Victoria Schwab’s This Savage Song is the first book in the Monsters of Verity Duology. The capital of Verity has always been violent. The city was always rampant with murder, muggings, and other heinous acts, but one day, all the hatred and violence festering in the city gave birth to physical monsters. Monstrous Coarsi, born of physical acts of violence, rip away at bone and flesh. Vampiric Malachi, born of murders, drain away human blood, leaving a husk behind. Finally, powerful Sunai, born of heinous acts of mass murder can steal a soul with a song. The birth of these monsters led to a bloody war which split the city in two: the North, which pays for its protection, and the South which fights for it. Unfortunately, this divide was not a permanent solution and the truce that led the current tenuous peace is beginning to fall apart.
The story alternates between two characters, Kate Harker and August Flynn.
Kate is the daughter of the ruthless Callum Harker, the leader or king of the North city. She has spent her entire life trying to prove to her father that she can be as ruthless and vicious as he is. At a young age, he sent her out of the city for her protection, but she spent every minute fighting to return to her home. Five years and six boarding schools later, Kate is back in Verity, determined to prove to everyone that she is just as ruthless as her father, if not more. However, Kate is not has vicious as she wants everyone to believe. Over the course of the story, she learns more about her past and begins to define herself in a way that is independent from her father.
August Flynn is the adoptive son of Henry Flynn, leader of the South city. He is one of the three Sunai, the most powerful monsters in the city of Verity and can steal a soul with a song; however, the only thing he wants to be is human. Although he tries to imitate their expressions and actions in order to blend in with them, he can’t escape the fact that he must feed on human souls to sustain himself, and when he starves himself, terrible things occur. Over the course of the book, he learns more about the variable nature of humans and what it means to be one.
This Savage Song is a fantastic YA novel. Like many books, the pacing begins relatively slow, allowing the author to establish the world and its monsters, however, midway through the book, the pacing kicks into high gear. It moves lightning fast and refuses to slow down until the epilogue. In other words, it might take some time to get though the first half of the book, but the second half demands to be read in one sitting.
Mirroring the pacing, the first half of the book spends all its time building tension and establishing the setting without devoting any attention to the plot. This can cause the story to seem a little aimless at first; however, by the second half of the book, everything starts to come together. The plot takes on a very apparent focus as the two main characters run and fight for their lives.
The compelling plot is complimented by an equally compelling setting. The world of This Savage Song is mostly isolated to one city. We are told that other cities and territories exist, and that the current government lies on the ashes of what used to be the United States. Unfortunately, we are never given any context as to what caused such a drastic change to the United States, and, more importantly, it bares no relevance on the actual story, raising questions about why this history was included in the first place. The story is about the conflicts of opposing ideals and the divided city already, perfectly embodies this. The lazy attempt to build a dystopic backdrop and provide some context to the capital of Verity comes off as lazy and mishandled.
Like the setting, the characters are a mixed bag. A couple of them are great and embody the ideals of the story, but the rest are one-dimensional vehicles of the plot. Both main characters are beautifully developed and their slow friendship is both expertly written and believable. Their personalities play very well together, August providing the calm introspection Kate needs to feel more herself, and Kate providing an aggressive pragmatism to force August out of his head. The best part is that there is no forced romance between them. The book takes place over a very short span of time, and as both characters tend not to be trusting and open with their emotions, a romance between them would make no sense. Instead a beautiful platonic relationship blooms as, for the first time, these characters find someone they can truly empathize with.
Unfortunately, every other character is infinitely less interesting. Only a couple of them are given anything resembling personalities, and all of them lack the intricate characterization to feel truly real. Most of the supporting cast is boring and one-dimensional, often fitting neatly into boxes of “good” or “evil.” This is extremely unfortunate as the entire book is about the line between human and monster. Having morally ambiguous characters would have greatly added to the depth and complexity of the story’s themes. The entire setting of the book can be divided into good and evil, human and monster, however many aspects of the book force the reader to reexamine their preconceptions. Monsters are only born from the violent sins of humans, raising questions about whether humans can be considered good or whether the monsters can be considered truly evil. This is only enhanced by the fact that Sunai can only reap the souls of those who have created monsters. Does this make the Sunai cleansers of evil or monsters feeding human souls? All these questions could be enhanced by more moral ambiguity among the characters, furthering blurring the lines of that it means to be good or evil. Unfortunately, this deeply conflicted book gave us cartoonishly evil or good characters without any room for a moral gray area.
I give this 427 page book 4 stars.
Monsters of Verity
In the ruins of what used to be the United States lies the territory of Verity and its violent capital city. The city is no stranger to violence as muggings, murders, and other heinous acts are rampant. However, one day all the hatred and violence festering in the city gave way to physical monsters. The birth of the monsters led to a bloody war which split the city in two: the North, which pays for its protection, and the South which fights for it. Unfortunately, this divide was not a permanent solution and the truce that led the current tenuous peace is beginning to fall apart.