This Savage Song Review

Distiller: Hikari Loftus
4.5/5 Stars




This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1)
by Victoria Schwab
464 pages
Greenwillow Books (July 5, 2016)



I opened this book not knowing a thing about it. I was only excited because I have started to suspect that Schwab’s style and writing is perfectly my jam since finishing ADSOM and AGOS. Lots of action, lots of magic, backseat to romance… yes. Schwab is just my style.


Anyway, the second I read “the capital” and I thought this was a dystopian read, my excitement went from a 10 to a 3 in a second. I’m just worn out and bored of dystopian, even though I love Hunger Games and Legend. But, like I said, I like Schwab and I was trusting her with my time, so I pushed my dystopian disinterest down and pushed forward.

I’m so glad I did because this didn't fall into the same tropes and I loved it. Yes, there were a few similarities (enough that you might classify it as dystopian like I did) but author Victoria Schwab actually commented on my initial Instagram review that this ISN'T dystopian. (dystopian = failed utopia, where this one is an alternate version of our own world full of flaws.) So it actually made sense why I kept thinking it wasn't like any other dystopian I had ever read. hahaha.

In a nut shell, the world Schwab created for us consists of humans and monsters. These monsters are hungry for human flesh, and being out at night, or even in places where a shadow falls, isn’t safe. Especially when some of these monsters, the most dangerous of them all, can pass as human.


Corsai, Corsai, tooth and claw, shadow and bone will eat you raw.

Malchai, Malchai, sharp and sly, smile and bite and drink you dry.

Sunai, Sunai, eyes like coal, sing you a song and steal your soul.

Monsters, Monsters, big and small, they’re gonna come and eat you all.


I could not put this down. It’s full of action and mysteries and I had to force myself to put it down when I found myself still reading at 1 a.m. The action and tension keep up for a good amount of this book, which is why I had a hard time putting it down.

I am interested in the characters, too. Normally the growth arcs span a series more slowly, but I felt like August and Kate made big leaps in this one and it has me thinking that the following book is really going to be next level up.

Very cool world, very cool concepts, and lots of action. Really looking forward to the second and final book in this duology next year!