Title: This Savage Song
Author: Victoria Schwab
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pub Date: July 5, 2016
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 427
Source: Library
Genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★
Goodreads || Buy on Amazon

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

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?

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My review:

“You wanted to feel alive, right? It doesn’t matter if you’re monster or human. Living hurts.”

This is the first book I’ve read by V.E. Schwab (also known as: Victoria Schwab), and I’m a little bit torn.

On one hand, I’ve heard from others that this book is not her best. I find myself agreeing with that despite the fact that I haven’t read any of her other work. On the other hand, I thought This Savage Song was kind of unique. It felt like I was reading a different kind of book but I’m not sure how to properly explain that feeling.

This book is about monsters and villains, but not all the monsters are villains. Does that make sense? Good.

I am not a fan of Kate. Her character had potential to be badass and complicated but she only came off as whiny and petulant. That was unfortunate because the prospect of kickass female heroines is exciting.

Our resident monster, August, is definitely the highlight of this story. He was by far my favourite character and in my opinion, had the most interesting individual “story”. He’s really the only reason I want to read the sequel, Our Dark Duet.

Everything else was tame. Typical villains. Typical traitors. Typical war between different “races” (more like species) and governing leaders. I also found the first half (okay, maybe all of it) to be moving incredibly slowly.

It might be important to mention that there was virtually no romance in this book. No romance would have been refreshing if the rest of the plot wasn’t so utterly boring and predictable.

All in all, This Savage Song wasn’t savage enough for me. I’m hoping for a little more worldbuilding in the next instalment. Fingers crossed!

This gets 3.5 stars! It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.