Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Melodia Feroz

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

A Melodia Feroz by V.E. Schwab

43 reviews

artmuseam's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

there is a reason why schwab is one of my favorite writers of all time. every book she’s written has been nothing but a masterpiece! i finished this book so quickly because i could not put it down, and i immediately fell in love with the characters. what better way to celebrate fall with a spooky read? the concept of the monsters in this urban fantasy world was so cool. i can’t wait to start the second book! 4.5/5 stars

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rradujko's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I love this book. I read it a while ago, and rank it highly among V.E. Scwab's other books. Her setting is immaculate: a dystopia predicated on the repercussions of acts of violence. The plot has elements of standard YA, but the overall themes of the book are — I think — well done regardless. If you want a gritty and quick-moving YA dystopian fiction about monsters, music, and what makes us human, give this one a try.

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mockingjayx16's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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bootrat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

It took me ages to get through the first couple of chapters of this book, but once the story proper got going (when they went to school) then I absolutely devoured it. V.E. Schwab has such a talent for writing books that I really love, and this was no different! Off to read book 2 asap

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winry_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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swiftpool's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me HOOKED. Highly recommend the audiobook. It had me wanting to savor every chapter while also wanting to race ahead to see where the plot went. The twist at the end totally surprised me - and then there was another twist which was so obvious and yet completely caught me off guard (in a good way).

p.s. this is why we double tap, folks!!

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nafsaila's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious

4.0

Living in a world where monsters are born from violent crimes isn't easy. Being the child of one of the powerful people that run each side of that city can be even more complicated. Kate wants nothing more than to be back at home instead of exiled outside the city limits, even though it means being in danger. August wants so badly to be human, when his instincts make that impossible because he is in fact a monster. Fate is now bringing them together, and August tries to keep his secret, but that may not be possible while both of them are targeted for assassination.
Highly suggest for fans of other V.E. Schwab stories, even though this one has more of a YA feel.

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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I do not want to get ahead of myself, but this might go (a healthy distance) under TRC and SOC as one of my fav book series. stayed up until 5am to read it. Ms Schwab, you've outdone yourself (though I guess Addie LaRue came out after this one)

i adoreeee both August and Kate, they're so funny and charming and sweet and i just wanna cup em in my hands. was giggling and kicking my feet every two pages. the supporting cast was maybe a tiny bit flat, but idrc because i just <3 A&K soo much.

I love a good R&J-adjacent story (basically just two kids from rival families making googly eyes at each other. do not like the "everyone dies" part of R&J - i'm a sucker for a happy ending idc), and now you've gone and added MONSTERS to it?? omg yes. lovee the parallel of August struggling against his nature and wanting to be human the whole book

, and then finally, grudgingly giving in "for the greater good"

and Kate wanting to prove she's a Harker and that she belongs beside her father and in V-City, in a way struggling to become a monster

and then finally realizing that her father is not someone she should want to look up to or emulate, allowing August to reap Harker, and willingly leaving V-City and Verity

. finally, some good fucking food

the one and only thing that made me "hmmmm🤔": I don't really understand why self-defense makes you a "sinner". like, i get "for the plot," or whatever

, that Kate had to stop being an "innocent", but the man was attacking her and she didn't really know he was human (? or did she?) so wtf

. but also i get that maybe it's to make the point that, despite the fact that they possess more nuance, Sunai are still monsters and also have trouble making that distinction between good and bad (though, obvi, in a less malicious way than Corsai or Malchai)🤷‍♀️

anyway, two thumbs up

ooohhh also very intrigued by the fact that

Sloan is still alive at the end: he doesn't have a heart (can't be killed????) and didn't die when Harker was killed (it was my understanding that killing the sinner also killed the sin -- but then i guess it was the characters' assumption that Harker created Sloan, it was never actually confirmed iirc

. book two already on my nightstand, can't wait to start reading!

