Wicked Saints

Something Dark and Holy #1

by Emily A. Duncan

An instant New York Times bestseller!

“Prepare for a snow-frosted, blood-drenched fairy tale where the monsters steal your heart and love ends up being the nightmare.” -Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves and The Star-Touched Queen

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

“This book destroyed me and I adored it.” -Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Enemies To Lovers

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2019

About the author

“Emily A. Duncan was born and raised in Ohio and works as a youth services librarian. She received a Master’s degree in library science from Kent State University, which mostly taught her how to find obscure Slavic folklore texts through interlibrary loan systems. When not reading or writing, she enjoys playing copious amounts of video games and dungeons and dragons. She is represented by Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.”

Review/Rating Policy: I am a creature of many strong wills and book opinions so I only rate books I deeply adore. Everything else is just marked as read.

Reviews

[chai (thelibrairie on tiktok) ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah yes, the place I truly dwell, a damp and cold eternity of endless disappointment.

Fine. I’m just being dramatic (again). But seriously—being this sensitive is really inconvenient. Your most anticipated book of the year doesn’t live up to your expectations and you have to cancel your plans for the day to be angry about it.

**

For a century, Kalyazin and Tranavia bled great gouts of men into a holy war that served no greater cause than one country’s fear, and one empire’s hubris.

Nadya, a Kalyazi cleric who can commune with an entire pantheon of gods, is training in secrecy in the holy mountains by priests who sought to wield the power that sheltered inside her into the one thing that could save Kalyazin from sinking to its knees. But a sudden Tranavian attack on the monastery sends Nadya’s destiny spilling out into the air. All this mayhem is like blood in the water, and Nadya isn’t the only one swimming in it: Serefin, the High prince of Tranavia and a powerful blood mage, has scant interest in anything unless it involves alcohol but now finds himself forced to constantly look about him in trepidation for those who might be in a position to oppose his succession, including his father, the king. And there’s Malachiasz, a Tranavian defector whose real intentions are shrouded in secrecy and with whom Nadya forms a reluctant alliance while they’re both on the run from the Tranavian soldiers.

Nadya soon discovers that unknown forces are scheming to carve a new avenue to power and fulfilling her destiny of helping the gods reclaim their hold on the world might prove harder than she'd thought.

“We’re all monsters, Nadya,” Malachiasz said, his voice gaining a few tangled chords of chaos. “Some of us just hide it better than others.”

Reading the first couple of chapters, I was intrigued by Wicked Saints’ twining of religion, politics and magic, and the questions it hints at, but, sadly, what tatters remained of that interest quickly deserted me as the story progressed.

I expected more from this book than a few sequences of faintly interesting situations and a setting that is built more from analogues than any real sense of originality, a little more than a scaffolding made of concepts. The political exposition and the magic system also reads so messily, especially towards the end when suddenly what little logic used to belong to the story seems to have remained behind, like luggage on a dock. (Edit: Jewish reviewers have also pointed out the extremely troubling instances of egregious antisemitism in this book, and considering the author’s recently reported history of antisemitism, we should all have cause to worry. I cannot speak personally to these problematic elements since I am not Jewish, but I highly recommend you read a review by a Jewish reader.)  

I was also—and I cannot overstate the extent to which this is true—explosively bored. Yes. Tensions steadily rise up. Portents stir. Dark, deathlike magic threatens to devour everything it touches. But nothing much comes of any of it until the final page when the narrative bends towards a massively anticlimactic showdown that left me wishing I had spent my time doing literally anything else.

I saw a lot of people evoke how similar this book was to The Grisha Trilogy, and I have to agree. Quite frankly, it felt like an uninspired rip-off. At least the plot turnings in Shadow and Bone are compelling because Bardugo spends so much time keeping us pressed close to the minds and hearts of her characters, ensuring that we care about them long before whatever peril comes for them. That isn't the case with this book at all. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. There were some minor characters and relationships I wish had been focused on instead of others: Rashid and Parijahan—Malachiasz's companions and the only POC in the story as far as we know—make brief appearances but they never truly step wholly into the page and we never really get much chance for them to settle into being multi-dimensional, or find out what their revenge agenda is. You know, another day, another breathtaking case of a white author tokenizing characters of color.

But this is not the only way that Wicked Saints doesn't commit to its potential. The premise of the story led me to believe it wouldn't adhere to genre conventions, clichés and staples, which meant I was really dispirited when it did. Wicked Saints plays the enemies-to-lovers romance without any attempt at subversion. In short, I couldn’t give a tuppenny damn about Nadya and Malachiasz‘s relationship. For many reasons, but chief of which is this: the fact that this book adheres to the old hoary trope of “reducing its female character to her love interest”.

This felt like Malachiasz’s story with Nadya merely a minor player in the drama of her own life. I was startled by how, sometimes, she wasn’t even the focus of the story within her own POVs. In the beginning, we learn that Nadya had grown up in a monastery, trained in the hope that she’d prove to be a weapon against Kalyazin’s enemies. The face of the world was long kept veiled from her and I was really excited to see her take possession of her destiny and determine the path of her own life, but, in the end, it seemed she had not learned how to hold another shape other than what others dictated for her. Then Malachiasz drops out of nowhere, like an impossible vision, and makes Nadya immediately buckle under his—broodingly attractive—stare, prompting her apparently to immediately take leave of all her senses as well as any depth to her character. (The appropriate response is usually an eye roll.)

I've read a staggering number of excellent fantasy books recently with lady leads that had their own agency on full display—from Arden's Winternight Trilogy to Novak's Spinning Silver to Kuang's The Poppy War—and I think it's done things to my head because I now can't settle for anything less extraordinary. I certainly don't deny the allure of stories where a shadowy figure is devoted, unrepentantly and without respite, to the female protagonist and her innocent mystique—but here’s the thing: female characters can have strong, compelling narratives without preventing them from experiencing love. It's maddening when books imply, unconsciously or otherwise, that women can either have a romantic interest or a personality, while ignoring the fact women are perfectly capable of possessing both, thank you very much. I kept waiting and waiting for the author to twist the trope into something original or at least productive, but the unexpected never once arrives.

I hope the events of the sequel will smooth out this rough patch, but I honestly don’t care enough to find out.

TW: self-harm and parental abuse.

[Regan · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[Teodora · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐

Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺

I don't know what's going on with this book but I'M LOVING IT.

I didn’t know what exactly was I expecting from this book because I was more curious than expectant, but it made me so happy that I picked it up, read it and enjoyed it that all I can say is that from now on I’m a fan.

“Don’t be a martyr. We have no use for yet another saint.”

As a Christian Orthodox, I can say that this gave me the exact same vibe that I get when I enter an old Orthodox church and all the saints on the walls are staring down at me and the smell of burned incense overwhelms me. I know, not entirely comfortable, but still an intense feeling.

Kalyazin is the perfect picture of a pagan Russia, with its old beliefs, its rigid religious culture, its faith beyond compare. Tranavia is inspired by the Polish warrior spirit, the one that doesn’t fight for the likes of other beings but for its own power and good. It controls its own magic, the magic that exists in its blood.

As a Slavic culture lover, I can say that I loved all the interesting schemes the author has pulled for constructing her world.

“How does a human girl become something divine and feared by the gods that gave her the power she wields?”

This is the story of Nadezhda Lapteva, which my Romanian-speaking ass automatically translates to “Hope Milkova” and I literally cannot think of her otherwise and I get the constant need to LOL when I see her name (because, you know, in Romanian, we have a word that sounds like Nadezhda and that is “nădejde” which roughly translates to “hope” and “lapte” means “milk” and I just can’t).

Nadya’s relationship with Malachiasz is one of the strangest things I’ve come across in my readings. I wouldn’t necessarily call that a toxic relationship, but the way it manifests is just strange. To me.

Nadya is the light in Malachiasz’s life, but Malachiasz is so darkened by his past that he fills sometimes Nadya up with his shadows. They love each other until the verge of hate, toeing that thin line between the two strong emotions, sometimes crossing it from one side to the other.

“He turned and grinned at her, monstrous but beatific, holding out his hand, darkness gone. (…) She took his hand.”

What kind of inner desires must one have to love the person you hate the most is beyond my power of comprehension, but as I read on I hope I will find my answer.

One more cool aspect I’d like to discuss is the diversity of gods brought up into the story. There are so many of them and this makes the read so much more interesting. Let me exemplify it to you – we have:

- Marzenya – the goddess of death, magic and winter. Her real-life Slavic equivalent being
- Marena (or Baba Yaga, for the ones like me who know about her winks);
- Zbyhneuska – the goddess of health;
- Zvonimira – the goddess of light;
- Krsnik – the god of fire. His Slavic equivalent being Kresnik;
- Bozetjeh – the god of wind. His Slavic equivalent might be Stribog;

The list goes on and its point is to show you how far the whole Slavic culture is explored and presented in this book. There are even several word and phrases in it that are supposedly in Kalyazi and Tranavian languages, but they resemble so much the Slavic languages they took inspiration from.

(Or let's remember the cute term of endearment Malachiasz has for Nadya, “towy dżimyka”, that sounds so pretty and I wish someone would call me that because it is that pretty and I am that needy).

Okay. With all that being said, my questions remain: would you try to read this book purely out of academic curiosity? Is it still not good enough for YA Fantasy world? Would Nadya’s heretical journey intrigue you in order to discover its inner power?

“Is she powerful enough to take the stars out of the sky?”

[Kiki · Rating 1 out of 5]

To say that this book let me down is an understatement. It disappointed me in ways I didn’t know were possible. Is it me? Maybe. Is it the book? Oh, definitely. You’d better get your landing gear on, guys, because this is going to be a long one. Warning: gentle spoilers.

