what happened when this savage song took the world by storm

i have this bad habit where i read the first chapters of books about 47645 times before moving on to read the rest of it’s entirety.

and it’s bad because i happen to be an interminable idiot who only does this to the books she likes and makes it her life mission to read every single book whose first-chapter she’s ever hated and see it until the end.

i don’t know, man. falling in love with books is scary because they take over my life and make me want to read them about a thousand times over and every other book i’ve ever read seems so dull and worthless in comparison. they make suing the world seem like such a fun prospect BECAUSE THE WORLD IS SO PLAIN AND BORING.

(why can’t we have monsters and star-covered girls named ilsa who fall in love with cats)

which is maybe why i run away from stories that promise greatness.

but see here’s the real problem. the first time i read this savage song and kate-my-smol-badass burning down a chapel with her lighter and stolen alcohol, i had a copy borrowed from the library. the second time i read this savage song and kate-my-adopted-kid riding cross-country after burning down said chapel and being expelled from school again, i was on vacation and thus a lazy penguin. the third time i read it, i read it all and i didn’t know what to say so i sobbed.

it isn’t often that anoushka-whose-greatest-pride-in-life-is-talking-people’s-ears-off-when-the-talking-in-question-is-about-books-she-loved, reads a book and is left pretty utterly speechless, but this was so nice i don’t even know what to say.

schwab is possibly my new favorite person in the world for giving me ilsa and creating august, my smol monster who’s more human than most humans i know.

but she’s possibly also my least favorite human on earth for making me WANT ILSA SO BAD. how dare you, schwab?? HOW FRICKEN DARE YOU. i shall sue.

BUT THIS WAS AMAZING AND AUGUST FLYNN IS MY KID SO DON’T YOU DARE HURT HIM.

welcome to verity, the city ruled by monsters who stem from dark dark deeds and feed on humans. there’s the malchai (aka pseudo-vampires) who feed on human blood and are catapulted into existence when a human kills someone, and there’s the corsai who live in the shadows and survive off of human flesh. after that come the rare sunai, who steal the souls of sinners with their music.

but verity’s divided, into a romeo-and-juliet kind of world where humans rule it but the monsters fight for power. the north half of it pays harker-the-evil-human who also happens to be crime boss extraordinaire and keeps monsters like pets in his basement, in return for their protection. the south half fight beside flynn to keep their homes safe. but flynn has the sunai. all of the only three in the world. and he treats them like his children.

it’s a very strange little story and it’s about existence and surviving in a broken world and it’s about not knowing and being afraid and living and it’s about a monster named august flynn (my sweet kid) who wants to be human and about a girl named kate harker (my chapel-burning badass) who wants to be a monster. it’s also very dark dark dark and violent and i like it very much.

it’s about two kids who are essentially enemies but accidentally end up deciding to be friends and betray their families like that. AUGUST IS PRECIOUS AND KATE NEEDS CAKE AND I NEED AN ILSA IN MY LIFE THANKS.

(because i have so many and don’t know what to do with them all)

• this was like candy in that it was so addicting i could keep reading the words forever and ever and ever and never stop.
• i love august and shall adopt him.
• THE WRITING IS SO PRETTY I SHALL SCREAM.
• ilsa is an absolute goddess and deserves the world AND I SHALL KILL TO GIVE IT TO HER OKAY.
• august adopts a cat and ilsa falls in love with the cat and calls him allegro and he’s possibly the sole reason i love this so much BUT DID I MENTION THAT ILSA IS AN ABSOLUTE GODDESS BECAUSE I LOVE HER??
• but i also want to own t-shirts printed with every single quote ever from this book so that i can wear them around town and call every random cat on the street allegro and search the world until i find ilsa and adopt her. ILSA’S THE ABSOLUTE BEST LIKE THAT.
• although this would also be good if i someday happened to bump into other people who are ilsa trash too and we can bond like that.
• (i love ilsa)
• this was very fun and a little bit painful and maybe i cried but there’s a cat and i love cats. and also ilsa.
• kate is very. hmmm. the-clichéd-ya-badass but like, i still care about her BECAUSE SHE MAYBE WON ME OVER WITH THE EVIL CHAPEL-BURNING OKAY.
• LEO’S A MONSTER WHO DOES NOT DESERVE TO LIVE.
• and also harker.
• and sloan.
• (but am especially anti-leo because he made august hurt so much I WILL NOT TAKE IT)
• and also. everyone else except my ilsa and august and kate and henry and allegro and emily needs to die SO THAT MY KIDS CAN LIVE A HAPPY LIFE AND BE RULERS OF THE WORLD.
• (i love them so much)
• THERE’S ALSO MUSIC AND DEADLY SONGS AND INSTRUMENTS THAT BEWITCH YOU AND LIKE. I’M TRASH. (people using music to steal souls is so cool I LOVE SCHWAB’S BRAIN)

(because i wasn’t done)

• there’s certain books you could read a thousand times over, and still stumble headfirst into something completely phenomenally new every time you do. you could read this book a million times and still realize it has secrets you accidentally missed. (and i kind of want to read it a million times over now)
• i’m also perpetually in love with books that have you turning all the pages even though you were tired just five minutes ago and possibly in dire need of sleep BUT SCREW IT ALL THIS BOOK IS SO NICE THE WORLD WILL HAVE TO WAIT.
• and this made me turn all the pages like my life depended on it so i LOVE. although i uh might need to sleep sometime?? DO YOU GUYS NOT UNDERSTAND THIS.
• the world is very cool and i love monsters and the kind of darkness that’s so creepy and intoxicating and wild. also scary children’s rhymes (THIS IS WAY #1 TO AUTOMATICALLY AND EFFORTLESSLY MAKE ANOUSHKA FALL IN LOVE WITH A BOOK i am weak) that talk about monsters and other scary shit. (like soul-stealing kids who are monsters but desperately want to be human too) (i like)
• it’s the kind of book that makes you go all OHMYGAOSH BOOKS ARE SO NICE I LOVE THEM as if that’s a new little secret you just discovered and not like 80% of what your personality is based on. (BECAUSE THE OTHER 20% IS MY OLIVES WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOB PAY ATTENTION)
• SCHWAB IS SO COOL OKAY. I LOVE HER AND SHE’S MY ROLE MODEL AND I’LL GIVE HER THE WORLD IF I EVER GET TO HAVE IT.
• WHEN I GROW UP I SHALL ADOPT A CAT AND CALL HIM ALLEGRO AND ADOPT A DOG AND CALL HER ILSA AND LOVE THEM BOTH UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD.

ok bye i need the next book now.

best book you’ve read in a long time?? have you eaten this savage song BECAUSE THEN MAYBE WE MUST SCREAM?? ABOUT ILSA AND MONSTERS AND KATE AND AUGUST. and meet on the streets and get all the book quotes tattooed together (tell me secrets).