Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity, 2)

Our Dark Duet picks up several months later after the events of the first book, This Savage Song. While the first book explored the taut levels of human nature and what it means to be human, Our Dark Duet seems to be a reckoning of sorts. It very much deals with consequences of one's actions and how a person must deal with those consequences. Kate and August have been irrevocably changed on a fundamental level, the latter changing the most. August consumes himself with his vile duty to Verity--- the reaping of souls of those who've committed heinous acts of violence. As August immerses himself in his deadly deeds, we find that Kate has joined a small group of people who's mission is to help keep the monster population low by fighting and killing them---Kate being their leader and executioner.

The beginning of the book is bogged down with a lot of introversion. August's thoughts are dark and critical of himself. He struggles with doing his duty to Verity because he feels his actions are wrong. His dead brother's voice plagues his thoughts, haunting him at every turn. Kate deals with her own mental endeavors, fighting both inner and outer demons. Kate is battling the loneliness she's feeling now that she's left Verity, August, and everything else behind. Like August, she hunts monsters to combat the inner turmoil going on in her head. Everything seems to fit the status quo at the beginning.

A new monster comes to town. One no one, monster and human alike have ever seen before.

"The air smelled like blood and panic as she forced herself toward the restaurant, toward the massacre, toward the chaos. And there, in the middle of it all, so still she almost didn’t see it, stood a monster."

This monster goes beyond the realm of what monsters have been capable of before. It's not a Corsai, Malchai, nor is it a Sunai. It's something else entirely. Worse, it seems to be connected to Kate in a way that put both her life and those she loves in danger. Kate, ever so determined to track it down finds herself on a one way track back to the place that she both reviles and loves---Verity.

Schwab introduces some new characters that create an interesting dynamic to the story. Alice is a monster created by the violent act Kate committed in book one. For spoiler purposes, I won't reveal what. Alice teams up with Sloan, in order to hunt down Kate and kill her. Like Sloan, Alice has very sadistic tendencies and loves to play mind games with her prey. Sloan loves to keep Alice around because she resembles Kate. He's become obsessed with finding Kate and he will stop at nothing until he finds her. Alice takes great liberties when it comes to following Sloan's commands, and we see that their relationship is tenuous at best. Sloan often is forced to tighten his leash on his new minion Alice, because she loves to do things her way. She has a taste for human blood that is insatiable, which brings unwanted attention to Sloan and his operation. In addition to Alice, Schwab introduces us to another unique character that goes by the name of Soro. He's written to be genderless which I found fascinating and very progressive on Schwab's end. It's always refreshing to see an author push the envelope and test those boundaries. 

Victoria Schwab compacts her fast-moving plot masterfully with issues about morality, identity, and judgement for one's own actions. The quote that encompasses the themes of this sequel, which is also my favorite quote is, 

"People were messy. They were defined not only by what they’d done, but by what they would have done, under different circumstances, molded as much by their regrets as their actions, choices they stood by and those they wished they could undo. Of course, there was no going back—time only moved forward—but people could change. For worse. And for better."

Kate and August contend with their past actions and they see how those actions generate dark consequences. Schwab takes her readers on a journey and the latter half of the book is one you DO NOT want to miss. Victoria Schwab broke me to pieces with the ending to this duology. I believe she's evil and secretly writes with the sole purposes of torturing her readers. I still haven't recovered, as I'm sure you won't either. Be sure to pick up This Savage Song as well as Our Dark Duet for one emotionally dark ride.

In 2016 I devoured This Savage Song. I loved it. SO MUCH. It was such a refreshing book. There was no romance to drive the plot. There was no pointless bullcrap. It was just a fricken fantastic book. I have really loved every book I have read by Victoria Schwab but... after reading this one, I realized I do have a problem with her writing and I will explain that at the end of the review.

In This Savage Song we left off with Henry and Kate parting ways. Kate ended up going to Prosperity(don't you just love these town names?) in search of a new beginning. It was rumored that Prosperity was not touched by monsters. And, while it definitely didn't have the infestation problem that Verity has, that was proven to be false. Kate ends up working with a small group of people as their personal monster killer. But then, something new pops up and that sends Kate running back to her home in order to warn the one person she still loved and cared for. August...