The biggest problem with this book is the worldbuilding, in part because the relationship between the gods and the people doesn’t make sense. The pantheon of gods in Wicked Saints is comprised of deities that can be quantified (that talk directly to clerics and give them magical powers), but characterising gods as tangible voices with personalities drastically shifts the power dynamic. It eliminates the essential subjectivity of religion. The Zoroastrians did not believe in their principal deity, Ahura Mazda, because they had heard him speak; they believed out of pure necessity. Why, they asked, does rain fall from the sky? What is the moon? These are questions of faith. How do we prevent crime? How can we legitimise the absolute rule of monarchs? These are questions of churches, religious institutions being separate from faith itself, but what they have in common is the answers can be adapted to survive in different cultural climates. Faith, at its core, depends entirely on belief in a power that cannot be quantified. Tranavia turned away from the gods, but there is no real discourse as to why; that the existence of the Kalyazi gods can be proven should heavily impact the way that religion functions across the world, and should give Nadya an immense amount of power over her countrymen, but because there is no explanation ever given of the role of the gods in Kalyazi life - there is no explanation of Kalyazi life, period - the concept crumbles.

This world, at its basest level, doesn’t feel lived in. How can it, if all we know is what we see on the page? When the characters leave the page they turn to dust, because Kalyazin and Tranavia are like Flat Earth. If you leave the designated area, you’ll fall off the edge and die. There is nothing across the horizon.

The gods in Kalyazin (this religion has no name) are listed here by the author, who asserts that this is not an exhaustive list, though for the amount of time we spend inside Nadya’s head, it falls short. There is a god of silence, but no god of sex and fertility. There is a god of speed, but no god of the hearth. How?



The hearth has, from the most ancient eras of history, stood as the central pillar of the home and community; for instance, the Ancient Greeks would greet new immigrants and visitors to their region in their town’s common house, known as the prytaneum, near the communal hearth and a statue of Hestia. The hearth was the pin around which community and family life revolved, family being another fundamental building block of any society: this, why gods and goddesses of sex, fertility, and childbirth feature so prominently in a wide number of polytheistic religions across the world. Even monotheistic/Abrahamic religions, while not extending separate deities to preside over sex and fertility, cycle through multiple stories of miraculous birth, sacred unions, virgin mothers, divine marriages, and father figures. The Abrahamic God is exhaustively referred to as a father, which - while the Abrahamic God maintains an asexual veneer - stresses the archaic role of a father as a genetic creator. (On somewhat of a tangent, it is also worth noting that the idea of clerical celibacy is rare; for example, Judaism has never enforced celibacy for its rabbis or kohanim (priests), and in Islam, lifelong celibacy is forbidden. Sex, family, and reproduction are at the core of most, if not all, religions).

Once could argue that this isn’t directly relevant to Nadya’s journey to assassinate the king (more on that later) but… Isn’t it? There are vague mentions of Nadya praying, and she spends swaths of time condemning the Tranavians to heresy, but where is the intricacy of her faith? There are no rituals, social parameters, or legal systems discussed that in any way hint at the power of religion over Kalyazin. The gods don’t influence Nadya’s clothing, food choices, language, sexuality, literacy, or her understanding of her environment; the only time Nadya ever references the gods is during battle or when she is mumbling about the Tranavians being heretics.

Heresy has no concrete definition, but is generally understood as dissent from a commonly established religious belief. ‘Heresy’ is a deeply nuanced and complex topic that Wicked Saints, of course, does not have the mettle to tackle: Nadya deems the Tranavians heretics - a term that historically justified mass slaughters, notably during the Spanish Inquisition - with such wild abandon that it completely delegitimises the term. The word just stops meaning anything.

There is a vague reference to how magic is only supposed to come from the gods, but Nadya does not quote scripture, makes no reference to any pulpit preaching or schooling, and the gods themselves don’t offer any clarity. “Blood magic” is not a reason to waste money, lives, and time on war, and nor does it elaborate on the ramifications of heresy in Kalyazin; are there misconceptions about Tranavians? Are there stereotypes? It’s never discussed. They’re just “heretics”, and the reader is expected to accept that without any further clarification.

An example of the enormity of the notion of heresy is the use of fatwas in Islam. Fatwas are a woefully misunderstood concept in the West; after the hoopla around Salman Rushdie, a misconception of fatwas grew, in which the West characterised fatwas as “religious death warrants”, which is like saying that yoghurt is strawberry flavoured. Some is, but most of it isn’t, and only eating strawberry yoghurt when there are a thousand better and more interesting flavours is wilful ignorance at best.

A fatwa is a legal opinion delivered by a mufti (Islamic scholar) on a question posed by an institution, community, or individual. Fatwas are legally non-binding, but given that they’re issued by qualified experts, they can and have influenced shifts and actions across the Muslim world. Historically, fatwas were used to spread Islamic doctrine among the wider populace, advise courts on aspects of sharia (Islamic law), and encourage resistance against colonial rule. The historic use and context of fatwas is incredibly complex and speaks to the textured tapestry that is the Islamic legal system, but one interesting historical usage of fatwas was to enact a controversial practice known as takfir, in which communities or individuals professing to be Muslim were declared by a mufti to be kafirs (unbelievers), therefore justifying resistance against them or excommunication. Takfir was imposed on the invading Mongols, who claimed to be Muslim, but who were declared apostate by Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah due to their opposition to sharia.

This is only one example of the immense complexity of the notion of “heresy”. Nadya claims exhaustively that Malachiasz is a heretic, yet she does not put up an iota of resistance against him, and even their theological arguments are flirty and cutesy, which, if you’ve ever seen theologians get into a quarrel on faith, you’ll know is disingenuous at best. Neither character ever moves beyond the most childish questions of faith or religious warfare.

Furthermore, at no point is any concrete explanation given for the long and costly war between these two nations, other than their divergent religious beliefs. This in itself is a dangerous model: religion doesn’t cause wars, politics and class warfare does, from the modern wars in the Middle East to the Jacobite Rebellions, and to notably the Thirty Years’ War, one of the most destructive conflicts in human history, which boils all the way down to Martin Luther’s landmark break from Catholicism, stemmed from his disenchantment with the corruption and money-grubbing of the Catholic Church. The fatwa I previously mentioned about the Mongols being declared kafirs is a good example of this. One might argue that this fatwa endorsed religious warfare, but what were the Mongols doing? Invading, and this fatwa mobilised the affected Muslim communities to push back against colonial rule. Politics were the root reason for this, not religion alone.

Simply put, religion is a vast, complex, and nuanced topic that Wicked Saints does not have the range to tackle. Most of the page time is wasted on a forced and saccharine romance between two bland characters: an alleged cleric who bizarrely seems to know nothing about her own religion, and a limp analogy for Kylo Ren.

I said in my status updates that I had a lot of feelings about this comparison with Kylo Ren, and I do. There’s no but here. Just buckle in.



Kylo Ren is an infuriating character, mostly because his turn to the dark side is conflated with Darth Vader’s, whose story is vastly more layered. (I could rabbit on here about the excellent and subtle examination of church corruption that is mirrored in the Jedi, but seriously, I can’t. Oh, I want to, Long Pause, but I can’t.)

Here’s the thing. Death of the Author is a legitimate angle in literary criticism, and there’s a great video here where Lindsay Ellis explains it, but it’s almost impossible to fully extract the author from this work, partly because she has a flourishing internet presence. Duncan makes no secret of her fan status for Kylo Ren, and the hallmarks of his character are so blatantly obvious in Malachiasz that I cannot in good conscience ignore it. Not only are both characters physically identical, but ideologically, they’re the same. Kylo Ren’s quest for power at the detriment of his own sanity and moral integrity and his (fan-interpreted) thirst for a plucky Jedi (space monk) hang around Malachiasz like a bad smell. But pulling from a character as loathe-worthy as Kylo Ren left a really bad taste in my mouth, and I think I hated Malachiasz for the same reasons that I hated Kylo Ren.

They both follow this exhausting arc of the “broken boy” who was made this way by a flawed mentor and who has a good side that was ripped from them in some contrived way; granted, Malachiasz was forced to become a vulture, but when offered a chance to escape a life of 2005 Goth Torment and live with the space monk, he turns it down in favour of more power, a mirror of Kylo Ren killing Snoke with Rey, but then turning against her and seizing his seat of power for himself. Of course, Wicked Saints boasts none of the political complexity that makes the Sith/Jedi conflict compelling, and while it makes a half-baked attempt at “political intrigue” it fails on the most basic level, mostly because the politics of Tranavia are not remotely interesting and the politics of Kalyazin don’t exist. But here’s the crux of it: if you’re going to rip off a character, at least make it a good one. (I know there are some Darkling vibes here, but the Kylo Ren comparison stuck out to me.)

I suppose you could argue that Kylo Ren’s desire to be like Darth Vader is an allegory for how power-hungry people pluck half-truths from history to suit their own personal agenda, but the fact that he is a Skywalker and “the one that Luke couldn’t save” leans into the narrative conflating him with Darth Vader. Alas, because no coherent or sympathetic build-up was lent to properly justify Kylo Ren’s turn to the Dark Side, it just feels…uncomfortable.

Anakin Skywalker is my favourite Star Wars character, and Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars movie. Sure, it has holes and the acting is ropey, but what a layered, nuanced portrayal of a villain arc. The thing is, that villain arc was built slowly and methodically from The Phantom Menace, rooted in Anakin from his early childhood. Anakin’s arc is about servitude, manipulation and corruption: he was born a slave and ripped from his mother by the Jedi order, but while the Jedis professed to have freed him, all they did was force him into a more subtle indenture. The Jedi order treated Anakin like a tool to be used, like a slave all over again, and the pain of Anakin’s arc is that he was the chosen one, but was so stunted by his upbringing and the manipulations of the corrupt Jedi that he fell prey to Palpatine, who offered him only another form of bondage, this time to the Sith. Anakin’s sole moment of personal agency was when he turned on Palpatine and killed him, saving Luke, but condemning himself to death. Anakin’s final moments, in which his sweet son forgave him, were the only moments in which he was ever truly free.

