This Savage Song

In a parallel United States, violence literally creates monsters. The rarest of these, the Sunai, look like people but feed on corrupted human souls. Together, August (a Sunai) and Kate, the teenage children of rival leaders, uncover a conspiracy that threatens their entire territory. Schwab explores justice and humanity in an assuredly built world with a compelling setting and intriguing music-based magic.

In a parallel, contemporary United States, violence literally creates monsters. The rarest, least understood, and most feared of these are the Sunai, who look like people but feed on souls. Humans have retreated to ten protected territories surrounded by wasteland, and the largest territory, Verity, is caught between two powerful men. Callum Harker shelters his allies from monsters, keeping a small army of the creatures under his command to attack his enemies; Henry Flynn leads a task force that hunts monsters and the wicked humans whose violence creates them. His secret weapons are his three adopted Sunai teenagers, who use music to draw out and consume corrupted human souls. After Flynn instructs his youngest son, August, to keep close to Callum's daughter, Kate, the teens uncover a conspiracy that threatens their lives and all of Verity. August and Kate are complex characters whose primary traits (compassion and a ruthless determination, respectively) by turns aid and hinder their quest for the truth. As the novel progresses, these traits become more complicated, with August's reluctance to harm humans itself causing profound harm. Schwab (The Archived, rev. 1/13) explores the natures of justice and humanity in an assuredly built world with a compelling setting and an intriguing music-based magic. And in August and his Sunai siblings, she introduces a type of monster both sympathetic and terrifying. A cliffhanger ending promises a sequel. katie bircher