Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Wicked Saints

Feels like a rip-off Shadow and Bone, to be honest. The pace is jerky, and the characters are difficult to puzzle and understand their motivations, and the structure/mechanics of the world are still pretty opaque.

Content Warnings

her's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

arcaadepunk's review

Go to review page

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

lillianreadsalot's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

oliverreeds's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

when reading this book, you can tell that its the authors first. she is a great writer, but i feel like she didn't listen to her story in terms of which direction it was meant to take. the characters introduced at the beginning of the story didn't feel like the saem characters at the end of the book, and i had a lot of issues understanding where the motivation came from for their actions specifically

between Nadya and Malachiacz?? I don't and didn't understand how Nadya, by all means a sensible person, could possibly keep trusting someone who has fucked her over time and time again. I didn't understand why she, a rational human being, would trust something, someone she has been raised to hate.

i also felt as though the tension in Nadya between the gods and the heretics did not seem incredibly complex, and i couldn't tell if that was on purpose as a way to show that all bias is only as deep as your relationship with a member of the group you hate?? because at the end

Nadya still hates the heretics and is loyal to gods who don't care about her and refuse to answer her calls for help

. all in all, i thought the action was well-written; the writing style was incredibly compelling, and the relationships drew me in, but the characters seemed to fall flat in important moments and crucial ways. i wanted the author to listen to her characters and see if they would do what she was asking them to do. all this in mind, i plan on finishing the series and enjoyed the book while reading it. the casual diversity of queer people was a massive plus.

Content Warnings

arirose's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

I'm annoyed I wasted my time reading this book. I was in it solely for Serefin's side of the story. Nadya was frustrating to follow and full of cliches. Malachiasz was interesting until the end.

Content Warnings

charitylee92's review

Go to review page

It was so so so slow.

Content Warnings

booksthatburn's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

*Update: I loved this book but did not finish the sequel and do not plan to read the third book at this time. After reading this originally I found out that the premise of the series relies on a bunch of antisemitic tropes. Due to this and the fact that the second book was confusing and I did not enjoy it at all, I do not recommend this book/series. I’ve left my original review intact below.

If you like magic, blood, forbidden glances over a multitude of wounds (literal and otherwise), beleaguered princes, and a darkly brooding danger boy chased by a conflicted magic girl, read WICKED SAINTS.

This is one of those books where I loved how it felt to read it, but when I try to list what occurred the intricacies escape me and it feels like only a couple of things actually happened. I think the prince is my favorite character, mostly because his goals make more sense to me personally, but both MC's are cool in different ways. I was a little concerned that the "lovers" part of "enemies to lovers" was happening a bit quickly, but then the book reminded me that it's a trilogy and things have time to get complicated, in this case by means of a dizzying but oddly inevitable ending.

Content Warnings

More...