I gave this book 4.5 stars, which is the lowest rating I've ever given to a Victoria/VE Schwab book. I absolutely loved This Savage Song with all my heart, don't get me wrong, but compared to A Darker Shade of Magic or The Archived it fell a little short.
The writing was elegant and flavorful, as always. The cover was stunning and the plot was well-paced and interesting. The characters were jumping off the page and as realistic as they could be without standing right next to you. Why was this book rated lower than the others with a full 5/5 stars?
It just wasn't there for me. Something made me feel more stand-offish with this world, and I wasn't entirely satisfied with the monsters. There are three kinds: Corsai, Malchai, and Sunai. I still can't really remember the difference between what they look like, especially Corsai and Malchai. I don't understand why they came to be, or why Verity seems to be the only city with monsters. I didn't even grasp that Henry and Emily Flynn were humans until the end of the book. I understand that V-City and it's surrounding territories are what came from the destruction of the United States, but how? Was there a war that destroyed the country and created the first monsters? Most dystopians give this history and background in the first book but we don't really get very much of it. (Is even a series? It's titled as Monsters of Verity #1 but I don't remember there being a next book announced.)
That's about it for the negatives. Everything I have to say after this is simply praise. I love both main characters, August Flynn, a Sunai who wants to be a human, and Kate Harker,the daughter of the ruthless ruler of the North City. I could differentiate their voices easily and loved both POVs, though I think I prefer Kate's story because it was more complex and had the most action-- plus her character's motivation was really interesting-- but I adored August as a person and rooted for him over Kate. If one had to die I would rather have Kate die because August is #2pure4thisworld, but Victoria, if you're reading this, please don't kill either. Like, don't.
I actually didn't like Ilsa that much. We didn't see too much of her character, but I wouldn't have cared if she actually had died I just felt for August too much so it was painful. She seemed so gentle but if she loses herself she destroys half the city so that's a bit terrifying. I hated Leo, but watching August kill him was horrifying. He was a role model for him and his brother, which will be so hard no matter how evil they are. Leo was arrogant and too willing to do bad things to get his way. We see next to nothing of Henry and Emily but I like them and their sweet, loving nature. They accepted the monsters as creatures with feelings still, so I decided they don't deserve to die.
Harker on the other side? I'm so glad he died. SO GLAD. He was cruel, evil, and sadistic. He pretty much wanted to kill his daughter and he killed his wife, who I wish we could have gotten to meet. Kate was smol too, like August, but she wanted her father's approval so bad she made some not so great decisions. She was also really BA and a great fighter so it was so fun to read her scenes. Sloan was obviously the worst; no love for anything that disgusting and sinister. If he's alive for the possible next book I'm going to personally kill him myself. Victoria does an incredible job building characters that you want to read about for twenty books.
The aspect of the book that intrigued the most people was the lack of the romance. It was refreshing to read a male and a female character that go through crap and survive not have a sweaty, covered-in-blood, running-for-your-life kiss. I think they could have chemistry father down the road for sure. In terms of the world-building I thought it was fantastic, besides the flaws I already mentioned. I feel that it's a difficult world to create without information dumping, but I was confused throughout a lot of the book, which is a less than pleasant feeling to have when reading for fun. If there were to be another book however, I would like to see more background on the country and the monsters.
My last thought is about the genre. It's a dystopian, paranormal fantasy, which I've never read before and was fun. I loved this book despite the world-building issues. It was intense and I wanted to keep reading whenever I was doing anything mundane, including showering. I lost quite a bit of sleep over this dang book but I don't regret a minute of it.
The writing was elegant and flavorful, as always. The cover was stunning and the plot was well-paced and interesting. The characters were jumping off the page and as realistic as they could be without standing right next to you. Why was this book rated lower than the others with a full 5/5 stars?
It just wasn't there for me. Something made me feel more stand-offish with this world, and I wasn't entirely satisfied with the monsters. There are three kinds: Corsai, Malchai, and Sunai. I still can't really remember the difference between what they look like, especially Corsai and Malchai. I don't understand why they came to be, or why Verity seems to be the only city with monsters. I didn't even grasp that Henry and Emily Flynn were humans until the end of the book. I understand that V-City and it's surrounding territories are what came from the destruction of the United States, but how? Was there a war that destroyed the country and created the first monsters? Most dystopians give this history and background in the first book but we don't really get very much of it. (Is even a series? It's titled as Monsters of Verity #1 but I don't remember there being a next book announced.)
That's about it for the negatives. Everything I have to say after this is simply praise. I love both main characters, August Flynn, a Sunai who wants to be a human, and Kate Harker,the daughter of the ruthless ruler of the North City. I could differentiate their voices easily and loved both POVs, though I think I prefer Kate's story because it was more complex and had the most action-- plus her character's motivation was really interesting-- but I adored August as a person and rooted for him over Kate. If one had to die I would rather have Kate die because August is #2pure4thisworld, but Victoria, if you're reading this, please don't kill either. Like, don't.
I actually didn't like Ilsa that much. We didn't see too much of her character, but I wouldn't have cared if she actually had died I just felt for August too much so it was painful. She seemed so gentle but if she loses herself she destroys half the city so that's a bit terrifying. I hated Leo, but watching August kill him was horrifying. He was a role model for him and his brother, which will be so hard no matter how evil they are. Leo was arrogant and too willing to do bad things to get his way. We see next to nothing of Henry and Emily but I like them and their sweet, loving nature. They accepted the monsters as creatures with feelings still, so I decided they don't deserve to die.
Harker on the other side? I'm so glad he died. SO GLAD. He was cruel, evil, and sadistic. He pretty much wanted to kill his daughter and he killed his wife, who I wish we could have gotten to meet. Kate was smol too, like August, but she wanted her father's approval so bad she made some not so great decisions. She was also really BA and a great fighter so it was so fun to read her scenes. Sloan was obviously the worst; no love for anything that disgusting and sinister. If he's alive for the possible next book I'm going to personally kill him myself. Victoria does an incredible job building characters that you want to read about for twenty books.
The aspect of the book that intrigued the most people was the lack of the romance. It was refreshing to read a male and a female character that go through crap and survive not have a sweaty, covered-in-blood, running-for-your-life kiss. I think they could have chemistry father down the road for sure. In terms of the world-building I thought it was fantastic, besides the flaws I already mentioned. I feel that it's a difficult world to create without information dumping, but I was confused throughout a lot of the book, which is a less than pleasant feeling to have when reading for fun. If there were to be another book however, I would like to see more background on the country and the monsters.
My last thought is about the genre. It's a dystopian, paranormal fantasy, which I've never read before and was fun. I loved this book despite the world-building issues. It was intense and I wanted to keep reading whenever I was doing anything mundane, including showering. I lost quite a bit of sleep over this dang book but I don't regret a minute of it.
This was taken from my full review, see it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...