Contrast this with Kylo Ren, whose arc revolves around him being a privileged brat who, after one (probably drunken) moment where Luke considered killing him because he thought he was a child psychopath, turns into a mass murderer. He is tolerable because Adam Driver is a truly excellent actor, but it’s the edgelord “limpid tears” quality to Kylo Ren that Malachiasz captures. I hated him because all I could think about was Kylo Ren’s mask, that he wore for no reason other than to be a theatrical douchebag, while Anakin’s mask was keeping him alive. (I love this very specific trope, and another character who pulled it off beautifully was Christopher Nolan’s Bane, whose backstory was excellent and heartbreaking, and please stop these tangents. Please. I am begging myself to stop.)

I said in my status updates that this book could have benefitted from being reworked as an adult novel, and this is perfectly encapsulated in Serefin’s chapters: he is 19 and leading an army, and he’s also an alcoholic. What a relatable character for teens, right?

Serefin had no arc, and instead spent most of the book wafting from one boring locale to the next, until his story culminated in some utterly batshit nonsense about moths and stars. I wanted to avoid talking about the author’s reprehensible behaviour on Twitter, where she slams readers for daring to criticise her book, as if the only reason anyone would dislike it is because they’re dumb, but I think it’s worth noting that if a good number of people come to you with the same criticism of your product, you might consider doing a bit of self-reflection. Put it this way: say I’m shopping for vibrators on Amazon, and I see one with fifty reviews out of a hundred that say it put them in the hospital. I’m likely to trust that verdict and save myself an injury. Books are art, yes, and art is subjective, but when everyone complained about the finale for Game of Thrones being rushed, it wasn’t because millions of people just suddenly lost their collective marbles. It was because the finale was rushed, and that’s the tea.

The author argues that it’s fine for a book to be “confusing”, and goes on to say: “I just… think readers could do with becoming comfortable with things not being explained in rote detail. / Anyway! Plenty of fantasy authors will hold your hand! I won’t, sorry!” (10/05/2019) What a lot of nonsense. “Confusing” is an error in storytelling; complex, mysterious, or abstract are legitimate literary techniques (Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal does this brilliantly). The ending of this book was a complete mess, not only because of the absurd, anachronistic, and poorly edited prose (a feature throughout the book) but because it’s just so fucking jumbled, and I won’t stand for being mocked on a hellsite like Twitter for this book’s own lack of basic detail or coherent plot. The characters’ bid to kill the king makes no sense besides; their initial plan is to kill both the king and Serefin, which will create a power vacuum and only exacerbate the problem, but the Dramatic Showdown reads like the view from a Go Pro thrown into a bag of fighting cats. The inept chaos of it isn’t even good for a cruel laugh.

Furthermore, the side characters could have been backspaced from the text and it wouldn’t make the blindest bit of difference. At one point, Malachiasz tells Nadya that Parijahan, one of their token POC companions on this journey, has gone missing which may mean she’s dead. Nadya makes no comment on this, despite naming Parijahan as her friend in a previous scene, and instead flirts with Malachiasz and faints dramatically in his lap. That said, Nadya becomes a side character in her own journey, as the author forces Malachiasz down our throats like salted corn into a French duck, but it’s telling that two of the few characters of colour are scarcely given a backward glance when their lives may be in danger. Similarly, Ostyia, the only explicitly queer character in the book, has no agency or depth, just a talking doll for Serefin to frown at. Serefin has the potential to be queer, though all of his romantic interactions are directed toward women and he shows no romantic or sexual interest in anyone of any other gender.

At this point in my life, I am not willing to hunt for queer representation. I am sick to fucking death of begging for scraps, and I will not sit around parsing through lines of text with a magnifying glass, pawing for sustenance like a starving possum. The answer is no.

This book suffers because of the romance, which hoovers up page time, chapter after chapter dedicated to Nadya mooning over Malachiasz. Landmark beats like crossing the border into enemy territory and battling through a duel and getting attacked by the vultures flit by as Nadya laments about her “broken boy”. This is not high fantasy, just the story of a ghost-girl and a Kylo Ren body double coldly bumping together, as much chemistry between them as two puffs of inert gas. Us gays are over here starving for rep while this is the accepted standard for straight romance? Give me a fucking break.

I can’t praise any element of this book and maintain my integrity, but if it were reworked as adult and another hundred pages added, this could have been an interesting story. If the sexual element was completely removed from the central relationship, Malachiasz aged up to forty and Nadya aged down to nine, and the connection between them rewritten into a tender friendship between a crotchety father figure and a stubborn, angry orphaned child, this could have blown me away. What a tale that could have been, especially if it revolved around a civil war, with Malachiasz and Nadya being actively chased by Serefin, aged up to thirty-five. Give Serefin a menagerie of bastard children and an earned reputation as an actual axe murderer and I could have really gotten on board with this. But I can’t, and nor can I ethically endorse another botched Slavic fantasy. If you’re interested in Slavic fantasy written by actual Slavic people, then I’d suggest Andrzej Sapkowski or Lana Popović. There’s also a list of authentic Slavic reads here.

I suppose it says more about me than it does the author that I’d have preferred this to be grimdark, but what would I know? I’m just a woman, standing in front of a bookcase, waiting for an author to hold my hand.

[Alex ✰ Comets and Comments ✰ · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Blood and blood and bone. Magic and monsters and tragic power.”







Everything that has needed to be said has probably already been said about this book. I wanted to love this one so bad and what started off as a great exposition went downhill very fast. I'm still kinda just sitting here blinking... confused...unsure

copyright of all fanart goes to their amazing artists:
© ©
_______________

Is it really possible to be that bored?

Short answer = yes.
Long answer =

Wicked Saints is truly a lavish tale that echoes nostalgic memories of all your favourite YA high fantasy novels. I think if it had been published sometime during 2013, this would have taken me by storm. The magic system (only winning factor) and the world building (although lacking) was both interesting and enticing. Unfortunately, I wish there was something else that helped me cling to the story and keep reading but I felt like I was forcing myself to finish instead.



The first thing I would like to say that I almost always say if it is an issue:
Do authors feel embarrassed if they don't address their trigger warnings? I mean surely, it shouldn't be up to the reader to go look for them prior to reading the book! This has been and will continue to be a problem with me. I think trigger warnings should clearly be stated before the reader begins... Any-which-way;

TW: blood, gore, self harm, torture, parental abuse.

Secondly, there seemed to be no plot. It didn't quite reach a stream of consciousness writing style, but it also didn't seem like anything was moving. It felt like we were following the characters through snapshots and the plot was just something that could have been done. Serefin was the only saving grace for me, and we got little to no arc development or character development for HIM. I was also struggling to differentiate the voices between the dual POV's. Other than the fact the Gods can speak to Nadya mentally, the voices very rarely differed.

“Nadya was supposed to remain a secret for another year, training in the holy mountains with priests who—while they did not have magic themselves—understood the fundamentals of divinity. Like how a peasant girl could be the one thing that would save Kalyazin from the heretics’ torches. But war didn’t care for carefully laid plans.”

I really wanted to dnf at the 50% mark. I felt like I was trudging through this entire story and I wanted to be able to love it as much as my GR and book reviewing buddies did. I can say that although there were a lot of filler chapters, I loved being "thrown into the action."

The romance.... I love reading romance. I love all the tingly feelings and the magic in the air. I enjoy rooting for the character's and seeing them fall for each other in real-time. BUT THIS... I felt no connection at all and the romance felt more like a friendship because there was so much insta-love. I also ended up wanting the two characters NOT to be together. Every two seconds we were reminded by Nadya that; he was a monster, he was cruel and evil, he's not to be trusted however pretty he is!... I didn't feel the enemies to lovers trope at all.



I really feel like everything was just meh. I wanted so much more and nothing really delivered. Which brings me to the point that everything was just so boring... So much in the story was left undeveloped and open to surface interpretation. I feel like the problems that the characters went through and the hurdles they had to overcome diminished to nothing when it was game time. There was such big talk of having to fulfill a certain event, and the event would come and go without me even realizing it.

I love books that fly by, but with this I had to re-read paragraphs a couple times, multiple times in order to understand what was happening. It wasn't that the language was hard to interpret or the layout was difficult to read. Simply, my mind kept wandering off to different things and I kept losing interest.

Additionally, when it comes to diversity and representation, this book seemed to have so many cannon LGBTQ reps. There were also so many indicators to other representations such as Serefin's potential alcohol addiction. I just wish it was developed further instead of being left to the sideline. That said, I don't need any and all representation to be part of the primary plotline or story, but I felt like the presentation of it as a whole was overall lacking.

“Blood wasn’t a thing to be made light of, not in these times.”

This story had so much potential for breaking the boundaries of YA fantasy and spotlighting much needed topics. I loved the focus on faith, philosophy, religion, moral and ethics. I even loved the fact that this time the villain, was very easy to root for even through their destruction. I wanted to unpack this book and theorize all sorts of different outcomes and routes that the characters and the plot would take but it really turned a different path for me.

[megs_bookrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

((me: savage scream))



That was SO GOOD!!!



Wicked Saints is the first book in a YA Fantasy trilogy aptly titled, Something Dark and Holy.

This was so dark and so damn holy.



A debut novel!? Say what!?

Y'all, if this is Duncan’s debut, she is definitely an author to watch.



I picked this up just prior to release day, as I was generously provided a copy by the publisher, Wednesday Books, to read and review.

I feel like I have been blessed.



The tone of this is hella Grimdark and we all know, I live for that.

Basically, in this world, a Holy War has been raging for centuries between two kingdoms, Kalyazin and Tranavia.

The narrative alternates between three perspectives: Nadya, Serefin and Malachiasz. The world is vast and complex, yet feels like nothing to learn.



Last week I reviewed another YA Fantasy book, I won’t name here, but I mentioned how I felt like I needed to be taking notes as I was reading.

That shook me out of the story and made it hard for me to connect. With this book, even though vastly more complex, I never felt that.



Whilst reading Wicked Saints, I felt like I was living these events along with the characters. I never felt that I didn’t understand what was going on or how the world worked.

This, to me, is a sign of a great fantasy construct; well thought out and balanced. Even though this story takes place in a world that is being created from scratch, it's not overwhelming.



