This Savage Song Online
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city, a grisly metropolis where the violence has begun to create real and deadly monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the inhabitants pay for his protection. August just wants to be human, as good-hearted as his own father-but his curse is to be what the humans fear. The thin truce that keeps the Harker and Flynn families at peace is crumbling, and an assassination attempt forces Kate and August into a tenuous alliance. But how long will they survive in a city where no one is safe and monsters are real…
Notes by Victoria Schwab
Sin City PLUS Romeo and Juliet MINUS romance PLUS monsters.
This is the strangest book I’ve ever written. I love it.
It’s the story of two teens in a broken world, where violent acts breed actual monsters. Some are shadows with teeth that feed on flesh and bone. Some are corpses that feed on blood. And some can pass for human. Those feed on souls.
It’s the story of Kate Harker, the only daughter of a crime boss, and August Flynn, the son of a man trying to hold his city together. She’s a human who wants to be a monster, and he’s a monster who wishes he were human.
It’s dark, and violent, and existential, and the whole thing was inspired by a line from VICIOUS:
“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
And the official title is…THIS SAVAGE SONG. Why song?
Remember when I said that August was a monster? He’s not just any kind of monster, but one of only three soul-eaters in the city. And these rare creatures (he wouldn’t like that word) use music to bring the souls of their prey to surface.
But it’s more than that. This book isn’t a solo. It’s a duet. A song played by two very different teens trying to survive a very broken world. There are moments of discord, and a few of harmony, and through it all, they have to keep the melody alive.
