REVIEW FOR UNDERHYPED: OUR SAVAGE SONG

MONSTERS OF VERITY by V. E. SCHWAB

BOOKS:

This Savage Song, #1

Our Dark Duet, #2

REVIEW:

It’s Victoria Schwab. Of course it is a heart-breaking, emotionally-wrecking, hangover-inducing and satisfying read.

I am not even going to start with the synopsis – this woman brings ideas completely out of this world, makes us read them non-stop for 4 craving days, and then leaves us in a numb state for the next 4 days. More, even. I read this book three months ago and I am still hungover over it. The story-telling that Victoria can do is unparalleled (except, maybe, Holly Black, call me biased I don’t care).

This story is set in Verity, a fictional, futuristic American state, that is so choked full of violence that it is actually manifesting in physical forms – corsai, malchai, sunai. And if that wasn’t enough, the capital of Verity, V-City, the city plagued with almost all the monsters, is divided into two parts – one owned by Callum Harker (I hate him and I love him and I hate him and I love him and I hate him), and Henry Flynn (WE LOVE HIM). Callum is our typical capitalist villain but with a lot more backbone and violence, and have controlled every monster in the North part of the city to do his bidding. Now people must pay him for protection or they are food for the monsters without a single unpaid breath. Henry Flynn, on the other hand, is the doctor-turned-fighter who had established his own taskforce dedicated to killing monsters and helping people in the South part of the city.

Enter our kids: Kate Harker and August Flynn. A girl who wants to be just like her ruthless father, and a boy who is a monster birthed by mass killing of fourth grade kids but is probably the least monstrous character in the book.

Kate is a badass bitch and I want to be just like her when I grow up (FYI, I am currently two years older than she is in the book), and the character development she goes through is so subtle that you reach the end of the book and realise, ‘wait, when did she grow a conscience? And to the extent that it became so inconvenient? AND WHERE DID SHE LEARN HOW TO BE EMOTIONAL?’

Our baby August on the other hand is the sweetest and most adorable boy in the whole series. That’s it, that is all I am revealing about him.

This duet is a perfect fantasy thriller read if you have a weekend or so free (because trust me, you will not be able to put it down once you start (except to yell, hyperventilate, cry, or giggle hysterically)) but be warned: there is quite a lot of violence and gore in this, as can be expected from a plot based on violence manifesting in physical forms.

It will be rollercoaster ride from page one to the end and I suggest you prepare yourself before you start – as you always should when dealing with Victoria’s books.

But say what you want, this is already one of my top reads of 2024 and I strongly suggest everyone to read this (and then all of V. E. Schwab’s other books because she is just… extraordinary (pun intended)). You will never ever regret reading any of her books, and especially not this one. Go check it out!!

P.S.: You will die at the end.

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