Nadya, the main female protagonist, is the most fascinating to me. She was raised in a monastery in the mountains, where clerics and others were able to commune with their pantheon of Gods.

Nadya is very special in that she is able to commune with all the Gods and can even gain magical powers from them. Most interesting is the fact that the Gods literally talk to her.



Depending on the situation, and what powers she may need, she asks particular Gods for help.

The Gods are all developed with their own personality and they can offer up guidance, a friendly chat or just be silent.



I love this aspect! It made me think of the Disney animated movie, Hercules, with all the different Gods you meet; so much fun.

It is a very unique element. I have never read anything quite like this in a YA Fantasy before.



Due to circumstances I won’t get into here, Nadya is forced to flee the monastery, fearing for her life. Once on the road, she bumps into a traveling trio that includes another of our main characters, Malachiasz.

Malachiasz is a complex character and a little difficult to explain. Let’s just say, he was once part of a very dangerous and secretive order of powerful blood mages called the Vultures.



I know, right!?

Doesn't that sound creepy and ominous AF?



Yep. The Vultures are creepy masked guys and gals with the most murderous of intentions. They are so scary and powerful that they are referred to as ‘monsters’ by people outside the sect.

Malachiasz is a defector from the sect, the only person known to have done so and survived. He confesses this to Nadya and tells her that he is essentially on the wrong side of the law in Tranavia.



Our final main character is Serefin, the crown Prince of Tranavia.

He has been leading armies for the past few years in the never-ending war with Kalyazin, but has recently been summoned home by his father, the King.



Serefin is convinced his father is trying to take him out. Is he just paranoid, or does his father really intend to kill him?

It is clear the King isn’t playing with a full deck and he is quite volatile; whispering around with the Vultures.



When Nadya, Malachiasz and their traveling companions, arrive in the capital city, intent on stopping the war, whatever the cost, they come into contact with Serefin and begin to wonder, exactly whose side is he on?



The writing in this is so delicious. Dark and gothic from the very start! If you love that kind of story, set in a harsh and unforgiving world, you need to pick this book up.

It's so compelling, I just know there is going to be a huge fandom for this story, this world, these characters and this author!



I am so excited to see where Duncan is going to go with this story. I just can’t even imagine what ultimately is going to happen. There are so many ways it could go, all of them bloody and brutal.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity and will definitely be buying a finished copy for my collection!

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well look what came today on my Bday, April Owlcrate! As always, click on the link below the picture to see all of the amazing freaking goodies!




THE GOODIES


*************************

MY BLOG

OMG! OMG! OMG! PLEASE LET ME LOVE THIS......



Thank goodness I loved the book! Let just give you a little skinny on the book first before I tell you WHY I love it.

The book starts out with a bang; action right out of the gates. We have Nadya, she's a cleric and has been hiding in a monastery forever! She has powers and some peeps found out about her and all hell broke loose. She has to go on the run with a friend in order to not be killed or captured for other horrible reasons.

We have Serefin who is a Prince and a mage and he is after Nadya. The POV's are his and Nadya's but we get other characters through their story lines.

Then we have Malachiasz who is another mage character and from the same place as Serefin, but who helps Nadya and her friend get from point A to point B.

I loved the book in the very beginning but the only reason I kept loving it is because I fell in love with the villian! Yes, you heard it first here people. And there are actually a few villians in the book.

I also love the Vultures! They are bad guys and girls in the book as well. What is it with me and the bad guys! I don't always love them so there!

I am interested to see where this will go in the next book because that ending had me "shook" and I'm not over it yet. I hope that it gets better and doesn't suffer from second book syndrome!

Anyhoo!

*Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a digital copy of this book to review.*

Mel ♥

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

'we are all monsters, nadya. some of us just hide it better than others.'

this book is so seductively dark and holy, so gothically bloody, so cruelly romantic; and my black soul has never been happier. 🖤

the strength of this story is the magic, the ferocious yet satisfying magic. hands down. the characters are brutally intense and beautifully developed, but its how magic affects them and their world that is so captivating. the entire plot is driven by the opposing beliefs about the nature of magic and i thought emily duncan did a great job at bringing that struggling debate to life. its impressively well thought-out and a real high point to the story.

i will admit this isnt without faults. the romance is a very insta-lovey and the writing can get confusing/muddled at times, but there is such a strong foundation here that i know great things can be expected from the future installments of this series.

also, the physical aesthetic of this book is so drop dead gorgeous, it makes me want to cry. the incandesce foil artwork, the colour tones, the spine, and overall design is just so much, i cant stop looking at it. this gets 5 stars for that alone!

↠ 4.5 stars

[Angelica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt one thing while reading this book. Just one:


This was a buddy read with the lovely Rendz. She is all around wonderful and I suggest you check out her page and her reviews! I had a great discussion with her on this book and there I realized that I might be, in fact, heartless because I gave very little mercy to this book. But hey, at least Rendz had better luck with it than I did.

I wanted to love this. I wanted so badly to fall head over heels for this book. I went into it expecting it to be dark and epic and just plain good. But alas, I did not love it, nor did I think just plain good.

This book had the potential to be one of the best books I read in 2019. I think that knowing it had so much untapped potential is what makes it worse for me though.

The novel’s premise is extremely interesting. The foundation is set for this novel to be amazing.

The three main characters, Nadya, a girl who speaks to gods; Serafin, a warrior prince trying to save himself from the dangers of court; and Malachiasz, a boy with terrible magic that hides secrets and monsters inside of himself. Mix them all together and have them plot to assassinate an evil king. Throw in some blood magic, some gods that may or may not be gods, some betrayal, some secrets, and a sprinkle of romance and you have the recipe for awesome.

But alas, that potential was never met. Everything felt halfway to me.

In theory, the characters are all really cool. Still, I couldn’t connect to any of them. I felt like we were only shown the surface of who they were. This was made worse when the romance started coming forth. It felt like Nadya (whom I never really liked) and Malachiasz (who had serious character potential) completely undid their character arcs the moment they fell in love, especially Nadya. As for Serafin, I feel like I know very little about him, other than the fact that he likes being drunk.

The magic system was also that was in theory, very cool, but was in reality pretty confusing. There was never a set of rules established for how the magic worked. I think that giving it parameters and letting us know what could and couldn’t be done with it would have been cooler.

Another issue I had was with how easy everything was. There would be a lot of build up for things and then nothing would happen. They would just accidentally slide into convenient situations. Or, they would just effortlessly get a hold of information that was supposed to be secret. It felt anticlimactic.

Like when they made the plan on how they were going to sneak into Tranavia and they made a big deal of it talking about how important it was to get the plan just right. Mal kept pressuring Nadya to perfect her accent and saying all the terrible things that would happen if they got caught. Then they just sort of walked into Tranavia wasn’t even that hard. They literally said like two lines to the guard and they let them through

This book had ‘a lot’ of representation. Serafin is bi, Ostyia was a lesbian, and Rashid and Parajihan were people of color, also Kacper is definitely either gay or bi because I was totally getting that vibe when he was alone with Serafin.

That said if any, or even if all of those characters had been removed, the story would probably have gone down pretty much the same, I think. Their presence never felt vital to the story. In fact, no one but the three main characters, felt necessary for the story to happen. It’s a shame too because all the minor characters had the potential to be really interesting if their backstories had been fleshed out. But they never were.

Overall, I didn’t love this one. As you could see. This is the kind of book that I’m certain that many of you would like. It’s also the kind of book that many of you would find problems with. It currently (as of 4/1/19) this book has a 3.91 on Goodreads. So, it’s your call. I personally don’t recommend it.

Sorry. Not sorry.


TW: Self-harm and just general cutting of one's flesh. Parental Abuse.

**I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

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[chan ☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

nadya: *is an idiot for 385 pages*

reading my twitter followers' most disappointing books of 2019

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack)]

I am leaving the review below in its original form, but I want to mention that author Rin Chupeco came forward today (6 April 2021) to say that Duncan participated in bullying multiple authors of color, including calling one "ugly" for their books having similar themes. The author in question, Hafsah Faizal, has recently come forward to say it was her. This is upsetting and several other tweets seem to imply this was on some level common behavior widely known within the community, which is deeply concerning.

I had actually already taken sequels to this book off my TBR over a few mostly unrelated incidents—first the book aging poorly upon further reflection, then some subtweets of reviewers I thought went just a bit over the line, then some tweets about incest shipping after the Game of Thrones finale, and then several tweets about John Boyega—and though I recognize the first two are fairly minor, I want to also point out, as Chupeco did, the racism inherent in harassing a black man over his lack of silence about racism he experienced as a member of a franchise cast.

Also today, an anonymous account tweeted about issues with antisemitism within the book. Just to be so honest, I cannot remember most of this book and would prefer to share non-anonymous commentary in light of that, and if anyone can find the link to this review I would really like to link that instead of the Twitter commentary.

In terms of my updated thoughts on the book, I second several points made in this review.


__

We are all monsters, Nadya. Some of us just hide it better than others.

It’s really been a while since I’ve fallen head-over-heels for a fantasy series in this obsessive, letting-it-take-over-my-time-for-a-week way, and Wicked Saints did that for me. I had a few problems, yes, but overall, I was engrossed in this novel and in this world.

→ worldly worldbuilding ←
Okay, so, this is Russian-inspired fantasy, with blood mages, and also clerics. The Kalyazi can contact gods, sometimes, and these people consider Tranavian blood magic to be unholy. This has caused a war. The characters in this book are on both sides of that war; indeed, our two POVs are essentially the strongest Tranavian character and the strongest Kalyazi character. Something I loved about this was the way in which divinity becomes both a question and a force within the book: characters are motivated by religion, but the story does not become one entirely about a fight for religion.

I think what got to me about this world is just how expansive it feels. Wicked Saints does an excellent job juggling many moving parts in the wheel of both characters and world. It feels expansive in the way good urban fantasy feels expansive: You’re juggling a great deal of side characters without points of view but you’re intrigued to see more about almost every one.

