Book Review: This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab

I picked this up second hand, simply because I recognized the name V. E. Schwab from Twitter, and I’ve been wanting to read something of hers for ages. I’m glad I did.

In short, it’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling with monsters, except Romeo is a monster and Juliet is a monster hunter. That’s all I’m going to say about the plot, that and that it’s awesome.

I don’t know quite how to explain ti, but this feels very much like a thing I could be into. I mean, if I was a teenager, I imagine I’d have posters and t-shirts with this series on. I imagine I’d easily be a fan. It’s the kind of universe, a kind of world that it’s very easy (and fun) to get dragged into. You want to pick sides. You want have favorite this and that. I’m a bit past posters and fan shirts now, but there’s something special here. This story is fantastic.

And of course, the writing is superb. I get why so many people rave about Schwab now. It’s playful and light, but at the same time dreary and mysterious. I love that very little is explained in the beginning. There’s now lowdown, there’s nothing to bring you up to speed. You’re jumping on a moving train and you have to pay attention, it’s one hell of a ride. And the concepts are so unique and fun. I won’t elaborate too much because of spoilers, but the world-building is excellent. I love it when people come up with stuff like this, stuff you just haven’t seen before. Makes me extra invested.

One thing that annoyed the hell out of me, which I hope is just a formatting issue with my copy/version, is that there is an enormous amount of missing spaces after periods and commas. I mean, far too many for it just to be a simple mistake, like 20-30. It could have to do with the layout of the book, but the only purpose it served was to piss me off. If they are actually mistakes, then this is a terribly edited book.

But other than that, I’m totally sold on Schwab. She’s definitely an author to look out for. She’s making huge waves and they’re only getting bigger.

This comes very highly recommended from me.