This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab (UK edition)

Title: This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, 1)
Authors: V. E. Schwab
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher:  Titan Books (7th June 2016)
Blurb:

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city, a grisly metropolis where the violence has begun to create real and deadly monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the inhabitants pay for his protection. August just wants to be human, as good-hearted as his own father – but his curse is to be what the humans fear. The thin truce that keeps the Harker and Flynn families at peace is crumbling, and an assassination attempts forces Kate and August into a tenuous alliance. But how long will they survive in a city where no one is safe and monsters are real . . .

Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Review:

THIS SAVAGE SONG by V. E. Schwab is the first part of an intriguing new series – Monsters of Verity. The story is set in a dark divided world where monsters walk the streets. Kate Harker and August Flynn are the children of the two men who run the divided city of Verity. Between them Harker and Flynn hold the city, but their truce is thinning and the peace it created crumbling. If the truce breaks it will mean war. Kate and August get caught in an assassination attempt that forces them to create an alliance. The only trouble is, they’re not sure whom they can trust.

THIS SAVAGE SONG is one of the books that came out in 2016 that I have been looking forward to getting my hands on because Schwab promised that there wouldn’t be any romance. This is actually one of the aspects of THIS SAVAGE SONG that I enjoyed the most – the tentative friendship between Kate and August. It’s just brilliantly written, and I liked the fact that (for me at least) there was no romantic overtones because let’s be honest, friendship can be just as powerful as love. The events of THIS SAVAGE SONG certainly show that.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are fascinating main characters, and interesting mirrors for one another. Kate’s father is kind of like a mob boss, whilst August’s father is more military in how he runs his section of Verity. As such, Kate and August have very different upbringings although both want to be like their father. Schwab did a good job with the secondary characters; both families and their acquaintances felt real and believable. I particularly liked August’s relationship with his sister and father.

I liked the fact that although events in THIS SAVAGE SONG are told from both of their point of views, the narration is in the third person. I thought it worked well as it allows readers to both get to know Kate and August, but at the same time it still lets a little mystery remain. Plot-wise I’m not sure that a lot actually happens. In that you can definitely tell that THIS SAVAGE SONG is the first book in a series, as Schwab is very definitely setting the scene and introducing the major protagonists. Don’t get me wrong, there is a plot. It’s just pretty much what it says in the blurb. There were a couple of unexpected twists that I did not see coming, and the ending is definitely a cliff-hanger – and a good one at that, as I what to get hold of the next book ASAP!

If you are a fan of Schwab’s work, particularly her Shades of Magic trilogy, then this is definitely a series to check out. It’s also one to consider if you’re looking for a slightly darker, edgier, urban fantasy. Particularly if you’re looking for something that’s not about vampires, faeries, or shape shifters. Schwab creates a truly fantastical world in THIS SAVAGE SONG. One I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of in future books.