→ plot and structure and all that ←
The plot doesn’t twist and turns too much in the first half, and is indeed a bit oddly structured; to use my most recent film language obsession, the first act is a bit long, meaning the narrative as a whole feels as if it’s taking a while to actually get going. It was the rest of the novel that had me completely hooked. The final conflict had me absolutely screaming.

→ characterization blah blah blah ←
sign me the FUCK up 👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌th 👌 ere👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my selｆ 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠＯOOＯOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit

This book is told via two points of view:
→Nadya Lapteva, a mage who can speak to all of the gods. Currently coming into her power.
→Serefin Meleski, a blood mage prince, bi icon and honestly my favorite character. This character grew on me a lot: I loved seeing him develop.

There is also a ridiculously good cast of other primary characters, including:
→Malachiasz, a blood mage looking for a home in the world. The villainy love interest.
→Anna, Nadya’s helper and trainer
→Parijahan, an Akolan who committed murder to avenge her sister. my other favorite.
→Rashid, another Akolan who allies with the group.
→Ostyia, Serefin’s partner-in-crime and professional murder lesbian. my OTHER other favorite.
→Kacper, Serefin’s other partner-in-crime. possible love interest to one character… maybe?


→ let’s talk about that romance ←
So. Honestly. One of the best parts of Wicked Saints is that this is one of the best uses of enemies to lovers I have seen in years and years. And I think I get why it wasn’t always quite as popular with others reviewers; the romance, at times, feels like the general villain love interest dynamic we have all seen so many times before, in that Malachiasz is Bad But Has Hidden Depths. Yes, I get it. I also genuinely don’t hate this trope as long as it’s not good girl x bad boy. (You can read this: as long as they both are kind of evil it’s fine.)

It’s just that the overall arc of the burgeoning relationship here is just… it’s so tense, but also has so much genuine growing care, and I’m a slut for that. Their actual dynamic in the second half of the book is just… it’s tender, okay?


→ cliches, tropes, and derivativeness ←
The major negative / positive / okay certainly a fact about this book is something that really didn’t affect my actual reading experience, but has been sort of bugging me in the weeks past, and that is the fact that this has a lot of similarities to the Grisha Trilogy. This was first pointed out by other readers, but the more it’s pointed out, the more I can’t help but notice the similarities: the Russian-inspired world, the evil love interest, and the structural similarities in the reveal of the love interest’s powers.

I think at some point we should probably have a conversation about degrees of inspiration and how narratives, in their basic construct, will almost always take thematic inspiration from other sources. The question comes in where our personal lines are between thematic inspiration and essential fanfiction that cannot be divorced from its inspiration. For me, it was not a struggle to read these characters as individuals separate from their possible inspiration; in fact, I didn’t even notice until I’d already read the book. Nadya does not share a backstory with Alina or anything along those lines.

I think if you were to look at the two books comparatively, you can almost read Nadya’s character arc around magic as a direct interplay with magic in the Grisha series: for her, gaining more power is not a descent into darkness in the same way. (Had I seen this as fanfiction, I would have hated it; I absolutely hate the Alina/Darkling ship.)

I don’t know. I don’t know. I think this is a bigger conversation than just this book.


→ what i’d like from the sequel ←
This was a 4-star read for me, which means I genuinely really enjoyed my experience and was absolutely addicted. But also that there are things I would like more and less of. For the sequel: more of that juicy side character development. I am ready for Parijahan and Ostyia to be on every single page.

More generally, I want to get a little more of Nadya’s humanity. I liked her characterization here fine, but I definitely felt there were moments in which she lacked agency in her own story. I would like a villain love story where she can still kick the love interest’s ass, and the ending to this book certainly made me optimistic on this point. The point is, I’m optimistic, and excited as fuck to see where this story goes.

TW: self harm imagery (blood magic.), torture, parental abuse.

✨Arc received from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

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[Miranda Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nadya lives in a world seeped with magic and she's one of the very few remaining "clerics" that can commune for the gods (and is granted their powers on occasion).

For as long as she could remember, her homeland (Kalyazi) has been at war with the heretics in Tranavia (blood magic).

“We're all monsters, Nadya, some of us just hide it better than others.”

When the Tranavia prince attacks her monastery, Nadya flees but not before swearing vengeance.

Alone in this world, she trudges on. There's a king to kill and it's up to her to do it.

“You could be exactly what these countries need to stop their fighting. Or you could rip them apart at the seams.”

So.

So I've heard such good things and I couldn't wait for this book to come in - it certainly sounded perfect.

And for the first few chapters...it was.

I haven't seen a magic system like this in YA before and I was so excited to watch it play out. I loved the idea of the divine vs the heretics warring. And the world building seemed pretty good in the beginning.

BUT (and this is a big BUT)...the world building was exhausting.

It just kept going. And going. And going. And I stopped caring a lonnnnng while back.

I kept hoping for interesting situations to occur and...essentially SOMETHING (anything!) to happen but it felt like a sequence of flashbacks and more (and more) explanations of how their world came to be.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters and was really thrown by the instalove (it felt sooo clunky).

Ultimately I had to struggle (really struggle) to finish this one because I was just so mind-numblingly bored by the whole thing.

But the ending was pretty nice. So. I'm gonna give book 2 a shot. Cross your fingers!

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[MischaS_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

EDIT: Okay, so, yeah, 2020 is a distant memory now and I did not even think about starting the second book. I guess that it's two stars then.

It took me a month to read this. And I mean a month to read, I was reading almost daily.



I was unsure of how to rate this book. On the one hand, I did not like it. On the other hand, I did like it a bit more than Serpent & Dove.
The first would make this two stars, the second probably two and a half, therefore, three to make the difference visible.
I've been flipping the coin on this for the whole day. And I settled on three stars for the time being. The reasonings are quite simple. While this one definitely was not my favourite, I'm seriously considering reading the next one because I believe and I hope that it has potential. So, the deal is, I give this three stars for now and if 2020 passes without me reading the next book, I'll change the rating to two stars.
However, I'm saying it now; this is a two and a half stars, one of the weakest three stars I ever gave and I still do not feel right with giving this book three stars. (Hello, Goodreads? Yeah, it's me, I'm just calling again, we still need a bigger range in rating books, thank you!)


Okay, to the book.

I have to say that as someone who speaks a Slavic language I just find it so strange to see so many Slavic/Slavic inspired names in the middle of English text. Same with the "Slavic inspired languages" suddenly being spoken. I don't know why, but I personally find it a bit distracting.
Also, why suddenly so many authors are obsessed with taking inspiration from Russia and at least here also from Poland I would presume? Tranavia is based on Poland, right? Or is that just my imagination?
Anyway, I did not read it as Tranavia, but instead, I read Travian every single time, and it really reminded me how much fun I had with that game!

As for the story... I don't think that it was terrible. It seems like a story with very good potential, unfortunately, all that all was clouded by the fact that I was bored a couple of chapters in and things only became interesting with only a handful chapters left.
I mean if I were to sum up the story, it sounds quite fascinating. However, between the good parts, there were just too many fillers where nothing happened, and they just talked. Even when we get to the Rawalyk, it seems so pointless. Yeah, someone dies, there is a dinner, and then the story moves from it. Feels a bit pointless that for more than a half of the book, the characters did not talk about anything but Rawalyk.


Nadya, what should I say about her? She's very unmemorable to me, she's fading in with so many others not really that great YA/fantasy heroines. She also needs to get off her high horse. Because that was one of my main problems with her, aside from being unmemorable, she was on the highest high horse I've encountered in a very long time. The horse was that high that all the other characters did not reach the horse's hooves even if they were at the top of the Pelageya's tower.

Her quest was divine and the Tranavians were heretics


You are a heretic. You just laid out sheer heresy in front of me. And my power is divine; calling me 'holier than thou' i just trite."

Did I mention that Nadya is on a high horse?

Her "heretic" this and "heretic" that made her so unlikeable that it became quite hard to even care about the Kalyazin at all. It's so funny how one moment she's like "oh, they are not all that bad, I don't want to kill this person or that person" and the next she's on the heretic tirade once again.

Maybe you noticed, but Nadya was one of my main problems with this book. She would need some serious character development for me to get past book two.

Why there is romance forced into every YA/fantasy story? Zero chemistry between Nadya and Malachiasz. Totally forced. And it felt like the romance was forced so that Nadya would have a reason not to attack Malachiasz in the end. I mean she spent most of the book saying that she would kill him anyway for being Tranavian. Then he is revealed to be worse than she thought that he is the worse. And she does nothing? Pathetic.

Malachiasz... He is definitely a more interesting character than Nadya is. But I'm going to say it here and now. At first? Yeah, okay. But in the last let's say 15%? Yeah, that's the character I want.

"We're all monsters, Nadya," Malachiasz said, his voice gaining a few tangled chords of chaos. "Some of us just hide it better than others."

Why do I fell that the sentence missing from here is: "You're monster as well, Nadya."?

Parijahan and Rashid seemed like very interesting characters but did not have enough space to get properly developed. And for some reason, they feel like the characters who will die trying to save the main character, which is disappointing.

Serefin. In a very tentative way, I'm going to say that I like him. But. I did like him more at the beginning of the book, where he was a bit more fierce? Cruel? Cutthroat? Slightly opposite to Malachiasz. But still, he is one of the more fun characters in this book.

Which connects to Ostyia and Kacper, totally my favourite characters and I need more on them! I can take just books on Ostyia, Kacper and Serefin. I have nothing more to say; they are just the best.

[Hamad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating decreased to two stars because I was being very nice and obviously the author does not deserve it.

Hello?

Hey

Is this Flat Earth Society

Yes, how can I help you?

I found another evidence that the Earth is flat

Oh, wow. Enlighten us please!

So there is this book that is called Wicked Saints and the characters are so flat. They can't be this flat if the Earth is rounded

Oh, that's huge!! Can you give us more?

Yeah, check my full review here @The Book Prescription

[luciana · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 Stars

2021 update: the book has antisemitic undertone, beware.

