite private school in the northern sector of V City, and form an uneasy bond with one another. When an assassination attempt is made against Kate, and August intervenes, the two teens find themselves on the run, trying to figure out just who is behind this effort to destabilize the city and plunge it, once again, into bitter conflict.

Although I had a little trouble getting into This Savage Song at first, finding the pace a little slow and the world rather confusing, I eventually found my feet and ended up enjoying the story immensely. It's been some time since I read a young adult novel, so I'm glad that this foray provided such an engaging experience. I found Schwab's world a fascinating one, particularly her vision of how monsters are created in it. Arising from various violent acts, three kinds of monsters haunt V City. There are the Corsai, who are flesh eaters, rending and tearing their victims; there are the Malchai, who, vampire-like, drink their victims' blood and drain them dry; and finally there are the Sunai, who appear human but who can use music to capture a person's soul, extracting it from them and killing them in the process. August is a Sunai, the rarest of all the monsters, and Schwab develops his struggle with his nature and abilities in such a way that the reader is drawn in. Kate's perspective, her gradual awakening (reawakening?) to the reality of what her father and his Malchai henchman Sloan have done, is also very well done. I expected, based on my experience reading other young adult titles of this nature, that there would be some sort of Romeo-and-Juliet romance here between August and Kate, and was therefore quite impressed that the author resisted the impulse to go in that direction. Of course there's nothing to say she won't include some romance in the second volume about the monsters of Verity, but it was unnecessary for the story development here, and I was pleased that Schwab refrained.

I finished the book wanting to know more - what happens next in V City? how fare Kate and August after the dramatic conclusion here? - and definitely plan to read the sequel. I do wish Schwab had offered more of an exploration of the Phenomenon - the event that sparked the eventual creation of monsters, and the quarantine of V City - and of the balkanization of the US, but perhaps that will happen in the second installment. Recommended to readers who enjoy young-adult fantasy and speculative fiction. show less

+ Kickass Universe Full of Monsters: There's not many words I can use to accurately describe how propelling the central conceit of this world is, but I'll still (hopelessly) try. Monsters are always good to have in fiction. They are horrible things I can adore because they're not real, but still real cool. Now, fictional monstrous humans? Now we're cooking with a WW2 era flamethrower. So when I heard that the main meat of this novel is that the violent actions of humans lead to the creation of monsters, I was heated as hell, and immediately copped this novel. And I don't regret it at all. While the majority of the monsters themselves are kinda generic (Think vampires and clawed, scratchy monsters with the labels sandblasted) in their show more inception, the real spotlight thieves are the Sunai. Basically, they are perfectly humanoid monsters born from the most hideous violence like school shootings, bombings, and mass suicides, that can steal the violence-tainted souls of people. There's a lot more to gush over in the worldbuilding of Savage Song, but I'll end it here for brevity's sake.

+ Deep Themes Going On: As kind of an "unfair" personal rule, I don't go out of my way to look for YA literature. Why? Because I'm a Mature, Manly Man(TM) who craves and desires mature and manly literature that reaffirms my dubious beliefs that life is awful and painful. Savage Song snatched those scales out my eyes damn quick. Not joking in the slightest, I was surprised to learn this was YA Lit after finishing it because the themes and their subsequent handling was shockingly mature. These oceanic trench-like themes were along the lines of "How much do your parents and their actions define you as their offspring?" or "How well does pacifism actually work in a intrinsically violent world?" The skillful way Schwab drove her plot forward to answer these questions is something that rivals or outdoes a lot of the more "grim and serious and gritty" stuff crowding the market these days.

