A review by clemslibrary
Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley & Titan for sending me an arc in return for an honest review!

Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a captivating Filipino inspired fantasy following a bisexual nun who has powers that she can’t control

The magic and world in this were incredible, i had so much fun learning and seeing the different powers explored and how they could work in tandem/be a part of the world. The magic system/powers in this are used to combat the colonisation of her people, and as such also the christianism that is being pushed against them. By having the powers have a god-given sense it really helped to add complexity to the characters as well as the world itself. However i do feel that the magic system was a little unclear at times and i never fully understood what was happening. 

From the beginning of the book Cat and Lunurin have been dating for a while, but the book explores the breakdown of their relationship, and Cat’s obsession with religion is used to represent unmoving christian beliefs (i assume). i hated cat, she was such a whiny character to read about and everything she did was so annoying. i get why she’s there and the love that Lunurin has for her is a large part of her growth, but cat treated her horribly and never even tried to accept Lunurin’s identity and help her. It’s literally said that Cat does bad things when she’s angry - like why even bother stay with her?!?? it just really bugged me how they stayed together because they ‘loved each other’ even though cat was manipulative and horrible to Lunurin, and what she did at the end just consolidated that i was right to never like her. 

Alon and Lunurin’s relationships begins as a marriage of convenience, but then grows into a real relationship which i did enjoy and was sweet but the lack of communication for a while was definitely annoying. 

The amalgamation and moment of climax were well done, the lead up poised the story as one of revenge and whilst we did see the revenge, the characters didn’t lose everything about themselves as is sometimes done. The ending was dramatic and wrapped things up really nicely!

Overall a fun and revenge filled fantasy story with interesting character dynamics and a filipino inspired world commenting on religion and colonisation