No tags yet.
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.