SOME TEA IS ABOUT TO BE SPILLED. I'M AN ANGRY CUNT.

Instagram |



Ughhh, where do I start? Wicked saints was such a mess. I'm left picking up the pieces and I'm not okay with it.

Okay, so the pitch is this; A girl can talk to Gods, a Prince is at Death's door and a monster is looking for redemption. The three of them must ally to stop the war currently ravaging the two opposed countries.

This story is just so problematic on so many levels, I can't even mention it all because I have bigger fish to fry. Here's a short list though:

-the MC is the dumbest in town. She's useless and hopeless and I fucking hate her guts. For 85% of the book, I was wishing she would die. She can't do anything on her own and she's always scared of everything all the time. She doesn't think. She falls in love for the first guy who breathes in her direction and is the blandest cunt in the neighbourhood.



-The villain is such an important character that he doesn't even talk once in the story. We never learn his motivations apart from the obvious fact that he wants power. So what if the dude wants power? What does he want power for? What's the goal? Why is he scared? What is happening!!!!



-The plot is so dumb. The characters don't even believe in what they're doing. It feels forced because what they're doing doesn't align with their 2 cents motivations and personality. They did a U-turn from their original plan to go to another country to kill some distant old king which clearly, doesn't align with their goal.

-The romance is forced down our throats like a turkey on Thanksgiving. There's no connection, no reason for it to exist, and yet here it is... because, of course, *eye roll* it wouldn't be YA without romance -'




-This book is basically a 2019 version of Shadow and Bone and it's not even trying to hide it. the romance with the dark guy; the Russian inspired universe; the war to stop; the village idiot (MC); even the plot twist is the same! Why isn't anyone talking about that?

-The writing style was so confusing. (To be honest, I didn't know what was happening half of the time.) It wasn't engaging at all and bored me to death.

-I feel like Wicked Saints is the new Red Queen: everyone reads it and enjoys it at first because it's a mismatch of what we loved in our favourite series, but months later we realize how bad it actually is.

The original rating was 3.5 but I began bunking it down after I read it because I started to see all of the wrong things with it. The more I think about it, the angrier it makes me.

[Emily Duncan]

Update 10.17.18: Hi! We have a cover! It's black metal as hell and I adore it! The book is also up for preorder if you feel so inclined! The link will lead to a landing page that directs to all major retailers. <3

Update 5.10.18: So the book is going into the world now and I wanted to note some content warnings. There's a blanket content warning on self-harm because this book has multiple blood mage characters and that rather comes with the territory. However, on page 350 (in the bound MS) there's a conversation about a character's past self-harm. It's small and they're talking about scars but, still, the allusion is there.
There is a torture scene early on in the book in chapter 5. It's not particularly graphic but I do like to warn about that.
And another kind of blanket content warning on parental abuse. There's a specific incident on p. 290 (again, bound MS) however where Serefin is struck by his father so just a warning. Stay safe and only read what you feel comfortable with.

Update 4.4.18: New title! The book is now WICKED SAINTS and Something Dark and Holy is the trilogy title.

I mean I COULD rate this five stars but I won't. I'll just say I'm very excited for everyone to meet my weird cast of kids. I love them a lot and I hope you all do too.

For clarity I’m going to add some facts to this. WICKED SAINTS is high fantasy, the Joan of Arc bit is a marketing comp, this is not a Joan of Arc retelling, this is a story completely its own that takes on thematic elements similar to Joan of Arc’s story. Nadya is her own person, she is not Joan.

The book takes place in two countries, Kalyazin, which is a Russian analogue, and Tranavia, which is Polish.

The book is also dual POV, while the trilogy as a whole has three main characters (oh, yeah, goodreads has it listed as a stand alone, it’s a trilogy).

That’s all for now! Xoxo

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 4 out of 5]

update — May 2020:
You know what? I've had a lot of feelings about this book over the last year. I initially gave it a pretty high rating, but then the author sketched me out on social media and I decided I didn't want to support her work while she was being unkind to other reviewers. A quick way to convince me not to support an author is to show me them attacking reviewers, because 1) I think of the reviewing community as one big, dysfunctional family that needs to stick up for one another, and 2) it makes me hesitant to read that author's work and review it, because what if they attack me, too?

All of that said... it's been a year since I took down my initial review, and I've had a bit of a shift in thoughts. First of all, while yes, I do think it's super NOT okay for authors to subtweet reviewers, in hindsight, I don't believe I ever saw Emily A. Duncan do anything that I thought felt like a legitimate "attack". I think it was less malice and more a young, debut author not considering what ought to go on main and what ought to be kept to group chats. Second of all, you know what, I liked this book. It wasn't my favorite of the year and I do think it suffers from some definite Darkling Fanfiction Syndrome™, but I want to continue the series at some point.

And, more than anything, I've reached the point in my life where I've realized I can choose my battles. I don't need to weigh in on every "hot take" that comes across the YA book twitter stratosphere.

So... I'm re-adding my review. And if you've read this far, feel free to keep on reading, but either way, thanks for listening. ♥ If you do keep reading, it's a bit more gushy than my current memories of the book are, but frankly, I don't want to edit it. I did lower my star rating from 5 to 4, but the text remains the same.

——————

ORIGINAL REVIEW — APRIL 2019:

Three entirely different paths converge in a singular attempt to overthrow a corrupt kingdom and stop an ages-old war: Serefin, a broken prince whose life is in danger; Malachiasz, a monster gone rogue against his own comrades; and Nadya, the gods-blessed girl with the power to end it all.

Wicked Saints was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, which is such a stressful way to feel about a book when you read it, really — it can either go brilliantly and live up to all of your hopes and dreams, or crash and burn in your hands. Coupling the nerves of the ridiculous level of hype I created for myself with this release with the fact that I’d been in a fantasy slump for months, I had no idea what to expect.

“We’re all monsters … some of us just hide it better than others.”

Starting out, the first couple of chapters hadn’t fully hooked me yet, you know? I was in, but I wasn’t obsessed (YET). Honestly, though, around the 15% mark, something “clicked” for me and I was all in. I could barely be wrenched away from my kindle to do anything because all I wanted was to devour this gorgeous, gothic little fantasy story with its lovable, magical characters and intricate world.

“My name is Malachiasz Czechowicz,” he said, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had just been given something.

First, these characters are beyond incredible. It’s so clear that Emily grew up in fandoms, knowing how characters could best hit a reader’s buttons to make them melt, because these little cinnamon rolls are some of the best I’ve ever met in my life.

🙏 Nadya Lapteva is a fantastic protagonist, because she’s so easy to root for, even when I found myself disagreeing with her motives and beliefs. I couldn’t get behind how blindly she followed her faith, but I loved her all the more for it.

👑 Serefin Meleski, the sweet, wounded prince. He tries so hard to do what he thinks is best for the Tranavian people, and he just wants someone to do right by him for once (or to at least leave him alone to his booze), and he just broke my heart over and over.

🖤 Malachiasz Czechowicz, finally: I didn’t know how much I needed a gothy little smoosh like him in my life until now, and I just want to hug him and protect him at all costs, because let’s be honest, I don’t care how powerful of a blood mage he is, Malachiasz needs someone to love on him like he deserves. I honestly had to restrain myself from making this entire review about him because WOW, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH and he is easily going into my list of best book characters ever, with his sad little tattooed face and all his monstrous secrets. (I need a t-shirt that says “the best book boyfriends are monsters”, can we make this happen please)

He was tired, beginning to fray at the edges, as if the barest touch would shatter him.

Of course, there are also these brilliant side characters, like Parijahan (who wants nothing to do with your nonsense, thank you very much), Rashid (how precious, what a bean), Ostyia (we stan a queer girl charming the pants off all the other girls in town)—the list goes on. They’re all so ridiculously lovable (except the few who aren’t, in which case, they’re terrifying and awful and the best sorts of villains).

“Blood and blood and bone. Magic and monsters and tragic power.”

The last thing I have to point out is how fantastic the settings and descriptions are. Emily really is a Goth Queen™ and her writing is soaked in it, and frankly, my “no, it really wasn’t a phase, Mom” self is LIVING for it. I mean, the pictures the writing paints of the Vultures and their dwelling places? YO, give me all those creepy goth vibes forever, please and thank you.

“I am so very young by comparison, and there are evils in this world far greater than I.”

Rambling aside, there are just so many good things I have to say about Wicked Saints, whether it’s the writing, plot, or characters, but the biggest thing I have to say is that, regardless of whether you’re a long-time fantasy lover or someone who typically steers clear of the genre altogether, you gotta give Emily A. Duncan a chance, because this debut is so damn powerful and I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel. 🖤

Content warnings for violence, murder, self-harm for blood magic

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Wednesday Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Chelsea Humphrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate writing 3 star reviews. There, I said it. It's not because I don't think that they hold weight in the reviewing world, I just feel that those middle of the road reads are the most difficult to review without sounding like a 2nd grade book report. This book was fine. It was not great, but it was fine. Fine is how this book was. That said, I apologize for the following review and if it sounds repetitive and lacks flavor or conviction.

I'm between a 3-4 star rating here, but I think I'm going to have to round down based on my personal reading experience. There's nothing wrong with this book, but I did find everything but the beginning and final 25% to be a tedious read. My deciding factor on a rating was mostly influenced by the fact that this felt very much like grisha fan fiction. Don't get me wrong, I love Leigh Bardugo's fantasy world and stand by my opinion that The Darkling is one of the most well written anti-heroes of all time, so I was surprised that Wicked Saints wasn't an automatic 5 star read for me. Did I swoon for the villain in this book? I definitely see the attraction to him, but maybe because I've already experienced a carbon copy of this plot, coupled with the fact that these characters felt inspired by our grisha love triangle, kept me from being as drawn in as I could have been.

