This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab — Review

Victoria Schwab has a gift for premise — the kind of setup that reveals, once articulated, an entire moral architecture. This Savage Song posits a city divided: Verity, where violence has a physical consequence. Commit enough of it and monsters are born from the act. The city is split between Callum Harker, who controls the monsters of North City for a price, and Henry Flynn, who fights them in the South.

August is Harker’s son. Flynn is a Sunai — one of three types of monster, born from the worst acts, who can steal souls with music. They are supposed to be enemies. They meet on their first day of high school.

The Monster Question

What Schwab is actually writing about is what it means to be a monster — whether that is a fact of nature or of choice, and whether the distinction matters. August does not want to be what he is. He has spent his existence trying to be human, trying to want the things humans want, trying to experience the emotions that should accompany the actions he performs.

Kate, who arrives in his orbit bristling with competence and suppressed fear, is dealing with the inverse: trying to become the monster her father’s world requires, because the alternative is the softness that got her mother killed.

Their dynamic — each moving toward what the other is moving away from — is elegantly constructed.

The Violence Question

The book’s moral architecture is more interesting than it first appears. If violence creates monsters, then the monsters are a symptom rather than a cause — the city’s violence problem cannot be solved by killing monsters because killing monsters is itself violent. Schwab doesn’t belabour this, but she builds it into the world’s logic carefully enough that it colours everything.

Why YA Readers Will Love This

For readers drawn to the question of whether people are good or bad or something more complicated than either: August and Kate offer two distinct approaches to that question, and Schwab gives both equal seriousness.

For readers who loved Schwab’s The Archived and want more of her particular sensibility in a different world: this delivers it. The same careful world-building, the same emotionally precise characterisation, a different myth.

For readers who want a friendship at the centre of their YA fantasy rather than a romance — or a story where the potential romance develops so slowly it’s almost invisible — This Savage Song is unusually patient. The relationship between August and Kate is compelling precisely because Schwab refuses to rush it.

Our Dark Duet follows and is the stronger book. Read both.

Published: July 2016 · Genre: YA dark fantasy · Series: Monsters of Verity, Book 1

Frequently Asked Questions

What is This Savage Song about and what is its central premise? In the city of Verity, violence has a physical consequence: commit enough of it and monsters are born from the act. The city is split between Callum Harker, who controls the northern monsters for a price, and Henry Flynn, who fights them in the south. August — a Sunai monster who can steal souls with music — is Flynn’s son, and Kate is Harker’s daughter. They meet on their first day of high school. The review describes the premise as revealing ‘an entire moral architecture’ once articulated.

What is the novel’s central question about monstrousness? The review identifies Schwab as writing about ‘what it means to be a monster — whether that is a fact of nature or of choice, and whether the distinction matters.’ August ‘does not want to be what he is — he has spent his existence trying to be human.’ Kate is ‘dealing with the inverse: trying to become the monster her father’s world requires, because the alternative is the softness that got her mother killed.’ Their dynamic — ’each moving toward what the other is moving away from — is elegantly constructed.’

What makes the novel’s moral architecture unusual? The review highlights that ‘if violence creates monsters, then the monsters are a symptom rather than a cause — the city’s violence problem cannot be solved by killing monsters because killing monsters is itself violent.’ Schwab ‘doesn’t belabour this but builds it into the world’s logic carefully enough that it colours everything.’ This philosophical architecture is positioned as what distinguishes the Monsters of Verity duology from surface-level dark fantasy.

How does the August-Kate relationship work and what is unusual about it? The review credits Schwab with patience: ’this is a story where the potential romance develops so slowly it’s almost invisible — the relationship between August and Kate is compelling precisely because Schwab refuses to rush it.’ This positions it for readers ‘who want a friendship at the centre of their YA fantasy rather than a romance.’ The dynamic is driven by what each character represents to the other rather than romantic attraction.

Further Reading from Authoritative Sources

• This Savage Song — Wikipedia’s This Savage Song article provides publication details and series context, helping readers understand the first Monsters of Verity instalment and its relationship to the sequel Our Dark Duet.
• Victoria Schwab — Wikipedia’s Victoria Schwab article provides biographical and bibliographical context for the author, helping readers understand This Savage Song within her broader writing career spanning YA and adult fantasy.