This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab

 

This Savage Song features a unique world where darkness is not your friend. As a cold war conflict rages on, splitting “V City” in half, the leaders of each side send their children on missions to either create or restore balance. Katherine (Kate) Harker is the daughter of Callum Harker, a ruthless man. August Flynn is the “son” of Henry Flynn, a compassionate leader. After Kate is kicked out of her sixth faraway school, she returns home to V City. That’s where she meets August, who had recently been given a false identity to sneak across the seam to spy on the recently returned daughter of Callum Harker. 

In this world, however, mankind are not the only monsters in the world. Sin and death spawn creatures of the night that can consume souls. August is one of the most sophisticated of those monsters, but can he keep that a secret from Kate as tensions rise and blood spills? 

About this Book                                                                                                     Awards and Recognition

• Title: This Savage Song                                                                                    • New York Times Bestseller

• Author: V. E. Schwab                                                                     • ALA’s Best Fiction for YA selections 

• Genre: YA Dystopian Fantasy                          • “Best YA Books” by Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Booklist

• Published in 2016                                                            •Critically acclaimed Monsters of Verity Duology

• Pages: 464                                                                                                                                                       

Why This Book?

I was captivated by the idea of monsters being born from the sins of mankind. I am a huge sucker for all things fantasy and this book seemed like a great fit! 

Teaching and Content Considerations 

• This book isn’t too heavy and perfectly adequate for a YA audience. If you’re running a book club or exploring mentor texts in dark fantasy, dystopian books with your class this would be a great fit. 

• Recommended grade level for this novel is around 9-12, anywhere in the high school range. This book won’t ruffle too many feathers but will keep a young adult entertained for hours as they explore a truly unique fantasy world. 

• Only content warnings necessary are scenes depicting strong violence and intense emotional stress.

Instructional Ideas

• Literary technique: Initially, this book starts out as a dual narrator POV but slows begins to merge the two, but never quite fusing them together. This was done masterfully and can serve as a mentor text for a creative writing assignment. 

• Thematic instruction: The strongest theme present in this book is moral ambiguity. What makes for a monster? Is someone a monster for using violent means for good? Is someone beyond redemption if they use power to manipulate? 

Potential Read-Aloud

• Pages 7-9: This section has one of our protagonists, August, in the spotlight. It speaks on his creation, his condition, his twist on monster vs. human. This passage is a great foregrounding of the mysterious and dark tone of the book. 

• Pages 39-42: Our other protagonist finds herself in the limelight of this moment. She is encountering her first “monster” a creature born of sin, born from darkness. This passage shows just how tough Kate is, at least on the outside. 

Overall Thoughts and Reflection

• This book is a quick burner and keeps the story going at a quick place through and through. If I would compare it to a fire, it would be a trail of gasoline, it burns just the way you want, exactly where you want. It also keeps a dark atmosphere throughout, where you can easily envision the dark night sky filled with dust, coating the ground in grime. This book had such unique world building that I would definitely recommend reading on that premise alone. 

Next Steps?

• This book has a sequel called The Dark Duet which continues the story from the same points-of-view. I would love to continue reading Schwab’s work and that’s an obvious choice! I also enjoyed this underbelly story, I can never get enough of it!