+ Seamless Relationship Between August & Kate: These two are too good together. While I am a massive, lamprey-like sucker for the Soft Boy + Hard Girl trope, the relationship between August & Kate would've been excellent without my love for said trope. They complimented each other's flaws, weaknesses, strengths, and virtues like an ant and an aphid. Not only this, but they helped each other develop over the increasingly darkening and maddening plot until the end, which was a lot like a surprise kick to the chest. And they didn't kiss! That's crazy! show less

This week I haven't had the energy for reflections on mortality or infinity and therefore read a couple of restful YA supernatural novels rather than Borges or Meša Selimović. The first was [b:This Savage Song|40642172|This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)|Victoria Schwab|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529942103l/40642172._SY75_.jpg|42855493] by V. E. Schwab, whose Shades of Magic trilogy I'd already enjoyed. [b:This Savage Song|40642172|This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)|Victoria Schwab|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529942103l/40642172._SY75_.jpg|42855493] is set in America after a catastrophe that brought monsters into the world. Said show more monsters come in three varieties, all extremely hazardous to humans. The city of Verity is set up to protect people from the monsters - if they can afford to pay, that is. Two halves of the city are ruled by different dynasties that have a fragile truce. The reader learns all this via the excellent split point of view. Kate and August, the narrators, are 17 and each heir to one of the ruling dynasties. They meet each other at high school, whereupon the pace of the plot accelerates very rapidly. The initial 150 pages setting up the world and characters are definitely compelling, but the subsequent action-packed 250 pages are thrilling. Kate and August attempt to survive, decide whether to trust each other, and determine what is going on.

I really liked the monster concepts, which felt genuinely original and ingenious. The monsters are sort of demonic, sort of vampiric, and sort of ghostly, yet have their own distinctive strangeness. They are spawned by violence and atrocities, as literal manifestations of human cruelty. The rarest and weirdest of the monster types, called Sunai, are created by mass murder and can only feed on humans who have killed another. The narrators are too busy trying to stay alive to ponder the potential theological implications, which I found fascinating. Are the monsters avatars of some cosmic moral balance, sent to punish evildoers? The monsters themselves become uncontrollably violent if they do not kill murderers. There is no indication of kind acts creating beings that reward the good or try to prevent violence acts, so this is a grimly punitive structure. The narrative repeatedly raises the question of which monsters can be considered people, and to what extent they make their own decisions rather than being ruled by instinct. I particularly liked the way that Sunai use music as a lure. The world-building is cleverly woven into the narrative and really piqued my interest. I am likewise invested in the two narrators and their story, so will definitely read the sequel. show less

Wow.. This book was so interesting. The whole concept of crimes of humans creating actual monsters was so novel and fascinating and extremely well written. There is some history given about the city of Verity and the other territories but not in detail about what happened for the world to create monsters. There are some creepy violent scenes, which I am not usually used to reading; but this book was somehow, way too enjoyable. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a single sitting even though it’s more than 400 pages long. I did not see the betrayal or the ending coming at all – that makes this book so much more exciting and I am so relieved that I have Our Dark Duet ready to go ASAP.

Kate is such a strong willed girl who wants show more to prove that she is a Harker and capable of stepping into her father’s shoes, even if she has to kidnap and kill for it. I really liked her for her strength, quick thinking, pragmatism but also for her little spark of hope. I totally loved August. He is a monster who wants to be human, who wants to live, and the way he persists to keep his humanity intact is so heartening but also extremely sad because he is falling apart. But ultimately, he accepts his power for the sake of the greater good and I think that was great and I definitely want to see the badass version of him in the next book instead of the quiet one. I am also looking forward to see more fighting between the monsters and I am hoping the next one will be more dark, mor dangerous and obviously more fun.

I have to specially mention that one of the great things about this book was Kate and August didn’t fall in love in the middle of all the fighting and killing which is so common and boring in this genre. They are friends and care for each other and will protect each other for now and even if they fall in love later, I will be satisfied because they took their time. show less

This is classic Schwab—determined, morally grey characters; interesting world-building that begs more questions; really creepy bits; quests that don’t go where you’re expecting; twists that come out of the blue and make so much sense after the fact; addictive. It’s also really good YA, in that the teens are believable and competent, the adults aren’t doing what’s needed, the world’s semi-post-apocalyptic, and, again, it’s addictive. Didn’t love it as much as her adult books, but still will be reading the second one when it’s out, because August! Kate! My heart!

7/10