This Savage Song

Hey guys!

Here I am, another Monday and I am willing to bring you a new review. Today I will be talking about a book that I have been meaning to read for the longest time. It´s a book by an author that I have only heard wonderful things about and I am happy I have finally picked one of her books, especially considering that I have 5 out of 6 of them. Today I will be talking about This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab.

As I was saying this is a book that I have been meaning to read for quite a while now. I keep seeing it on BookTube and in other bloggers blogpost and I haven’t heard nothing but great things about it. Plus, the premise of the book sounded interesting. As I am writing this post I am currently reading the second book in the duology and I must confess that I am not looking it as much as the first one but still is a god book.

This savage song is a book that I do not know in which genre belongs. I would say is a mix of fantasy and dystopia. The story takes place in our world in the future, in what seems to be like America. The territory has been divided into places and Verity has been separated from the world because there are monsters in that state. Monsters are born out of evil acts and the eat the people, they are bad. The place has been divided in two: one part is ruled by Callum Harker whom is a monster himself and the other half of the city is ruled by Flynn who wants to bring peace. The story begins when we meet both Kate and August; Kate wants to be a monster like her dad and August is a monster that wants to be human. These two form an unlikely friendship and begging to care for each other while they discover that not everything is as they thought it was.

So, as I said I liked the book even when at first, I had some issues. Let’s be honest, I was hoping for a book that hook me right after opening the book and I found myself struggling for almost 100 pages. In fact, I almost DNF the book because I was thinking it was kind of cliché, which of course it is not.

The first hundred pages are a walking cliché for a high school drama. We get to meet the characters, whom at first look cool but when in the high school environment are not that cool. I mean I really like Kate and how determined she is to get what she wants, and I like how she wants to be bad as her dad but how she really doesn’t want to. I like the dilemma that August has. But I don’t like any of this when introduced in a high school environment. Thankfully that “Mean Girls” vibe that we get from Kate when she is in high school ends quickly and the good stuff begins.

I have really enjoyed how the author is constantly playing with the shades of grey. There are tons of things that are good but made bad and things that are supposed to be bad and how that also works vice versa. It´s like the author is constantly challenging us with the “does the end justified the means?” question. Even when it´s a fantasy it is an enjoyable book to reflex upon our acts and whether if someone is bad just because once he/she did something bad.

I usually enjoy a lot the world building in books, but this was not the case. The world building happens within the first hundred pages and as I have stated, more than once now, I didn’t like those. I found it to be quite simplistic even when the story is as complex as it ended up being. How a story that has so much focus on the shades of grey can completely forgot about them in the world building?

As for the characters I have quite enjoy the two main ones. I love how different they are from each other and how even then they formed an unlikely but lovely friendship. I like how the author shows us how we tend to judge people based on stereotyped ideas we have from them even when they might be entirely wrong. But I have love even more how these two characters are able to see their mistakes, not only when judging people and rectified them.

Regarding the story I must say that I think is very original and that ones that it has taken of is amazing. There is action, there is friendship and more importantly, there is a constant intention of having us thinking.

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars and will recommend for all of you to read it. As soon as I am done with the second book in the duology I will prepare a post for you all, so you can know all my thoughts on that one too.

See you al next Monday with a new post.