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

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
427 Pages

There’s no such thing as safe.

Kate Harker wants to be as ruthless as her father. After five years and six boarding schools, she’s finally going home to prove that she can be.

August Flynn wants to be human. But he isn’t. He’s a monster, one that can steal souls with a song. He’s one of the three most powerful monsters in a city overrun with them. His own father’s secret weapon.

Their city is divided.

Their city is crumbling.

Kate and August are the only two who see both sides, the only two who could do something.

But how do you decide to be a hero or a villain when it’s hard to tell which is which?

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Monsters, monsters, big and small,
They're gonna come and eat you all.

Imagine living in a world where the things that go bump in the night actually exist. That's This Savage Song. Monsters are real and they live among us. In fact, they exist because of us. They are our shadows born of evil deeds and have divided a city. On one side you can live with the monsters and you will be safe as long as you have the protection of Harker. On the other side, is Flynn domain - the resistance so to speak. They don't allow the monsters on their side (there's an exception) and are basically trying to make the world a better place.

Corsai, Corsai, tooth and claw,
Shadow and bone will eat you raw.

There are three types of monsters: the Corsai, the Malchai, and the Sunai. Basically the Corsai and the Malchai are evil. The Sunai, not so much. While the city is overrun by Corsai and Malchai, there are only three Sunai in existence and they live with the Flynns (see? exception). For the most part they cannot die but are able to kill the other monsters. Leo, Isla, and one of our MC's, August make up the Sunai.

Malchai, Malchai, sharp and sly,
Smile and bite and drink you dry.

So I don't know if it was just me, but I found this book...dull? Confusing? I don't know. I have very mixed feelings about this one. I liked it but I didn't at the same time. I felt that the world and the monsters weren't well explained. I just didn't get it. Maybe I missed the part where she really explained just exactly how the Corsai and Malchai are made. But I just have so many questions about the validity of this world!

Then there were the characters. I wasn't too fond of Kate. The whole book she was pretending to be someone she's not just to get approval from her father. But because of this it was hard to get to know her. Then with August, he was just like this little puppy monster thing. He was a monster (technically) but wanted to be a puppy...sorry, human. He was at least interesting because of the monster part, but take that away and he would have just been boring.

The side characters were predictable - with the exception of Isla, who seems to be the most interesting person/monster/thing in this book and I'm hoping that Schwab includes much more of her in the second book.

Sunai, Sunai, eyes like coal,
Sing you a song and steal your soul.

I realize as I write this that it seems like I should have rated it lower than 3 stars, but I did really like the writing style of Schwab. The world she created was interesting, the plot made me want to know more. I just feel like it wasn't seen through. I didn't get that immersion in a book that I wanted. And I wish it wasn't so predictable. 

 

ARC Review: The Archived (The Archived #1) by Victoria Schwab

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: January 22, 2013
Publisher: Hyperion
328 Pages

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

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Review:

As soon as I heard about The Archived, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. Victoria Schwab blew me away with her debut, The Near Witch and when I found out she was releasing a new series, I knew I had to read it. Lucky for me, I won an ARC in a giveaway hosted by Sara McClung and immediately immersed myself in this new world that Ms. Schwab so skillfully weaves. 

Mackenzie Bishop is a keeper. Entrusted with the job that her grandfather, Da, left to her her when she was twelve, Mackenzie sees that lost souls, or Histories, get returned to their resting place in the Archive, a library "where the dead rest on shelves like books." As if dealing with this responsibility after the loss of Da wasn't enough, her younger brother is suddenly killed. Now her parents avoid anything that reminds them of him and move them from their home to The Coronado, an old hotel made into an apartment building. While she deals with these tragedies, she must also solve the mystery of who is releasing the dead from their slumber and erasing their memories. Without discovering the truth, the world she was raised to protect will be destroyed.

This book was not what I was expecting, but it drew me in all the same. There is some predictability, but the unexpected events overrode any annoyance the predictable parts could've caused. The parts I didn't see coming were thrilling, fantastic twists. Not only is the action dark, but backstories of the characters from The Archived are dark and often depressing. This book had me tearing up more than once. The author portrays the characters' emotions perfectly. I felt real pain when Mac lamented about her brother, Ben, or her Da. She loved them both very much and it's obvious in the way she speaks about them. Absolutely heartbreaking. It was almost masochistic how much I enjoyed the angst in this novel.

Mackenzie made some decisions with which I didn't agree throughout the novel. Though it was hard to get on board with those choices, the reason for her making them was understandable. It makes a book that much better when an author can make you like a character, even when you don't like what they do. Victoria Schwab as some serious talent. 

The Archived has romance, but it is not the focal point of the story, and though there are two "love interests," it didn't feel like a love triangle. I don't really know how to explain it. It's almost like, instead of loving both of these boys, she's using one to hide behind and refusing herself the connection to the other. It's not annoyingly tormenting as other triangles. While I personally didn't like one of the boys, I adored the other. I think he's absolutely wonderful and I wish he was real so that I could date him. He quickly made his way into my heart, unlike the other boy, whom I was never able to trust. The decision was obvious to me, but it took Mac awhile to get there.

The Archived really felt like it came full circle. There were definitely things that could've been expand on and others that could've been perfected, but overall, I absolutely loved it. The end, especially, left me extremely satisfied. Throughout the book the audience will watch as Mackenzie grows as a person and her character development is extremely realistic. You could tell that she learned a lot from her experiences and became a more mature person because of her mistakes.

Saying that I'm excited for the next book would be a huge understatement. Some things I would like to play out:  as I said earlier, I really hope that Mac hashing out the past with her parents will be a big part, as well as her friendships with the Librarians, her friendship with Wesley -  and more about him and his past - and more about the other Coronado residents. I cannot wait to see what Ms. Schwab makes of this series. There is so much she could do with it and I honestly have no idea what is coming next!

I won an ARC of this novel in a giveaway.

GIVE THANKS. GIVE BACK. GIVE AWAY.

Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch and the upcoming, The Archived, is hosting a giveaway on her blog. It started last night and goes through this Sunday until 9 PM EST. She's being extremely generous by not only offering one winner SIGNED COPIES OF ALL OF HER BOOKS RELEASED FROM 2013, 2014 AND 2015, but also for every entry, up to five hundred, she's donating a dollar to one of three charities. Hence the title of the blog post: GIVE THANKS. GIVE BACK. GIVE AWAY.

Ed and I are so thankful for her kindness because even if you don't win, you help out someone else. And isn't that what this season is all about? Please go enter! What can it hurt?

And be thankful for everything you have, everyone you know and the experiences you haven't had yet.

Happy Thanksgiving, or happy Thursday!

Teaser Tuesday: The Archived (The Archived #1) by Victoria Schwab

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) 

 Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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"Each time you finish a story, you make me tell it back to you, as if you're afraid I will forget.
I never do."
Page 2, ARC
The Archived (The Archived #1) by Victoria Schwab

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