Review by clovetra - The Starving Saints

clovetra 's review for:

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

i hoped i would love this. i mean it sounded so good… gothic setting, cannibalism, sapphic longing, weird imagery . sign me up!!!!!!! instead i got a story that progressively got worse.

i feel like this review would work the best by structuring it with each POV, as i have quite varied opinions on the three main characters.

originally, i loved phosyne. she was easily my favourite character for the first third of the story. she was a little weird, interesting, manic pixie dream girl minus being annoying, and was pathetic and driving the plot. in the middle section where she was still resisting the saints she was still my favourite… but the third act i started disliking her so strongly. lowkey i had no idea what was going on with her, and it felt like her character completely changed because she…. protected her room or sm. like it felt so out of character for her, random, and straight up made no sense. it didn’t even break the rules of the universe it just felt like a bunch of words smooshed together, and by the end she was my least favourite of the trio. also sorry where did her pets go. what were they. why is that unanswered. that felt like it should’ve been answered. speaking of unanswered questions, before i get to voyne and treila… why where there so many unanswered questions. i get ur book having SOME to allow there to be some mystery, especially in a gothic… but there were too many for it to not piss me off. like what were the saints really? what was the whole thing with the bees? what happened to phosyne and the false lady at the end? what were those shadow things summoned in the third act? did phosyne actually conjure the saints or not? what the hell was happening with the time in and outside of the castle? who was that thing in the cave? why was this tagged sapphic when there barely was any gay shit?

and speaking of gay shit we go to the queen of gay in this book, voyne. she was… negligible. i really didn’t like her story in the second act. it felt boring and like she was just walking to point A and point B. to begin with she was intriguing, especially in regard to her being the king’s right hand man, but the minute she went to phosyne after the saints arrived i was boooored. i really don’t like what was done with her in the third act where she somehow returned? like Ok. Huh. no explanation in universe she’s just back…. Ok. her story seemed the most logically flowing and consistent with itself, but she had almost no character depth, she was just a lost dog following whoever she could and changing her allegiances at the drop of a hat every three seconds. she was a snooze fest, although i do wish her POV under the saints was explored more. i get why it wasn’t but damn it seemed so interesting.

to begin with, treila was my least fav of the three, but ended as my fave. she had the most depth, the most grit, and seemed to be the only one in the hall with her head on straight. but like with the other POVs, her story went off the deep end so randomly. like i’m sorry why was she simping so bad for the loving saint. why was that not explained. how did treila manage murder with her teeth only. was that metaphorical or literal. Huh. i loved how her body changed throughout the story, but by the end her story also lost steam. like i’m sorry now is she also god. are all these women god now. i’m lost. someone hold me.

crazy to say this but besides the characters this had good foundations. the gore was amazing. i would’ve liked more cannibalism and general horror but honestly the execution of what i got was so good im not too mad about this. the atmosphere in this story is some of the best i’ve seen. if the execution of the atmosphere translated every where else i would’ve given this 5-stars. it had the makings of such a good story. but the minute voyne was saved by phosyne’s water i checked out of 5-star land and entered 4-star hotel. but it kept getting worse until phosyne went Crazy, and then this ranked to a 3-star because at that point nothing was making sense. why did treila keep returning. also why did the thing in the dark not talk to treila in the end? what the fuck happened half the time here. i fear the more this book went on it started losing the plot. because i’m so serious i have no grasp of what happened at the end. ok i have a slight clue but i had to google it. and i was right in what i thought had happened… but it wasn’t good. it wasn’t a good ending really at all. it was giving friendship is magic core.

sigh. this had the foundation to be a banger. instead i got sloppy pie central. and im so disappointed too because IT COULDVE BEEN GREAT!!!!! and this was… god i dont even want to say mediocre. it was disappointing all around.

Content Warnings