[Book Review] Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

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?


It has taken me far too long to read this, and honestly it was because I thought I was going to have my heart broken. Turns out, that was a valid concern because that's exactly what happened. But like, in a good way. This book isn't a happy one, not by a long shot, it's dark and gritty. But there is so much light and hope in this story that you can't help but love it. And the characters. However, this is a sequel so warning: there may be spoilers for the first book, This Savage Song. 

"It wasn't easy. The world was complicated. Life was hard. And so often, living hurt. So make it worth the pain."

Kate and August as characters are two of my favorite characters from Schwab. I really love their friendship. I felt a bit relieved honestly when they are reunited. I think they bring so much good out of each other. I enjoyed seeing some older characters that we met in the first book like Ilsa, Henry and Emily Flynn, Collin, etc. But  I also really loved our new characters, Soro, August's team, The Wardens. I would have liked to get to know August's team or even the Wardens more, but from what we got I really loved them. And Soro was such an interesting character! I enjoyed them a lot. The connection between August and Ilsa, although definitely changed because of what Sloan did to her in This Savage Song, is also one of my favorite parts of the story. Really August and his family in general. I think that August's character development is one of my favorites in this book.

The plot was slow at times, but not boring. Not a lot of action happens but a lot of character development happens which is absolutely fine with me because that's my preference between the two. However, when the action happens throughout the story the action scenes are so well written and intense. I found myself all jittery listening to the audiobook and even felt myself reading past the narrator because I couldn't bother to be patient enough to wait. I honestly never wanted to put this book down, and when I had to, it was all I was thinking about. 

"There was a strange place, between knowing and not knowing. A place where things could live in the back of your head without weighting down your heart."

Despite the high rating, there is one thing that I had an issue with the book as a whole, although it being very small because it's barely a blip in the story itself. Which is the romance subplot that happens. There's a kiss, it's over before it ever begun and then the characters kind of act like it never happened. It's never really brought up again and it honestly felt unnecessary. The two characters already had such a strong friendship and that would have been enough. I don't think there had to be any sort of romance especially since it wasn't a thing in the first one either. However, like I said it's barely a thing and then it's over. I almost forgot about it to be honest until I looked through my notes to write this review.

The writing was amazing, which I feel like is to be expected by now with Victoria Schwab. I love her writing style and her story ideas so much. She executes it perfectly. The witty characters, the dark themes, and morally grey characters are all ones she writes so well. Every story of hers is  unique in their own right, but all of them are obviously written by her. She's so talented and I will forever support her books. She's proven time after time, book after book, that she is an amazing writer and lives up to the hype surrounding her.

"Mourning was its own kind of music - the sound of so many hearts, of so many breaths, of so many standing together." 

 

Thanks for reading!