I actually finished this book in 2 days. That's how good and exciting this book is. I've never read anything from Victoria Shwab before, even though I own A Darker Shade of Magic and I think I have Vicious as well, but if any of them are this good, I'll pick it up immediately. I loved the writing, it flowed really well and it managed to create a picture of what was happening. The description of August playing was beautiful. Everything about this book was well thought, from the division into Verses, like a song, to the black tallies marking the chapters, to a great world building, the introduction of the characters and the plot in the beginning only to pick up the pace right after, softening at the eulogy and ending with a bang in the last couple pages, like a true melody. There were not many twists, at least not really unpredictable ones, but I think it was not really necessary. Even though as a reader I guessed what was going on and who was behind everything, the book was interesting in its own, so it didn't bothered me. The only thing I actually never saw coming was the final pages of the Eulogy, that I think was a very good setup for what's to come in the second novel. I enjoyed so much the idea of monsters out in the dark to get you, and how the novel showed that, despite the fact that there are actual monsters roaming the streets, some humans can be more monstrous than them. And the fact that Victoria Shwab created a kind of monster to balance things out - despite being created from the most horrible crimes, they still feed only on people so bad they actually created more monsters, and their powers rely on a beautiful thing like music. They are the lightness in the dark, and when I finished the book, my mind went straight to a Teen Wolf quote: "Not all monsters do monstrous things." Kate and August were soo good as MCs! They complemented each other well and were interesting on their own. I like how the author made them the opposite of what we would expect: August, although being the monster, seems more fragile and quiet and human, while Kate is more fiery, more brash and unafraid. They make a good pair, and even though there was no clear romance in the book, there was a companionship and a deep friendship between them, and I would have no problem with them being involved. I think the only thing I wanted a little bit more was to get to explore Ilsa's character and her powers. She always seems to know more than everyone what's going on in Verity, and I think (and hope) this will be important in the second book. I also wanted to know more about the other territories. We get a brief glimpse of them in this book, but because of the events at the end of book 1, I also hope we'll be getting more into them in the next installment. I can't wait to get my hands on it and know what will happen with August, Kate and Verity!

So, I didn't like my first VE Schwab book, which was A Darker Shade of Magic. But this book? Well. THIS BOOK WAS A W E S O M E. Definitely writing a full review soon!