August was no longer August. Killing his brother and seeing everything he saw in This Savage Song changed him. And not for the better. He decided to completely undergo a transformation. He turned into the monster Verity needed to defeat the Corsai and the Malachai. Her turned into... Leo.

So August is now the leader of a military squad with his fancy new violin. He wields his newfound inability to care, like a deadly weapon. And that is exactly what he has become. That is until Kate comes back. Everyone is weary of Kate but August trusts her wholeheartedly and that trust is what ended up saving a lot of people in the end of the book.

There truly isn't much else I can say without it being a massive spoiler but lets just say Kate's past comes back to bite her in the ass, in more than on form. Someone that she thought was dead ends up not being so dead and Kate has to figure out how to eliminate all of these threats to the world.

I really want to know what happened with the whole Henry situation. I really don't think August could put up with Henry, as well. There was so much loss in this book. I just keep thinking that some of this never would have happened if Kate wouldn't have pulled that trigger in the last book.

I gave the book a full star rating because I truly do love Victoria Schwab's writing. However, I have found a flaw, at least for me, with her books. I never feel satisfied with how the books/series end. I felt VERY unfinished with the The Archived books and that is exactly how I felt when Our Dark Duet finished. I want more. I can't fault the author for that because I knew Our Dark Duet was the final book but I still feel so unsatisfied with the ending. But I also know it is the end because there is no coming back from what happened. So I will sit here and silently wish for more books that won't happen and sulk and pity myself.

In the end, I was heartbroken. I still am. I cannot believe it's over. If anyone needs me, don't.

Overall, I gave the book 5/5 stars.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars Title: Our Dark Duet Author: Victoria Schwab

Synopsis: Kate Harker is a girl who isn’t afraid of the dark. She’s a girl who hunts monsters. And she’s good at it. August Flynn is a monster who can never be human. No matter how much he once yearned for it. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost. Nearly six months after Kate and August were first thrown together, the war between the monsters and the humans is a terrifying reality. In Verity, August has become the leader he never wished to be, and in Prosperity, Kate has become the ruthless hunter she knew she could be. When a new monster emerges from the shadows—one who feeds on chaos and brings out its victim’s inner demons—it lures Kate home, where she finds more than she bargained for. She’ll face a monster she thought she killed, a boy she thought she knew, and a demon all her own. Initial thoughts: After reading the first book in this series, I hurried and picked up a copy of the second book. I was really excited to see how Verity was going to hold up after everything that had happened and the cliffhanger that was left at the end of book 1. I was also very excited to see how the characters had changed after six months. The cover of the book is stunning (I love both the US and UK versions so of course I had to get a copy of both). Again this series really pulled me because of the author as well as the concept and now the concept had changed to the monsters within our own heads and I loved the change.

Plot: What I liked: The characters were really dynamic and there was a lot of action throughout the entire book. I really liked how every time the new monster (the Chaos Eater) came into play, the style of writing changed to that of a free verse poem. The execution of the work was well played and worked hand in hand with what we had learned in the previous book. I still love the dynamic between Kate and August, and the questions that came along with them. The instruments were weapons and that was so cool, but it made me wonder how much more difficult it would be to actually play them after battling monsters all day.

What I didn't like: Something that I wish Victoria would have done with this book was explain more about the actual phenomena that caused monsters to be created in Verity and not in other regions of the world. I also found myself rereading the same phrases over and over again. I feel like this was done for a stylistic effect, but it still had me feeling as though I had read the lines more than once.

Characters: Kate Harker: Still a kick butt girl who has a very strong will and was able to fight back against her own human urges to keep moving. August Flynn: This kid needed a break, but never wanted to take one. He was very conflicted through the entire book until Kate showed up. Ilsa Flynn: I love her to death and I just wanted to see her happy throughout the entire book after everything that happened from the last book. Soro Flynn: They made me want to cosplay them so badly. Seriously I am getting my flute together and I am going to do this. But in all seriousness, I really enjoyed Soro’s character. They were a lot like Leo, but they were more willing to listen and work with others. Alpha Team: Even after being pushed away by August they were very supportive and a good team. Alice: I loved her. She was a fantastic villain and I thought it was interesting in the way that she worked a lot like Kate, but wasn’t her at the same time. Sloan: Still thought he was very cunning and calculating much like in the first book. I loved being able to read things more from his POV.

