Reviews

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab

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bethaniekay's review against another edition

3.0

I'm honestly stumped as to why so many people gave this book raving reviews, when it was just so ... mediocre. The premise was interesting, so it really did have promise, and I'll hand it to the author for coming up with a story that's unusual (which is so rare these days). But the characters were soooo blah, I could hardly find myself caring about them. And there was almost no world-building. I was a third of the way through the book and still didn't understand where Verity even was (only to become severely disappointed when I found out -- ugh, middle America is SO BORING). And speaking of 'not understanding' -- I'm pretty smart, and can draw conclusions fairly well, but halfway through the book I still didn't understand so much of what was going on. What was "the Phenomenon" that started the whole war? What exactly happened when the Sunai 'went dark'? What caused them to 'go dark'? (hunger?) Where/how did August get his tallies? (I thought he got a tally for every day he didn't claim a soul, but he went out 'hunting' with the FTF and it still didn't erase any. Or maybe he just didn't get one for that day - I DON'T UNDERSTAND.) If August could only claim red souls, then how could Leo (or Ilsa?) claim any, even those not red? It just didn't make sense to me, and that annoys me. It shouldn't be that hard. And if the main purpose of Sunai is to cleanse the world of the sinners by taking their souls, then why is August so tortured by that? Shouldn't he be happy that he's helping the world, and that he's not harming the innocents? It was just too confusing to me to be enjoyable. I do love this author's writing style, she has a beautiful way of weaving sentences together and describing things -- but this one fell flat to me. The world and the characters weren't well-described and they just didn't have that same 'magic' that the Shades of Magic series had. I'm slightly curious what will happen in the sequel, but will have to think about whether I want to endure another book full of mediocre characters and unanswered questions.

relthelittlemerm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Extremely interesting premise, wraps up a lot of things but that epilogue opened up a toooon of potential for the sequel so I’m looking forward to reading that next.

drizzleandhurricanebooks's review against another edition

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4.0

I didn't expect to like this book that much. I mean, it's about monsters. I am kind of a wuss.
Yet, Schwab did it again,impressing me with her skills at world-building, character-building and overall making me feel everything for the stories she writes.
I can't wait to know what happens next.
Oh, and I love August. Like, LOVE HIM a whole lot.

Full review coming soon :)

tuckeralmengor's review against another edition

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3.0

skullpanda's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5

shelbyheartonmysleeve's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a dark read, one I did not quite expect from Schwab. Not because I don't expect her to be able to write dark--have you read her other series? More because it is so different from ADSOM. I had a general synopsis of this going in from my gf but I didnt expect such a dystopian setting, which is not really my thing anymore. But honestly, you grow so interested in the characters themselves that the setting doesn't matter so much. August is so sweet. Kate you wanna fight for too as she goes through all her inner and outer battles. Leo is a true monster. Isla is endearing. Sloan makes my skin crawl and infuriates me to my core. I can't wait to see what happens in book 2...