I am finally getting round to reading all of the books that I have been wanting to read for what seems like my whole entire life. I’m keeping myself off of Netgalley so that I’m not tempted to request any books which also means that I don’t have to read books by deadlines WHICH THEN also means that I get to read my own books that I’ve bought with my own money. And when I realised that I had an open slot in my blog schedule, I jumped at the chance to put This Savage Song in that spot so that I could get to read it! AND OH.MY.LIFE, it was definitely worth the wait.

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.

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.

I went into This Savage Song without knowing anything about the story other than the fact it is about monsters. Sometimes, I think that the blurb for books can reveal too much about what actually happens within the novel and that is the case for this book – so I’ve cut out the part of the blurb which gave some things away and I’ve just kept it to the minimal description.

One of the things that I love about this book is the cover. Here in the U.K, I could only find the paperback copy, the hardcover was nowhere to be seen and since I thought that the hardcover had the better cover design, that was the book that I wanted. So it was onto U.S Amazon and when the book came in the mail a few weeks later. That was six months ago. Now, after finally being able to read it, I can tell you that it lives up to the hype.

I did get slightly confused at the beginning of the book because the perspectives kept switching from Kate to August and then back to Kate without any indication, but I was only confused for about a chapter and then everything was back to being absolutely perfect.

“I mean, most people want to escape. Get out of their heads. Out of their lives. Stories are the easiest way to do that.”

– V.E Schwab, This Savage Song

I loved the characters so much. I thought that Kate and August were so well written and even though they were the complete opposites of each other, they had one major thing in common: they both felt like outsiders. It was nice to see them both explore this fact with each other and their conversations were very intriguing.

I feel like I need to re-read this as soon as possible because I absolutely devoured it when I read it for the first time, so knowing me and my excitement, I probably ended up missing something. But, I can’t wait to read Our Dark Duet after I’ve finished all of my university reading. I’m excited to find out what becomes of Kate and August and also of the politics. The politics of the book were very intriguing and the battle between the Harker’s and the Flynn’s was very entertaining to read. It was interesting to read about how both sides of the ‘war’ had their positives and negatives about their rule. I loved both of the leaders for different things and look forward to reading Our Dark Duet to find out more about the world of the monsters.

What I loved about the character of August is that he could lure people to their death with his VIOLIN! HE COULD KILL PEOPLE WITH MUSIC and that’s just amazing. He came across as some sort of vigilante as he only drained the souls of individuals who had sinned greatly. And Kate was just a girl who wanted to protect herself in the world that she was living in, even if it meant fighting her way through it with her weapons and a facade of a bad attitude.

I have put this book in the category of five stars, but my actual rating is 4.5