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A review by bookaddict209
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
5.0
Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I feel like it has been so long since I read a book that was refreshingly different and wild, and this book hits every mark. It’s fresh, it’s creepy, and it’s definitely not like anything else I’ve ever read before.
This book is disgusting, and I meant that in the best possible way. The situation being described is horrific and desperate, and Starling spares no detail to draw you into the setting. There was a scene where a woman has to chew up a bit of dried fruit and spit it into another person’s mouth because they were so starved they couldn’t do it themselves. That description stuck with me through the end of the story because it was so foul and realistic that I actually reared away from my Kindle like I could see it. At times I found myself rubbing phantom grime off my arms while I read.
The setting of the story is also really interesting. What is left of a ravaged kingdom has hidden inside the last castle standing to wait out their enemies, only for a new enemy to walk through the gate. Whenever a story presents you with one antagonist and then suddenly introduces another, I start rubbing my hands together in expectation. Starling presents you with a horrifying setting to make you ask, “what could possibly be worse than this?” And then what you get is so much worse it makes you yearn for what you had just a few pages ago.
And finally, the Saints. I’ll be brief so as not to give away arguably the most interesting part of the story, but I always enjoy a story that leaves you with more questions than when you began. If you read a lot of fantasy, you’ll see enough evidence to make your own conclusions about the nature of the Saints. But the text itself never really clarifies what it is you’re dealing with. It’s just familiar enough that I think I know, but just different enough that I have no idea what I’m seeing. Starling plays with the inherent horror of not truly knowing your enemy in such a deft way that the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up until I finished the book.
This review is provided in exchange for an ARC copy via Netgalley.
This book is disgusting, and I meant that in the best possible way. The situation being described is horrific and desperate, and Starling spares no detail to draw you into the setting. There was a scene where a woman has to chew up a bit of dried fruit and spit it into another person’s mouth because they were so starved they couldn’t do it themselves. That description stuck with me through the end of the story because it was so foul and realistic that I actually reared away from my Kindle like I could see it. At times I found myself rubbing phantom grime off my arms while I read.
The setting of the story is also really interesting. What is left of a ravaged kingdom has hidden inside the last castle standing to wait out their enemies, only for a new enemy to walk through the gate. Whenever a story presents you with one antagonist and then suddenly introduces another, I start rubbing my hands together in expectation. Starling presents you with a horrifying setting to make you ask, “what could possibly be worse than this?” And then what you get is so much worse it makes you yearn for what you had just a few pages ago.
And finally, the Saints. I’ll be brief so as not to give away arguably the most interesting part of the story, but I always enjoy a story that leaves you with more questions than when you began. If you read a lot of fantasy, you’ll see enough evidence to make your own conclusions about the nature of the Saints. But the text itself never really clarifies what it is you’re dealing with. It’s just familiar enough that I think I know, but just different enough that I have no idea what I’m seeing. Starling plays with the inherent horror of not truly knowing your enemy in such a deft way that the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up until I finished the book.
This review is provided in exchange for an ARC copy via Netgalley.