This Savage Song: Monsters of Verity, Book 1

4.5 stars Schwab describes this duology as "Sin City PLUS Romeo and Juliet MINUS romance PLUS monsters. " I didn't know how badly I needed this book until I got my hands on it. I absolutely devoured these two books in about two or three days. There aren't many YA books that don't have a central focus on romance these days, though it does have a hint or taste here and there, really, it was almost refreshing for romance to play such a small role. This was the first Schwab book I'd ever picked up. I didn't read any reviews about them and I didn't know that there would be such a lack of romance. My first thought was, another monster/human romance? Really? In a repugnant, post-apocalyptic america, this had the potential to be another YA dystopian novel that would fade into the back behind books like the Hunger Games, The Giver and Divergent, But no more than 10 pages in I knew I was hooked. From the characters you hate to love and love to hate (and love to love), it is a wild ride of emotions. I'm pretty sure this book tore my heart out and shoved it back in more than once.I highly recommend this to any reader that loves fantasy, adventure and a bit of blood.

At the beginning of this book I really wanted to have more background information to understand where it was heading, but in hindsight it was well paced for its revelations. However, a kid who likes more information up front may get frustrated. More than just that the storyline is interesting to follow, the development of the relationship between Kate and August is really enjoyable to read, especially since their basic natures remove my parental anxiety of whether this is leading up to something physical. I particularly enjoyed the character of August and his honest self-reflections. Some of the secondary characters, such as August's "siblings," could have used a little more development, but that was not a big negative for me.

This book was slow, but presents a fascinating world. The concept of how the monsters came to be was so creative and might make you think about what qualities make up a "monster". There is plenty of violence especially toward the ending. There are fights with supernatural powers, knives, iron nails, bats, etc. Monsters and human like are killed. There is occasional swearing but sexual content is very minimal besides the occasional reference.

This is a good book, but I couldn't allow a younger teen to read it. It's quite violent (with descriptions of people being covered in black blood and killing monsters). The world in which Kate and August live in is very dark and gritty, and I don't think it's appropriate for a young teen to read. Aside from that, there are about 3 or 4 instances of the f-word and a couple of the s-word. Besides those details, the world-building was confusing at first, but within 50 pages I understood more about the monsters and the conflict in the city that this takes place in.

The book was interesting. It's quite violent, and there's no sex or romantic content. The review was misleading about that. There's no indication of romance that I noticed from either character's viewpoint. It would not be surprising if that happened in a sequel, but it didn't in this book. There is one scene where Kate comments on how August does not look at her the way someone would who was sexually interested. There are a few brief scenes where they stand close together, pretending to be a couple, to avoid being conspicuous in a crowd. There is no kissing, no remarks of finding each other attractive, and no narration that indicates they find each other attractive. They trust one another in a frightening and dangerous situation, but that is not in itself romance. . . . . . . . . . . Also, there was both drinking and smoking - Kate smokes often. It is always mentioned, every single time she smokes, that cigarettes will kill you. So some parents may find that a beneficial message. The drinking is barely mentioned and I don't recall any details about it; it may not even have definitely been alcohol. So lots of cigarettes with surgeon general warnings, and hardly any booze. The only specific drugs mentioned are over the counter painkillers and fantasy style consumption of souls, but August implies he's an addict and Kate assumes he meant to drugs. . . . . . . . . . . . . The violence is explicit about killing monsters, but not very explicit when humans are killed. Kate frequently has violent thoughts and acts on them. She threatens a fellow student with a knife. She carries a small concealed knife, and two sharp metal spikes. She kills several monsters. The humans who are killed by main human characters are nameless, and it is largely in self defense, though a point is made that they may have acted prematurely and possibly the threatening person would not have killed the character. Many unnamed characters are known to be murderers or have committed assault and other violent acts by the ability of certain characters to detect this by looking at their shadows. August kills such people a few times. He also kills a monster or two.