Hey ForeverBookers,
I’ve just finished This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab and it was freaking fantastic!
4.5 Stars!
This Savage Song tells of a dystopian USA, where there are 3 types of monsters amongst humans, Corsai, Malchai, And Sunai. In this version of the USA, it’s split meaning that some of it is in Harker territory, while the other half is in Flynn territory. These rival territories make up part of the story.
When August Flynn, the ruler of the Flynn territory’s son goes to school in Harker territory to spy on Kate Harker, the leader of Harker territory’s daughter that’s when the story really starts. As Kate and August get to know each other can they work together to figure out what’s happening in their world?
I again read This Savage Song for a few different readathons:
* Reading Rivalry, for a book with over 400 pages, as well as another book that involves children - https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=reading%20rivalry,
* Popsugar 2018 Challenge - A book you were meant to read in 2017 but didn’t get to. I had This Savage Song on my TBR for 2017 but because that was my year for reading mostly arcs, I didn’t get to it, hence why I’ve read it now - https://www.popsugar.co.uk/smart-living/Reading-Challenge-2018-44211686
• Book Bingo on Facebook! This Savage Song completed two challenges (each person is allowed 1 book to complete 2 challenges on each bingo card). For me these were finish a book outside (by torchlight, I might add, as I was up until 11:30ish finishing it), and a book with no romance, as I heard from others that it strictly was a book with no romance (read my thoughts below on this topic) - https://m.facebook.com/events/1442935242483308
Spoilers below...
When we first see Kate in the prologue, she’s just been expelled from St Agnes’s Girl’s School for setting alight the chapel there.
“The night Kate Harker decided to burn down the school chapel, she wasn’t angry or drunk. She was desperate.”
This is the first line of the prelude and it clearly shows that Kate is burning down the school chapel because she wants to get home. Kate is a very black and white character. If she doesn’t like something she tells the other characters. She was desperate to get home, and the only thing to get expelled was burning down the chapel.
August, on the other hand is a very emotional character. August is a Sunai, one of the types of monsters, the worst type of monster, as they’re born from the worst time of crimes.
“The Sunai, it was believed, came from the darkest crimes of all: bombings, shootings, massacres, events that claimed not only one life, but many.”
Are Sunai really as bad as they’re made out to be, though. You’ll have to read to find out...
“I can’t keep doing this” is what August says to his “dad”, Henry. August wants desperately to be able to do something in the war against the Harker’s. His brother, Leo and sister, Ilsa are both doing something, so why can’t he, is what he thinks. When Henry gives him the job of trailing Harker’s daughter, Kate, what will he do?
Kate and August go on an adventure to try to stop the war between monsters. As they get to know each other, a very close bond develops between them, and although it isn’t a romantic bond, it almost feels like it is.
“Do you care about her?” The question was simple, curious.
“ I care about us. About our city. Someone tried to kill her. To frame us. To break the truce.” A shadow swept across Ilsa’s face.
I don’t want to burn again.
She’s an innocent,” he added. “I’m just trying to keep her safe.”
This exchange is between August and his sister, Ilsa,. SO many people told me that there was NOOOO romance in This Savage Song, and while there isn’t any kissing etc, there are feelings, I believe. The way August says “I’m just trying to keep her safe” says to me, he’ll do whatever he can to make sure she stays safe. Even risk his own life. If this isn’t a form a love, then I don’t know what is.
The above quote also denotes August telling his sister that someone tried to frame them. I don’t want to spoil any of this part because it’s exciting, but I’ll just say that I didn’t expect the events that happened in the last 100 or so pages and I was shocked by one twist in particular.
What did I like about “This Savage Song”?
I liked how This Savage Song is really a story about Kate and August, two teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks, overcoming the odds to work together.
I liked how open Kate and August were with each other. There were no lies or secrets between them. As they got to know each other, their bond only grew stronger and stronger.
I liked how the villains were very evil. In a story about war, I don’t want to read about villains that don’t do anything. This wasn’t the case here.
I liked how music played a role within the story. Sunai torture and kill by playing music. I thought this was a unique way to wound an enemy.
I liked being shocked at the end.
What didn’t I like about “This Savage Song”?
I didn’t like that without Kate and August there would not have been a plot. In some stories the main characters just add to the overall plot. This enhances those stories. I didn’t feel that was the case with This Savage Song. Without our main characters, there wouldn’t really have been a story to tell.
I didn’t like that there wasn’t any actual romance between Kate and August. Although I think there were feelings, as I’ve said above, I just would have liked to have seen a little more. I think that it would have been SO easy to slot into the story, without taking anything else away from it.
Overall, I really enjoyed This Savage Song. I finished it really quickly because the story just sucked me in! I didn’t want to let go of Kate or August or their stories, both individual and together. The only reasons it’s not a full 5 Stars from me is because I thought it was a little too much a character driven story, and the no romance thing. I’ll be picking up our Dark Duet really soon so look out for my review of that.
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