This Savage Song- V. E. Schwab

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As my addiction to V. E. Schwab grows, I went head-first into the Monsters of Verity series and... I'm in love. It's as simple as that.
V. E. Schwab has such an effortless ability to create interesting worlds, gripping concepts and fascinating debates over good vs evil. The characters are lovable, complex and flawed which makes the read so much more realistic and entertaining.
This Savage Song is about a world where crime literally breeds crime. Whenever a criminal act is committed, it creates a monster that then terrorises the city. Our two main characters live on two sides of a divided city; Kate, a ruthless monster Hunter who yearns for her father's approval and August, a conflicted monster who yearns to be human. An assassination attempt forces them to become allies and find the true evil threatening to take over both sides of the city. It gave me super Renegade vibes (Renegades by Marissa Meyer) so, if that appeals to you, you'll definitely love this.
This book was griping, thrilling, captivating and V. E. Schwab never fails to impress me.

GOODREADS

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
It initially took me a bit of time to get my head around the world but once you understand it, the whole thing's pretty easy to follow. I found the territory battle between the Harker's and Flynn's interesting (and very Renegade-esque with the Harker acting as Anarchists and Flynn pretty much the Renegades).

But what I found most interesting was the premise of the monsters and how they were created. The idea that crime breeds crime and evil literally breeds evil was super fascinating to me in the nerdiest of ways (I study sociology so the whole crime and deviance aspect was particularly interesting to my geeky brain) and I think the three types of monsters were cool. I pictured the Corsai as kind of demons, the Malchai as (naturally) vampires, but the Sunai were by far the coolest.
August, particularly, was such an interesting character. I loved his internal battle between whether he's a monster or a human and I can't wait to see those two sides wage a war inside him even more in the next book. But, despite him physically being a monster, I think August was the most human one in this book- he was noble, kind and resilient (which is my way of being very generous at describing what humans are like).

I also loved Kate. From the very first page, she reminded me a lot of Nova from Renegades by Marissa Meyer and I was not disappointed. Kate is smart and brutal but at the same time, she has a lot of compassion and good in her. I think her aspiration to be like her father leads her along the wrong path a bit and think she'd be a much fairer and just ruler than her father.

Then there's the matter of shipping. I don't care if they're different species. I love a good romance. It's difficult to tell whether they'll end up together but I desperately hope they do. I don't think Kate is one to shy away from what August is and I think he needs that- someone who doesn't fear him and makes him feel alive. In another way, I also think August is good for Kate because he doesn't fear her like many of the other residents do and I think he softens her sharp edges a little. They're a lovely match and I'm rooting for them.
The story truly started when August started Colton Academy so he could spy on Kate from the Flynns. I love undercover stories like this and, what I liked even more, was that it didn't last long! Don't get me wrong, I love the suspense and slow burn of hidden identities but I hate it when it drags out endlessly (I'm looking at you, Renegades) and that didn't happen at all in this book.
It was great seeing Kate and 'Freddie' interact but I also loved how quickly Kate figured out something wasn't quite right. From there, I was on tender hooks waiting for her to find out and it was awesome!
The Malchai stage an attack on Kate at the school, framing the kills to make it look like the Sunai kills, but August shows up and helps her escape (I don't want to say August shows up and saved her... because I feel like Kate is perfectly capable of saving herself too. They both bring kick-ass survival skills to this relationship... equality).
From there, they're on the run and I love how they work together. Seeing them get to know each other, not judge each other and care about one another enough to never leave the other behind... it warmed my heart. But, through all the banter and fun fighting scenes, the worry that August hadn't eaten in a while was niggling at me and I was scared. 

He kind of goes off the rails, talking crazy, but I wasn't too worried because at least he couldn't kill Kate. The best little rule about the Sunai is that they can only feed on sinners so I didn't have to worry about August battling with trying to resist Kate in that way but... then Kate screws everything up!
I was a mess when Kate killed that human guy. Sure, he was trying to kill them and it was self-defence but.. Kate, you've just ruined everything! Reading that, my hopes for their ship were really dwindling because, even if they get out of this situation okay, August feeds and they fall in love... August would always look at Kate with the thought of feeding in the back of his mind. And I don't want that for him. No matter how much I ship them, he doesn't deserve that kind of relationship and constant guilt and pain and worry.
But before August gets anywhere near her soul, Sloan shows up and kidnaps the both. He beats August up and... it's painful. Knowing that Kate could hear August's screams and sobs just added salt to the wound. We find out that Leo had teamed up with Sloan and... I was surprised but also not surprised. From the very beginning, Leo was a bit of an intense character and there always a dark and soulless (literally) feel to him. But hurting August was not part of his deal with Sloan so he stabs and 'kills' Sloan.
August finally falls and goes dark (which was inevitable, really) but what wasn't expected is that he kills Leo!! As much as I wanted Leo to die and felt victorious that he went so spectacularly, I didn't want August to do it! August has to deal with enough pain and self-loathing- now he just has more guilt and conflicting feelings to deal with!

Kate and August make one final stop... and it's to see dear old dad. From all of Callum Harker's scheming and deception, I'm glad he's gone for good. And I'm also glad that August killed him for Kate because she doesn't need to get her soul her even dirtier.
And then they part ways which was not the conclusion I wanted!! I still ship them so much and I don't want them to parted! Can't they just stay together and accept their feeling for each other yet? Kate is heading to Prosperity, a neighbouring city which appears to be starting a monster population and August heads home. I'm actually very fearful for where August is going to end up because I don't think he's in a great head space and I think he'll end up going down a very dark path.
At the very end (and this part had me screaming), we find out that Kate's crime of murder has created a Malchai!! A Malchai that then saves Sloan!! I'm so excited to see Kate come face-to-face with a monster of her own creation!

Overall, this was such an interesting book with a fascinating world created. I love the characters and the balance between good and evil.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe