Review! This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab

I love V.E. Schwab's writing, in particular her Shades of Magic series, so I was very excited to receive this book and it did not disappoint. Monsters! 

Reading the blurb, I had fully imagined another medieval-esque setting, but I was so wrong- we're deep in a version of a modern/future American but with whole new cities and real live monsters situation. Kate Harker is the daughter of the fearsome ruler of one side of the city, and August Flynn is the sort-of-son to the good-hearted leader of the other side. 

In this world, there are three types of monster who feed of human flesh/blood/souls, and each side of the city has its own ways of dealing with these monsters. Harker allows the monsters to run free under an agreement that the humans who pay for his protection will not be harmed. Flynn's side is more about keeping the monsters out entirely to keep the people safe- apart from August and his two 'siblings' who are the soul eating kind of monster (but only if those souls are bad/evil souls). 

Kate and August end up having to work together when the lines between the two ruling sides and good and evil become corrupted. Kate is an awesome character, trying to win favour with her father by being as cold-hearted as he is, whilst also dealing with some post-traumatic shock memory repression and battling with the timeless struggle of what is morally good or evil in war. August is such a vulnerable, sensitive, and morally strong character, who is battling with his own identity as a 'monster' and his loyalty to the questionable morals of his brother, while trying to figure out what his place is in their human and monster world. 

SO much identity and soul searching, all tangled up with questions of good and evil. A totally thrilling read, with very strong characters. Part one of the Monsters of Verity duology, and I have no idea where it's going, but I'm very excited. This Savage Song was out on 7th June in the UK and is out in the US 5th July.

Reviews of other books I read in June can be found HERE!

I received a copy of This Savage Song from the publisher in return for an honest review- which this is!