The Bookish Owl – This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab

Today we have a new author to me, since the book is This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab.

After reading posts from this author on Twitter for years, I finally decided to try one of her books. I’ll admit that after reading the blurb I did fear it would be some mushy teenage romance, but I was pleasantly surprised. And before you get me wrong: I don’t mind romance at all! There’s just a certain kind of YA fantasy romance that makes me want to tear my hair out.

This was not it.

I really liked the concept of a world where committing violent crimes creates actual monsters. The main characters weren’t that memorable, but they were fairly relateable, and the ending was suitably bittersweet.

All in all, quite a good book, by an author I’m going to be reading more of soon!

This Savage Song
by V. E. Schwab

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.