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annadelreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

“You wanted to feel alive, right? It doesn't matter if you're monster or human. Living hurts.”

I remember DNF-ing this book back in 2022 but that was because I wasn't in my fantasy era. But now that I dipped my toe in that genre, I decided that maybe it was indeed time for me to read it again since I heard so many good reviews and hello? The rating itself piqued my interest. Also, I lowkey wished to get it when I was getting some books from the TBR jar. This might have been my first fiction book since Yellowface that didn't contain romance. But the great thing is that for this book, I devoured within a few days unlike Yellowface where I only finished after 3-4 weeks. Also the same author's other book - The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.

The Savage Song is a book about monsters stemming from the sins of humans. The idea itself is amazing to think about. I was slowly reading through the first hundred pages but once I did, I was just breezing through. It was pretty fast-paced for me because everything in that book only happened in a week, if I counted correctly. The world-building was slow and was pretty hard to understand at first - if I had not googled the monsters and they were; and this might have been the reason why I had stopped reading it back then. The actions and fight scenes were pretty good, although considering there weren't magic involved, it was already pretty good to imagine. Kate is a badass bitch who knows what she wants and how to get it. Although I felt sorry for her for what happened to her and family (not spoiler!) but she really did grow up to be that strong girl. August, on the other hand, just wanted to feel and be human even though he really is a monster. The two of them together was chaotic at first but immediately turned into a good pair of "friends" (if that's what you call it).

I love the adventure of this book and how it's only a duology so I don't have to read so many books in the series just to know the ending. Will definitely continue this story (still not sure when).

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skillyillian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Schwab is one of my favorite authors but I think this wasn't quite it for me. The book is not bad, just not necessarily my exact flavor, like, I enjoyed it but I prefer other things more? Part of this is probably because I read this via audiobook? I think I went into this expecting more like the other Schwab stuff I've read like ADSOM and Vicious (which I'm obsessed with) and this was vastly different imho. Again, not a bad thing, I'm open to new things! But I do have some issues with the book outside of it not being my usual genre of choice.

I really liked that she came up with her own monsters and gave them their own types, hierarchy, origin, foils amongst themselves, etc. and that one type of monster even had the potential to be "good" in a way. It was very easy to tell that Schwab put a ton of thought into the monsters of this world, and the little song for them was awesome. Love me a good Schwab Song (looking at you, Sarows).

August was a precious, broody boy who just wanted to be anything other than what he was, what everyone told him he had to be. Kate was a tough, angsty girl who wanted to prove herself to be exactly that. She got shit done and wouldn't put up with anyone's nonsense, not even August's. They're quite the formidable pair, and their friendship (bc there's no romance here) is incredibly fulfilling. They complement each other perfectly, and watching them help each other fight the battles in their respective lives, and escaping dangerous situations trying to claim them, was the best part of the whole story.

The characters are pretty well fleshed out, the worldbuilding was intriguing, and I liked both. I don't mind dystopian type novels, and I think this fits that bill pretty well. My issues fall with the plot, for the most part. It just felt like things didn't really happen until the last third of the book, almost. We learned a lot about the characters, enough to guess rather easily (for the most part) who was behind what and how the book would end, but they didn't really do anything until they were forced to because the bad guys were getting out of control. I guessed one of the two major plot points, although the second one did actually get a gasp of genuine surprise. I just ... Idk, I felt kinda bored for most of this. I'm someone who reads like 60-40 for plot-character ratio and this didn't keep me captive enough. I could've finished it way sooner, I'm a housewife with an audiobook ffs, but I just wasn't eager enough. I wasn't dying to know what happened next. I'll be reading the second one, I love Schwab so much and I already own it anyway, but yeah. It's good but not for me and the plot is kinda,,,, just okay.

The weakest out of the strongest is still strong, ykwim? This is the weakest one from her for me so far. I have faith in the second one but I'm not expecting it to change my mind about this one.

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