Review by linnybear - The Starving Saints

linnybear 's review for:

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

5.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

‘It’s too late to unmake what the bees have wrought.’

What a strange fever dream it was! It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that got me gasping for air by the revelations of it all like this one (that’s a lie, I’ve read The Way of Kings recently, I’m not going to take Sanderson’s books into consideration) but the weird mix of bloody medieval horror with cannibalism, lesbians (?) and heavy religious undertones somehow worked so well for me. Hell, I’d even call it a perfect comforting summer read.

I found the concept of the book really unique with the siege and not-quite-saints that come to save (or devour) the people. The heavy atmosphere and heat was seeping through it, certainly matching the temperatures outside my window. I loved how it combined the thrill of both fear and lust in the narrative, mixed it with a suffocating feeling of claustrophobia and themes of devotion, hunger and madness. I usually avoid so much gore in books (especially when it involves cannibalism) but it was so deeply woven into the story I did not mind it at all, it only made it better.

I naturally fell in love with the main characters as well. All three of them are morally-grey if not sort of evil but their backstories and motivations made them feel captivating and real. They had such a great kinda toxic yet complex dynamic and so many moments between them had me kicking my feet as if I was reading a rom-com instead.

Heavily thrilling, heavily gross, heavily sort-of-erotic. That's five stars from me.

(I can see the plot holes and imprecisions that would make me rate it much lower, I just refuse to acknowledge them lol)

‘A miracle so profound may be indistinguishable from horror.’

Content Warnings