If you're a villain-POV, dark-psychological stuff, I don't know what it is that you're doing if you haven't read Monsters of Verity/
There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
Protagonists/Main Characters:
Kate Harker: She is the heir to one side of Verity and was sent away by her father for her own good. However, she keeps getting herself kicked out of boarding schools to get her father's attention and bring her back home. She's feared by all as her status as a monster-hunter and Callum Harker's daughter. She's fierce, reckless, and sadist. She knows what to do and isn't afraid of doing things that need to be done, regardless of whose side she's on. Kate Harker will get the (right) job done, no matter how she needs to do. Kate Harker is a villain, and she knows it.
August Flynn: August is, in every way, the opposite of Kate Harker. He is kind, and caring, but deep down, like Kate, he knows he is different from the rest. August is a Sunai, one of the three types of monsters in Verity, and one of the only three Sunai. He reaps souls with music, which makes him more dangerous than he looks. At his core, August Flynn is just another boy waiting to be found.
Some of the other important to note characters are Callum Harker (Kate's Dad), August's father (Henry Flynn), Sloan (Callum's right hand), and Ilsa and Leo (August's fellow Sunai and siblings).
Worldbuilding:
I felt this was really important to this series in particular, partly because I thought the way the book was written was you jumping into the middle of a game of laser tag not knowing what side you're on and figuring things out as you go.
Monsters of Verity takes place in a post-apocalyptic USA. The states no longer exist - instead, they have been broken up into ten territories, one of which being Verity. However, it seems (by the book) that Verity is the worst of them all, and this is because a) Civil War, which broke Verity into North and South, and b) the Monsters.
There are three types of monsters: Malchai, Corsai, and Sunai. None of these monsters are "born" - rather, they are created, and they all feed on some part of their victims.
Malchai are created by murders and can be found near the area when first created. They are somewhat like vampires in the sense that they feed off of blood and are weakened by sunlight - but no vulnerable entirely. They have dark bones and translucent skin, and notable red eyes.
Corsai are born of non-lethal acts of violence that don't exactly have corporeal bodies (??) but are more shadow-type. They attack in groups but are tied to shadows and darkness and drawn to fear. They feed on flesh and bone.
Sunai are extremely rare and born of mass-devastation (August is a Sunai). They can pass for human as long as they are fed and they feed on - very specific here - the souls of sinners. What happens when they don't feed? They give into the darkness and result in mass destruction (it doesn't kill them). They bring out the souls of sinners by playing music (August's music of choice is a violin).
The city is split into North and South, the North being governed by Callum Harker, who is essentially a gangleader. People pay him to protect him from the monsters, and the monsters rely on him for food - in other words, victims. System works fine until either of them rebel. The South is governed by Henry Flynn and his family, and they are remotely sane. They help people survive and people don't have to give them anything is exchange.
My Notes and Review
oh my god.
As I’m writing this, I have just finished the Monsters of Verity series by Victoria Schwab - not joking: it hasn’t even been a minute. I don’t have a TBR list, instead, I scroll through the online library, looking for books to read. This Savage Song, the first book in the Monsters of Verity duology, was one of the books I’d skipped over - my idiot mind said “ehhh urban fantasy isn’t really my thing.” So, I didn’t read it. Later, I came across Victoria Schwab under the name she pens her adult books in - V. E. Schwab. I did some research and put This Savage Song (first book of the series) on hold.
Now, I’ve devoured the entire series in less than a weekend (I kid you not), and there are no words. This is one of those series that you just feel. The feeling, the alluring, the entrancing, none of it is described in the book - it’s engrained. I could not put this book down. In fact, when I’m writing this, I’m out of town, in a restaurant, waiting for our food to get here. I’m not even supposed to be blogging - Hasini took over blogging responsibilities because I’m scrambling to finish my manuscript before I start looking for agents.
But when I read This Savage Song, and immediately after Our Dark Duet, I absolutely HAD to blog it. Monsters of Verity is entirely different from every single story I’ve ever read, not only because this was my first Urban Fantasy, but because of the way the story was told. I’ve never experienced anything even remotely close to Monsters of Verity. I felt the characters, I felt the plot, I felt the story, I felt everything. I could imagine everything when it happened, feel the environments of the story, I could put myself in the characters place without needing too much description.
Victoria Schwab crafts such a vivid, elaborate, story with so much feeling, so much emotion that’s not in the story but woven through the words. This is one of the books I would do anything to experience again for the first time. I’d give this book a 9/10 - that one point taken off for the confusing world building - but that is explained throughout the book. If you’re reading this, don’t let anything stop you from reading Monsters of Verity. I say all of this, but this series is such that the emotion you feel is one that builds in your head and bubbles over and overtakes you, and all the while you’re wondering, “what’s happening to me?” I’ve never, ever read anything like Monsters of Verity, and I’ve never, ever felt what I did with Monsters of Verity. I'm saying it again and again, but this book hit me different, and I think it might have to do with the relationships the characters had with each other. This book was also one of those that did not put an emphasis on romance - something I'm finding to be a super big plus in my reading nowadays. I loved that the author crafted the supposed romance in a way that it was like a cherry on top - great, added detail, and did not take away from the rest of the book. I supremely enjoyed reading This Savage Song and changed the way I thought about a lot of things. It's dystopian in a way that's actually dark and foreboding and makes you think, "what would happen if that was real?"