I'm not sure if the ending was supposed to catch us off guard, but I also found that if you've read Shadow and Bone, you'll already know what's going to happen and find a similar set up to what I imagine will be a similar trilogy from start to finish. The ending was action packed and deliciously dark (yes, this one is much darker than the grisha trilogy, despite its obvious similarities), and the epilogue was everything I could have dreamed of and more. Despite my conflicted feelings, I highly recommend others pick this one up and to decide for themselves how they perceive Wicked Saints, as I am eager to continue on with the author.

*I received a review copy via the publisher.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am teetering between 3.75 and 4 stars for this review, so this rating is a placeholder for now.

I will be doing a full review and discussion on my channel which will be posted closer to release, and I will be talking about this briefly in this month's wrap up, but to hold you all over until then:

This book wasn't quite what I expected, but it is hard to live up to the hype one builds in their head when you've been waiting for a book for literal years. Because of that, I feel I'll be sitting with this book a few days before returning for a final rating. This book could get better or worse in my head with time, and I'm unsure which way it will go. We will see how exactly it ends up haunting me.

The pacing in here felt off to me at times, specifically with the relationships developing. I always knew what was going to develop but I expected it to go more slowly than it did, and that left me a little disappointed. BUT, there were THINGS that have HAPPENED that may make up for it idk.

There were also some things about the plot that I wasn't following and left me a bit confused. It was as if chunks were missing at times. Additionally, there are a few things you are beat over the head with as well so it's an interesting combination. So those things prevented me from giving it a higher rating.

BUT, with the few disappointments out of the way, the AESTHETICS... so on point. So dark. So eldritch. So much blood and body horror. If you are at all triggered by blood, gore, or self-harm, please stay 5000 miles away from this book. There's blood magic in it so that should be obvious, but just in case. And I do adore the characters, and am looking forward to seeing them even more fleshed out as the series continues. Lastly, although I found aspects of the romance rushed, there were still scenes that spoke to me on a deep shipping level so thats important to note. The fanart and gifsets that are going to come out of this... I am pumped.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars bring me my place at minority station for not being one of the biggest fans of this book!
I truly like a well written YA fantasy books. I try as hard as I could to pick the best ones because there is too much competition between the last releases. I hardly read this one, don’t get me wrong the development of the story and dynamics were good! Interestingly this book’s villains are likable especially the vultures were memorable.
But mostly I didn’t relate with characters, there was something missing about their background stories.
We have a cleric, who is able to talk to Gods: here is our Nadia. She is eager to bring back Gods to Tranavia! She is not my ideal and the bravest heroine. This problem is not about her flaws or weaknesses,mostly she has some understanding issues about how to carry her burdens and responsibilities of her powers.
The other narrator of the story is Prince of Tranavia, also blood mage, Serefin. He has real father issues and it seems like his real purpose is getting drunk all the time!!!
Supporting characters should start with charismatic Malachiasz, fights to stop the war but he also has different plans on his mind.
And two tormented characters, Rashid and Parijahan are talented warriors with secrets( I’m not sure how their secrecy serves for bigger picture)
So many questions weren’t answered about the Gods’ real definitions, their real purposes and divinity.
This story has too many potentials but lack of characters’ development, blank points made me lost and kept me in the dark.
Maybe I had too much expectations or I was not patient enough to connect with characters but in my opinion something is missing for me! So I may pass the second book of the series.

[Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome experience!



I loved the ending. The entire second half of the book was pretty darn fantastic for that matter. The first half moves a bit slowly, but it is giving you all the history and information to support the later parts and especially the ending. I have to say also that I love the titles to this book and the series. Something Dark and Holy rings true in the story. A holy war has been raging between the two countries of Tranavia and Kalyazin for over a century and it is a dark time for both countries.

It all started when the people of Tranavia rejected the Gods of the pantheon and began gaining power through blood magic. The Kalyazin citizens see as blasphemous.The Tranavians got tired of relying on the Gods to help in their times of need or when they preyed for things. Only religious Clerics can hear the Gods and they can ask the Gods for magical help. The Tranavians wanted to take their destiny into their own hands and out of the hands of arbitrary Gods.

The writing was terrific, the story was original and the romance was an emotional roller coaster. Nadezhda (Nadya) Lapteva is a special cleric that grew up in a monastery, everyone at the monastery is charged with protecting her if the war comes close. With the powerful blood mage High Prince Serafin Meleski leading the troops, the monastery is in danger.

Nadya and a priest named Anna meet up with some travelers, two are from another country that is not involved in the war, but the third named Malachiasz Chechowicz is a blood mage from Tranavia. Despite the fact that Nadya sees him as the enemy, the three tell her that they are working to stop the war. So Nadya travels with them.

There is a whole lot going on and some great twists in the book and I was kept guessing the entire time. I thought it might be one of those travel adventure fantasy novels, where the main characters become friends as they travel to a distant location and overcome different obstacles along the way. However it wasn’t. They travel quickly and the setting is in the capital city of Tranavia.

I genuinely liked almost all of the characters, except the villains, and I was pulling for Nadya, Malachiasz and Serefin throughout the book. As well as their bunch of sidekicks who were awesome characters in their own right. the second half of the book went fast and the ending was truly epic, one of the best ever. That’s all I can say about that!

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[Debra - can't post any comments on site today grrr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally! Whew! That book was bloody - those that read the book will understand.

This book took me a long time to read - much longer than normal. I picked this book up, I put it down, I read approx. six or seven other books while reading this book. My main issues with this book were: I liked it, I didn't like it, I lost interest, I became intrigued, etc. I felt as if I were on a teeter-totter(seesaw) while reading this book. Another review used the word "conflicted" to voice her thoughts on the book and I 100% agree. The parts I liked, I really liked, but then there were other parts that left me feeling ho-hum. There were many times I thought about not finishing this book, then I would turn the page and *BAM* the book got interesting again. So, I was torn.

The premise of this book sounded so promising: a girl who can speak to Gods, a prince not knowing who to trust, a boy with secrets. I thought I would love this book. In all honesty, I really think it was me and not the book. Again, I loved the fact that the main character could talk to Gods, all the characters had issues with who to trust, who not to trust, what allegiance to make, each had flaws, each made errors, each had an agenda. I also liked the thought of a centuries long war and that thought of what would happen if either side won. So, what was my problem? I didn't feel any connection to the characters, although I loved the synopsis the plot didn't always keep my attention and I was never invested in the story. This is a case of we all can't love the same book. There is a strong audience out there for this book and I encourage readers to read other reviews. This one was just not the right book for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

[NickReads]

very excited for this

[krista ☽✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We're all monsters, Nadya, some of us just hide it better than others.”

“Are we so different, Nadya?” He lifted his hand, fingers tipped with long claws, and pressed his thumb against her lips. “We both long for freedom. For power. For a choice. We both want to see our kingdoms survive.”


* krizzie is freaking out atm because of this book *

AHHH first I now have to have a huge panic and excitement attack from finishing this book because * internal screaming * this was a 5 star read and my heart is happy but also in panic because of this ending and needing the second book so desperately [ it comes in Monday * sobs * ] honestly just aaah. I need too scream all my emotions of now first before starting this review because this book was just so good. it has it all. morally grey , enemies to lovers , amazing world aah.

Wicked saints is the first book in the something dark and holy triology by Emely A. Duncan and it was such a masterpiece of a book. I want too throw this in everyone their face and scream read it because it is such a wild ride. The story takes place in two countries in this high fantasy world that are at war with each other. The country called Kalyazin. This country believes that the magic in this world comes from the gods and is something holy. And then we have the other country which is Tranavia and the people that live here use a different kind of magic then that is approved by the gods ; blood magic. Super gross dark blood magic too have magic. So they are at war because Tranavia wants too take the lands of Kalyazin. Nadya is a cleric who can speak too the gods and is the only one of her people , the people of Kalyazin left that has the magic of the gods. The people of Tranavia want her and her powers. One day her home gets attacked and she gets away. Then when she is on the run she teams up with a team of rebels that are enemies but she has too team up with them because they discovered they have the same goal. One of them is a blood mage , the people from Tranavia who Nadya hates but is he truly evil or isn’t he who knows HMMM. We read from her point of vieuw and from the point of vieuw from the crown prince of Tranavia also a powerful bloodmage called Severin who has been send by his father too go and find this escaped cleric aka Nadya. So yes that is the plot without spoiling but we warned. Nothing literally nothing is as it seems in this book. There are somany twistst and turns and OMG. All the charracters are morally grey and have many layers and secrets and the world is super dark and so are the relationships being formed and this book has a very good enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers too HMM. What shall it be. Am I am a mess. That ending.

Things I loved about this book
- Morally grey complex multiple layered character – I am not going too say too much about the charracters because you have too figure them out for yourself and their layers and moral greyness. if you know me then you know the thing I love most in a story is morally grey charracters and aaah. The 3 main charracters we follow in this book are all 3 morally grey. We have Nedya who at first believes in everything the country has thought her about her gods and her magic and the holy ness and about hating the enemie but the slowly begings too discover that not everything is as it seems. She isn’t whiny. She is capable of handling herself without being arrogant and just ugh. Her development in this book is fire. Then we have Malachiasz Czechowicz he reminds me of the darkling x nikolai ish character.and damn this is one hell of a tortured soul. Honestly he is everything I need in a male character. Dark past which we slowly get too know more about , villain vibes but also not which one is it HMM. Charming and broken. I cant say too much about the male character but well you will see. Then we have the third main character Severin also a tortured soul who deals with a lot and who is also HM good , bad what is he. And he is a sarcastic bean. You will see. Like all these charracters are just * cheff kiss * morally grey and I am obsessed.
- The magic and world – this world is so dark and so cool. I was wanting too read more about it and more. We have blood magic , we have a group of blood magic practice’s who are called the vultures. They are normal people turned into these so called monsters and ugh. This world is just so awesome and I was craving at every description of it all.
-Perfect balance between character driven , romance and plot
- Enemies too lovers – we have some good enemies too lovers and I am here for it. I enjoyed all these romance scenes and enemies too lovers scenes a lot. I loved the twist in the ending aswell even tho it breaks my fragile heart it is good. Love doesn’t always conquer everything.
- Power hunger being a huge part of the plot and charracters * my fav thing * and the question what is a god and what is religion.

