A review by eesh25
Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab

5.0

Our Dark Duet is the concluding novel to the Monsters of Verity series. It starts off six months after the end of This Savage Song. Kate is now hunting the monsters of Prosperity while August has taken over as the head of the Flynn Task Force. Kate has no intention of going back to Verity, until a new monster from Prosperity finds its way there. She feels responsible and goes back to help out, only to find that things have changed a lot.

For one, Verity is now completely cut off from the rest of the world and the north side is controlled by monsters, mainly Sloan, the bastard who simply refuses to die. It's war, and the good guys seem to be losing. Not to mention, August is now a different person.

You might remember from book 1 that August decided that in order to win the war, he had to let go of his desire to be human. In a way, that was progress. You can't change what you are, you have to accept yourself. But he seems to have taken his own (or Leo's) advise too seriously because he's now avoiding emotion entirely. It's sad to him this way but it makes sense. He has to make a lot of hard decisions and is struggling to find a balance between what he is and who he is.

Kate, on the other hand, is pretty solid. I mean, she will always be a bit of a mess (she wouldn't be Kate otherwise) but she's aware of the person she is, and what she wants. I loved her so much in this book. Almost more than August which, I know, seems scandalous because August is everyone's baby; but I was in awe of how much she's grown and how strong she was in the book.

All the characters were amazing, really. August, Kate, Henry, Ilsa, the new monster, August's team and Kate's team. Loved them all. And hated Sloan, obviously.

Also, last but not least, Alice. Alice is the monster that Kate created/caused, and I think I hate her more than Sloan. She was the Kate that Kate thought she wanted to be in This Savage Song, but more evil. Every time she showed up I was like, 'Why isn't someone killing her? She needs to be dead. Yesterday!' As a character though, good job, Miss Schwab. You really know how to ace your bad guys.

The one thing that I didn't like was regarding a characters Soro. Soro is another Sunai and was fine as a characters. Just... Soro is non-binary and Victoria Schwab used the pronoun 'their' or 'they' for... < insert pronoun>. It didn't flow well because those are plural pronouns. But it's not something I can blame on the author so instead I'm going to blame the English language for still not having a gender-neutral pronoun.

What the fuck, English?

Overall, not only was this a magnificent sequel, it was also a very satisfying conclusion. I'm going to miss these character; but maybe not the world because I don't think the author's done with it. I think there's going to be a spin-off series set in Prosperity featuring a group of characters that we were introduced to in the beginning of the novel. Maybe that's wishful thinking but I have a feeling I'm right. Am I? Please tell me I am.