Book Review: Our Dark Duet

Title: Our Dark Duet
Author: Victoria Schwab
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Series: Monsters of Verity (Book 2)

Reread Count: 2

I am a pile of mush. I loved (almost) everything about this book. The story, the irony, the Lord of the Flies parallels... I loved the fact that the humans were just as bad as the monsters, that it was super clear that everyone was dealing with the consequences of the previous book (they didn't just magically pop up and be a-okay after what happened), and Ilsa became like this super computer-whiz so that was icing on the cake!

So because I could go on and on about how awesome this book is, I'm gonna break it down and make 2 small lists of likes and dislikes...

LIKES:
+ "Even monsters have weak hearts"
+ Soro's character, and their insight. Each Sunai sees the world through a different lens, and for me Soro' was one of the more objective ones. I really liked the no-nonsence approach that they took to their job and to their expectations, but I also loved their character development.
+ This book really addresses the problem of black-and-white judgement (i.e. there are no grey areas) because there will always be some times where what the punishment should be according to the rules isn't necessarily the right course of action
+ I loved the Wardens. Computer hackers for the win!
+ The irony of a monster who won't face his own monsters
+ Allegro, because he reflects which side August is on
+ The whole story just pulled me in and I couldn't stop reading!

DISLIKES:
- The fragment chapters were not my thing. My brain just can't handle fragments and short sentences and this was driving it nuts.
- August does a lot of flinching. Like the phrase "August flinched" and all of its variations showed up a lot...
- Wasn't a huge fan of the Kate/Wardens relationship, it seemed a little stereotypical?
- The Alice/Sloan relationship was just...weird
- As someone who is a long-distance runner, the fact that Kate took months off of running and then ran like 7 miles and THEN was tired and decided to stop running... I mean adrenaline does wonders but I'm not sure it can do that...
- Also did Kate never learn the whole stranger-danger thing?!
- And my big, overarching question: How does Ilsa reap?! I can't see her doing it like Leo but idk I was confused.

I love this book. I love this series. If you haven't already--read it!

See this review on Goodreads.