I also love the writing in this aaaand we have some bi and gay reps that she shining trough and we are obv. Here for it. Overall I just loved this book a lot. Everything just fitted for me and it is a constant question between what is right and what is wrong. It reminded me a bit of the level of moral greyness in the young elites meets grisha triology something ish. Anyway I recommend reading if you love moral grey , enemies too lovers and you like a world full of horror.

[April (Aprilius Maximus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would die for Serefin and that's the tea.

[Aliyah ♡]

[Update: After researching the messed up shit Emily has done, I'm removing my rating. For more info: https://mobile.twitter.com/RinChupeco...
https://www.distractify.com/p/emily-d...
If your still interested in reading this book, I urge you to get it second hand or from the library!]

“What happens when a monster tries to become a god?”

Gosh, this book was such a ride. I wish I could say I liked all of it but the start was super slow. Though despite the rocky beginning, everything after was a masterpiece!
Wicked Saints is a pretty dark book and discusses issues of morality, religion and war through our 3 main characters which I have to say, were beautifully written characters.
Literally *chefs kiss*.
All three characters, Nadya, Malachiasz and Serefin all have opposing views and backgrounds but despite that, team up for the common goal.

Words cannot explain how much I LOVE this book so I’ll show you guys some beautiful quotes instead :)

“He was a nightmare but he was gentle.”

“Dazzle the monsters, Nadya. You've already charmed the worst of the lot; the rest should be easy.”

“Intentions were not always kind nor just.”

“If she tore out her own heart would this stop? If that was the thing betraying her, then she would be rid of it. Anything to stop from being pulled to this terrible boy.”

“Monsters are real, and I am their king.”

Overall this was a beautiful book, I’d recommend this to literally everyone if I could!

5 stars 🌟
Buddy read with Taylor & Krista <33

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Edit: Wow apparently my racism radar was accurate. Glad to see it's being discussed more.

I should probably start this out by saying that I’m not a fan of bland white dude villains, or “morally grey” ones because I find that often they are underdeveloped and based entirely on society being ingrained to give them more of a chance to be likable than anyone else. Any hint of an anxious lip bite and people want to wrap them up in a blanket and protect them. I have a lot of other Thoughts about how bad this type of thinking is for society (teaching us to always find ways to justify and excuse bad behavior from white dudes and prioritizing their ability to be redeemed over the people they've hurt) and how books like this are extremely harmful but that will have to wait for another day. Any other groups as complex villains? Sign me the fuck up, most of those stories are more understanding and compelling. The villain/love interest in this book? No thanks. But I should have known considering I have absolutely no sympathy for Kylo Ren, and the author seems to be a big fan of that type/that character particularly. Take Kylo Ren and create even less of a backstory/reasoning for him, and you get this mess.

I’m also not necessarily adverse to enemy to lover ships but they have to be done well, which was absolutely not the case here, it was very insta-lovey. This book seemed to be all about Malachiasz, and in a poor way because it kept referring to him as anxious and lovable while also constantly talking about how evil he is, without really devoting itself to either, and it felt like that was essentially his whole personality. Also let's not mention how he is clearly an antisemitic stereotype with his blood magic, government control, and dark curly hair. This is incredibly frustrating because it's diversity without any actual diversity, he's given all of the issues of how people want to forgive white supremacists without any of the nuance of Jewish history. If this book had given any thought to him as a Jewish coded character other than writing just the stereotypes than you'd remove much of the complaints I had above, and it doesn't feel as if she's addressing those stereotypes. Rather, they're just being ignored so that he can be the lovable villain instead. It adds another layer to how the book talks about him as a boy, because he's part of all of these evil acts but naive enough that he can be saved from his wicked ways.

Simultaneously, the relationship removed any agency from the main female character. Nadya is essentially just a love interest and becomes a minor figure in her own story. I should have known that too, considering that social media seems to be focused on the guy and not the actual main character. This is so frustrating because you can have a female main character who is well developed and with a compelling narrative that is about her while also still developing a love story. The characters were all bland, anyway. I’d say just write a book from his perspective but then that means no self insert love story or purple prose descriptions of how dark and evil he is instead of any actual relationship development!

On top of that, there was no real spark between them, enemies to lovers requires a nice tension but I didn’t feel it at all, partially because of the lack of development for Nadya but also because even though they’re supposed to be enemies all they do is have some quips here and there and then flip flopping between opinions, such as when he scares her and then she laughs at a joke minutes later. There is a way to do this that adds to the conflict, but since everything was so poorly established this was not done here. And Nadya is like, supposedly so devoted to her lifestyle but drops it as soon as she meets Malachiasz. It’s as if the book didn’t want to develop that plot and let it get in the way of her vague ass other plot so she just used it as a prop and then dropped it immediately. But this also means that it is hard to say why they are enemies to begin with, when it’s just vague circumstances and a lifestyle that she is supposedly devoted to.

I also got some racist vibes from this book. The non white characters basically only ever got called by their descriptors and nationalities (including “creatures of the desert” which yikes), even after their names were known, and could basically be removed from the story with no impact.

The world building felt very incomplete, the whole story felt incredibly rushed while also boring.

[Ayman · Rating 1 out of 5]

fuck no and y’all know why

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something dark and holy indeed.

❝ Some gods require blood. ❞

It is not every day that you come across a debut that would put to shame works of seasoned authors. Emily A. Duncan’s talent is otherworldly; through a blood-drenched combination of the sacred and the profane, through snowy landscapes painted with red and desecrated worship grounds, through cut-throat courts and ungodly romances, she weaves a sinister, haunting, deeply mesmerizing tale walking the line between damnation and salvation.
It is unsettling in its most addictive form.

❝ Blood and blood and bone. Magic and monsters and tragic power. ❞

A girl. A monster. A prince. A triangle of distrust, fascination, confusion and temptation, a web of lies, deceit and manipulation. Three young people that can either stop the Holy War that ravages their kingdoms or doom the world in eternal, devouring darkness. Nadezhda “Nadya” Lapteva is the first cleric, the first Kalyazin that can communicate with the gods and wield their divine powers in decades. She holds her country’s survival in her pale hands, but fate is cruel and leaves her in a precarious situation, having as her ally a monstrous boy whose intentions and objectives are always hidden. On the other hand there is Serefin Meleski, High Prince and Heir of Tranavia, the land of heretics that reaps the benefits of unholy blood magic, who sees his realm falling apart but can do nothing to stop it. The paths of the girl, the monster and the prince will cross when they decide that the king of Tranavia must be assassinated. But what if his death unleashes greater darkness that will destroy everything they hold dear?

❝ We’re all monsters, Nadya. Some of us hide it better than others. ❞

What makes you a monster? What is the cost of power? How can someone guided and protected by the gods her entire life make decisions that will endanger such relationship and the very existence of her powers? Emily A. Duncan does not give a straight answer. She simply creates multi-dimensional characters who experience inner conflict, who, with blood-stained hands and pointed teeth and sharp claws carve their place, betray, scheme, destroy and create in a Russian-inspired fantasy set in an intricate world tainted by the miasma of blood magic and war. The religious aspect is heavy and controversial. Reverence clashes with impiety. Emotions clash with reason. And a girl raised in a monastery in the doctrines of her religion will become something to fear.



It is true that Wicked Saints emits Grisha vibes, but Emily A. Duncan chooses a different path from Leigh Bardugo. She dives into the wicked, she basks in the unholy, thus creating an eerie ambience that crackles with tension, that smothers in black tendrils characters and reader alike. Narrated in dual perspective, the two sides of the war, Wicked Saints offers insight to the struggles of both Nadya and Serefin, the heroes of their respective nations, who must answer their existential questions and sacrifice their morals if it means peace. And then there is Malachiasz, the enigma, the parameter that will alter the course of mankind, the one who stirs forbidden thoughts. I must admit that in this wild ride I developed a soft spot for Serefin, the blood mage that’s torn and occasionally helpless against his demons and his enemies.

With Wicked Saints, Emily A. Duncanearned her righteous place among the authors who don’t hesitate to delve into darkness, blood and sacrilege, and I’m officially ensnared in her web.

*ARC generously provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Source of this gorgeous FanArt]

[ELLIAS (elliasreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're all monsters, Nadya, some of us just hide it better than others.

Some Avatar the Last Airbender vibes with The Grisha Trilogy's The Darkling mixed in. Honestly sounds great. And honestly? Not really here for it with this book.

I don't think I've read a book where I could barely pronounce half of the characters, places, and titles....mix of Polish/Russian(?) but really, the hype for this book is unreal . Again, I'm trying to distance myself from that hype but you know what.....it just made me dislike this book even more.

I felt like this book was two different books. The writing threw me off so many times. Especially in the first half. I'm not an experienced writer by any means but lmao, it was so weird to see how vastly different and improved the second half of the book was compared it the former.

Yikes.

The first half of the book was honestly draining and a little slow for my taste. There were some good strong points sprinkled here and there throughout the book, and enough (barely) to keep my interest in the story. But really that 'interest', even kept on waning and wavering in and out. I just wish some of the interesting aspects that stood out in the book were more fleshed out and expanded upon.

The second half of the book picked up the pace, but it wasn't until the last 20 something pages where we actually get some of that goodness I wish was more prominent throughout the book. At this point though, I'm not actually sure if I want to even read the sequel but I guess time will tell. Wavering between a '2.5' and a '3' star read (read and finished in one sitting) but there was something there.....really great and strong premise but ultimately, not fleshed out enough.

This was like a Lucky Charms cereal. Looks great and tasty. Pour that shit into a bowl and you see all those puffy glamorous delicious marshmallows. Eat those fuckers first and then all you're left with are the bland and boring aftertaste of what you thought was a great cereal (don't get me wrong, it still is).

2.75 STARS.

Not a bad rating whatsoever. Just really disappointed overall with the hype, story, and characters. Could have been better. Hopefully the sequel will be.
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