This Savage Song by V E Schwab

    This Savage Song is the first of two fantasy novels and is from the YA or Young Adult genre. Despite the fact that I'm not in that demographic, I read and thoroughly enjoyed it! Set in a dystopian future, the story centres on two teenage protagonists who come from opposing sides of a divided metropolis. Real Monsters have emerged from the violence which has become endemic in the city.  Kate Harker is the impetuous and courageous daughter of a ruthless father who controls the North of the City of Verity by levying a charge to keep the humans safe. August Flynn, from the South of Verity, just wants to work to protect the innocents but cannot deny his Monster heritage. Thrown together, their struggle for survival begins.

    I think it was the pace of the book which was the most impressive as it gained momentum throughout the book.  It was skilfully plotted and sprang a few surprises, setting up the second book nicely at the end. I loved Kate's determined personality and her backstory concerning the death of her mother, together with her complex relationship with her father which rounded out her character nicely. August, too, was a complicated being, with a web of family relationships to unravel.

    V. E. Schwab has created a believable society and showed us the layers of society from the political ruling elite down to the monsters they fear, but always through the eyes of August and Kate. The reader is led to question the differences between the humans and the monsters. It is quite a dark read, but I will be looking out for the follow up with anticipation.

In short: a dark, dystopian world, swirling with danger. 

Thanks to the publishers, Titan Books for a copy of the book.