Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by V.E. Schwab

Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by V.E. Schwab

Goodreads Blurb: THE WORLD IS BREAKING. AND SO ARE THEY.

KATE HARKER isn't afraid of monsters. She hunts them. And she's good at it.

AUGUST FLYNN once yearned to be human. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.

THE WAR HAS BEGUN.

THE MONSTERS ARE WINNING.

Kate will have to return to Verity. August will have to let her back in. And a new monster is waiting—one that feeds on chaos and brings out its victims' inner demons.

Which will be harder to conquer: the monsters they face, or the monsters within?

My Thoughts: After the cliff hanger from the first book I had to get my hands on this one. The story starts off months after book 1 and the main characters Kate and August are in completely different places than I thought they would be.  Kate is battling her inner monsters and fighting monster in the city. August is working more hand-in-hand with Flynn’s group. The biggest shocked of the book is the ending. I did not see it coming and I haven’t figured about it, right now I’m 50/50.

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A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) by V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) by V.E. Schwab

Goodreads Blurb: It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift--back into Black London.

Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.

My Thoughts: This book for me felt slow and dragged out. I’m not sure how I feel about the character Lila anymore. I was 50/50 with her in book 1 but now in book 2 I feel like  she’s too…..insert word. She is a strong character, she defies the odds which is great but she’s constantly stubborn hat I wish sometimes she would bend a little because it would make things go smoother. To me it felt like she was being stubborn just to be stubborn. The book also felt a little dragged out, I feel it could’ve been shorter. The most interesting parts I found where the elemental games. I loved being able to get more into the magic of the Londons and seeing that it’s more than just Kell. Overall the book is a good stepping stone into book 3.

This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) By Victoria Schwab

This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) By Victoria Schwab

Goodreads Blurb: There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

My thoughts: When this book first came out it didn’t seem like a story I would be interested in but after reading other books by Victoria I went for it. I also saw lots of people talking about the sequel so my interest peaked. The first 100 pages for me seemed to take me the longest to get through. There was a lot of back story of the two main characters, Kate and August, as well as the history of the two side of the city. After that the story kicks into high gear and I couldn’t put the book down. I won’t give away any spoilers but you won’t see the ending coming. If you like dystopia books and monsters I suggest adding this book to your TBR pile.

A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V. E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V. E. Schwab

Goodreads Blurb: Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

My thoughts: I keep seeing this trilogy in book tubers videos and on their bookshelves in the background that I thought I would give book one a try. So far this book is one of my favorites for the year. The story keeps you on your toes, the universe in the book keeps you begging for more and I can’t wait to read the next two. The universe to me has some similarities with the Firebird Trilogy. Each have one special person who travel between dimensions and each need a special object to use as a “key” to travel and the biggest similarities are the dimensions they travel two. The dimensions are all the same but slightly different to give each “world” its own environment and character. If you liked the Firebird Trilogy I would recommend this series to read in the future.