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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok, I waffled between 3 and 4 stars because a lot of Roz's chapters sounded repetitive (and she got on my nerves for various reasons), but that ending. Holy crap, tipped it into the four stars.
I enjoyed the magic system and hope to learn more about it in the next installment, plus several mysteries still need to be solved.
Thank you, Edelweiss, for the ARC.
I enjoyed the magic system and hope to learn more about it in the next installment, plus several mysteries still need to be solved.
Thank you, Edelweiss, for the ARC.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very compelling story, especially for a debut. However my attention span did not vibe with it for whatever reason. Still might pick up the second one.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think it’s edgy for the sake of being edgy. I appreciated the mystery aspect.
THIS WAS SOOO GOODDD I just want to hug Damian and Roz and I cannot wait to keep reading!!!
I love novels that have characters that are critical of religion and so whilst it took me a while to get round to this one, I was really really excited about finally picking it up! And when I did I found that since it was dual point of view, there was a lot of unpacking of characters on either ends of the spectrum of absolute disbelief towards the saints to ignorantly and complacently believing all the stories. It was such a ride reading this novel and I did not regret picking it up for a second.
Seven Faceless Saints takes place in a world that is divided by the elite disciples who are able to use magic and the unfavoured, those without magic. The two main characters Damian and Roz, once childhood friends and now enemies, stand on opposite sides. Roz has magic but is a part of a rebel cause to support the unfavoured. Damian has no magic but protects the elite disciples as the head of the Palazzo, a job that he has gained through unwilling nepotism. The novel follows these two characters, unpacking their burdensome past that led them to become enemies as they try to solve multiple murders that have indiscriminately attacked both the disciples and the unfavoured. Damian and Roz clash at every turn but as they continue to work together they fracture slowly and their pieces, rage and grief, start to intermingle as truths are slowly revealed and guilt acknowledged.
There was so much I loved in this novel. But my favourite was the brutally honest depiction of Roz and Damian’s rage and grief and how it wasn’t watered down but shown in all its beauty and all its ugliness. The characters in this novel, especially Roz and Damian at its heart, seemed so utterly human. Roz was angry. Her rage was all encompassing and yet there were so many cracks when it came to Damian. Damian was grief-stricken. But there was something that was just so whole about him too. I really loved the complexity of these characters and how it played out on the page. There were moments where I understood the characters and others where I felt so helplessly annoyed. But what I can say about the masterful storytelling was that at any given moment I was meant to feel the way I was feeling whether that was annoyance, pity or fierce rage on the character’s behalf.
Speaking more broadly about the characters, I really loved that there were so many lgbt+ characters in this and that their being lgbt+ had little to do with the overall plot. I liked that it showed us clustering but also just existing everywhere. I especially appreciated that Damian was revealed to be demisexual through a very short conversation, but one that really made me feel seen. There was something in that very casual revelation that I revelled in – maybe the fact that it felt normalised, even bordering on banality.
What made me give it a 4 instead of a 5 were two things. The first, that sometimes I felt the quality of the writing dropped. There’s no doubt that M.K. Lobb is a masterful storyteller, it takes a lot to be able to write such a good murder-mystery plot whilst also keeping it very character driven. But there were times when the writing seemed a little clumsy and M.K. Lobb seemed like a better storyteller than a writer in those moments. The second thing that made me give it a 4 was that some of the scenes seemed abrupt and messy, for example Damian and Roz’s first meeting, the rescue from the ship, the climactic moment that seemed to be just everything in the world imploding at once. Because of these two things, the book didn’t hold the gravitas for a 5 in my mind and instead was a 4.
Even so, I think this novel is so worth a read and it really is one of the best of 2023 so far. It does mysteries, romance and interrogates religion really well. It has an childhood friends to enemies to lovers storyline that is full of sparks and excellent quips.
I really loved this book and it’s lit a spark in the part of me that’s a writer. I would fully recommend it to anyone who’s currently on the fence. I can’t wait to read the sequel.
Seven Faceless Saints takes place in a world that is divided by the elite disciples who are able to use magic and the unfavoured, those without magic. The two main characters Damian and Roz, once childhood friends and now enemies, stand on opposite sides. Roz has magic but is a part of a rebel cause to support the unfavoured. Damian has no magic but protects the elite disciples as the head of the Palazzo, a job that he has gained through unwilling nepotism. The novel follows these two characters, unpacking their burdensome past that led them to become enemies as they try to solve multiple murders that have indiscriminately attacked both the disciples and the unfavoured. Damian and Roz clash at every turn but as they continue to work together they fracture slowly and their pieces, rage and grief, start to intermingle as truths are slowly revealed and guilt acknowledged.
There was so much I loved in this novel. But my favourite was the brutally honest depiction of Roz and Damian’s rage and grief and how it wasn’t watered down but shown in all its beauty and all its ugliness. The characters in this novel, especially Roz and Damian at its heart, seemed so utterly human. Roz was angry. Her rage was all encompassing and yet there were so many cracks when it came to Damian. Damian was grief-stricken. But there was something that was just so whole about him too. I really loved the complexity of these characters and how it played out on the page. There were moments where I understood the characters and others where I felt so helplessly annoyed. But what I can say about the masterful storytelling was that at any given moment I was meant to feel the way I was feeling whether that was annoyance, pity or fierce rage on the character’s behalf.
Speaking more broadly about the characters, I really loved that there were so many lgbt+ characters in this and that their being lgbt+ had little to do with the overall plot. I liked that it showed us clustering but also just existing everywhere. I especially appreciated that Damian was revealed to be demisexual through a very short conversation, but one that really made me feel seen. There was something in that very casual revelation that I revelled in – maybe the fact that it felt normalised, even bordering on banality.
What made me give it a 4 instead of a 5 were two things. The first, that sometimes I felt the quality of the writing dropped. There’s no doubt that M.K. Lobb is a masterful storyteller, it takes a lot to be able to write such a good murder-mystery plot whilst also keeping it very character driven. But there were times when the writing seemed a little clumsy and M.K. Lobb seemed like a better storyteller than a writer in those moments. The second thing that made me give it a 4 was that some of the scenes seemed abrupt and messy, for example Damian and Roz’s first meeting, the rescue from the ship, the climactic moment that seemed to be just everything in the world imploding at once. Because of these two things, the book didn’t hold the gravitas for a 5 in my mind and instead was a 4.
Even so, I think this novel is so worth a read and it really is one of the best of 2023 so far. It does mysteries, romance and interrogates religion really well. It has an childhood friends to enemies to lovers storyline that is full of sparks and excellent quips.
I really loved this book and it’s lit a spark in the part of me that’s a writer. I would fully recommend it to anyone who’s currently on the fence. I can’t wait to read the sequel.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was okay. The characters were okay, the story was okay, it was an overall okay story. The world building seemed too much for this book, and the romance was a miss for me. But I will be interested in seeing how everything ends, but mostly just because this is part of a duology and not a longer series.