Overall: I would highly recommend this series to just about everyone who is over the age of 15. It is a little darker for younger audiences and has its fair share of violence and gore in it. I did lower my rating on this book though due to the fact that there were some plot holes from both books that hadn’t been addressed, but if Victoria ever wanted to write a third book for this series focusing on my two favorite Sunai I wouldn’t complain at all.

I have, so far, loved every one if Victoria Schwab's novels. But I might love the Monsters of Verity series the most. Schwab is an incredibly talented writer and an amazing storyteller which combined creates an author to treasure. I marvel at the worlds she builds and the complicated and dynamic characters she populates them with. Still I've never been as emotionally invested in any characters as I was with August and Kate.

This book is obviously the sequel and finale to the Verity series and it was, in a word, perfection. I definitely wish I could see this one as a movie. Not just because the action and intensity would translate that well to film (but it would) but also for those who wouldn't for whatever reason pick up this book or don't have time to read, a film would allow this tale to be shared with a broader audience and I believe it deserves that.

Now to take a break from blubbering over how in love I am with this story, a few words about the actual plot: the sequel takes place 6 months after Kate and August part ways. The traumatic events that concluded the first novel has changed them both, for better and worse and they have both grown up and grown harder. Naturally there is unfinished business that must be addressed as the first book suggested in the form of Sloan and Alice... but there is also a new terrifying monster to deal with and hunt. And just like the first novel, the specter of war and destruction looms over Verity. Again as hinted by the first book, through Kate, we get to read about a new city, Prosperity, which, on surface, seems to be the antithesis of Verity - safe and "normal" - but as usual, our hero Kate can always suss out a rotting core.

Kate's adventures lead her to return to Verity where she reunites with August and they both attempt to resolve the new trouble together as well as the dangers that still stalk the night from their past.

Schwab pulls no punches when writing about violence and death so if you're squeamish you should avoid this book. We get to meet a new Sunai in this novel which is interesting and fascinating. Overall, themes ubiquitous to this sequel revolve around: (1) questions about how humanity can secure a future paved with hard decisions in a post apocalyptic world (2) contemplating morality, particularly sin and forgiveness, choices and change and (3) do the benefits outweigh the cost of being more human, or more monster?

I'm sad this series is over, but it ended with both beauty and pain and hope. And like the title of this review implies, I totally cried, but this story is worth it.

This is the sequel to this savage song by Victoria Schwab, so if you have not read it yet i suggest you click off this review or you will be spoiled for the first book.

You have your two main characters August and Kate. Kate as been gone from Verity for the last six months until a mystery monster comes out to play. This monster is later called the Chaos Eater, it feeds off violence and can make humans turn against each other. The monster manages to get a link inside of Kate’s head and so she tracks it back to Verity. Where she is reunited to August and the Flynn family. They are soon thrown back in to the monsters and forced to hunt the Chaos Eater and Kate’s own monster down.

They also have to hunt down sloan, who has somehow managed to survive. He now has all the monsters in the city working for him, including Kate’s monster. They are both hell bent on killing Kate and ruling over the hole city. Interestingly enough, you do get to read a handful of chapters from Sloan’s point of view. The first book you didn’t really get the monsters point of view, it was really amazing to get to see the world from their angle.

The writing is fantastic in this book, it had me hooked through every chapter. You think you have the book figured out then BOOM, another twist. I constantly thought I could predict where the book was going, but I didn’t. The words were so descriptive and you could easily imagine the compound, the buildings in North City, The waste.

I was heart broken at the ending, I cried. It was such a great ending though to a fabulous, well-written series. This is a duology, so I’m not sure whether or not Victoria will write a novella or a third book in the series. If she doesn’t the second book did a great wrap up to the series and had a great, but sad ending.