Take a photo of a barcode or cover
sinamile 's review for:
Wicked Saints
by Emily A. Duncan
Edit: 17 April 2020
Audiobook Review
CW/TW: self-harm, imprisonment, ableist slurs, abuse, war, blood, death, starvation, murder
Someone might wonder why I read this after DNFing it (3 times already, lol) but my heart couldn't let go, I just needed to know. Each time I stopped reading and read a couple more things, my heart, my soul, would draw me back to this book.
The first time I DNF'd this was because I wasn't enjoying, like at all. It was one of my most anticipated reads and it disappointed me so hard I couldn't carry on, so I stopped.
The second time I DNF'd was coz it said the sun goddess was Alena and I remembered how much Alina disappointed me at the end of Shadow and Bone and I couldn't detach from that, so I had to stop. And before anyone says anything, I know Alina Alena, but still!
The third time I DNF'd was coz I didn't really know what the heck was going on anymore and I wanted it to stop, so I just stopped. I was on Chapter 8 and I really thought I was going, but nope, I wasn't.
But whooop, here were are again!
What I can say is that it's not...... great. It's not particularly....... good either, but it's something. From like 50% to 70/80% it actually gets interesting and I actually wanted the characters to succeed in their plans, but then it kept going and then I didn't care anymore. When it got to the last few chapters I just wanted to be done because I didn't care for the characters anymore.
Usually I fear what'll happen to the characters, especially when it seems they're about to meet their inevitable end, but with these poor babies I just didn't give one eff. They could've died and I would've just been thought okay, and moved right along. I feel like I wasn't given the right kind of something that would make me love these characters and make me want to see them succeed and be hurt if they got hurt. I just felt meh about them. For a while I really did care about Serefin but then even he slips from my heart by the end. I just— it didn't matter by the end, they didn't matter.
And I didn't care about Nadya and Malachiasz, like at all. Every time they so much as got romantic I wanted to fast forward because I wasn't given the right motivation to love them. Usually with enemies to lovers, there's this *thing* where you see it building up slowly and you're losing your shit because you want them to finally just kiss and stop your torture. This one didn't have that. There wasn't really any enemies-to-lovers here. They just hated each other because they were from opposite ends of the war and that's that.
Naturally I was expecting it to be Nadya and Serefin, especially considering the first two chapters of the book. That would've been more realistic to me, and the entire time I was reading I was expecting it to happen. And I feel that I would've lived them more knowing what kind of character Serefin is (sweet misunderstood baby, I still love you I lied!).
I feel like Duncan wanted so badly to have the girl fall on love with the dark princling that she didn't really care how it happened. I'm not saying I know her thought processes or anything, but that's how it feels. I feel like the romance was half hazadly done despite it being one of the things that Duncan spoke so much and that it could've been done a lot better.
I just feel a raging disappointment over the whole relationship because it could've been glorious. I feel cheated of a greater story for a fanfiction of Kylo-Ren-meets-the-Darkling. I feel like Serefin and Nadya would've done some epic things as a couple. I know it's done often and a lot, but we aren't tired of it. If she'd wanted Darkling vibes she couldve for sure used Serefin, he had the potential. But I guess I can kind of get it, wanting the girl to fall in love with the darkest of the dark. But meh.
This is probably one of my most disappointing reads, and it probably had to do with how hard I was anticipating it when Duncan was talking about it on Twitter. I got hyped for it and I was so ready to love it and have it completely ruin me. But then it didn't do that, instead it just disappointed me so much that, I don't know, by the end I didn't care at all.
A shame.
I don't understand the epigraphs. Maybe, okay, maybe I wasn't paying attention right? That's why they don't make sense to me. Sometimes I felt like the epigraphs were just there to make it fancy. I know that's not it, but it felt like it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
DNF 20%
CW: self-harm, ableist slurs
Its not going to happen. I've tried reading this 5 times now and I keep stopping and having zero desire to keep going, so I'm going to stop trying. Maybe I'll try again next year, but I'm done for 2019.
And the saddest thing is that I was so excited for this up until I wasn't.
Audiobook Review
CW/TW: self-harm, imprisonment, ableist slurs, abuse, war, blood, death, starvation, murder
Someone might wonder why I read this after DNFing it (3 times already, lol) but my heart couldn't let go, I just needed to know. Each time I stopped reading and read a couple more things, my heart, my soul, would draw me back to this book.
The first time I DNF'd this was because I wasn't enjoying, like at all. It was one of my most anticipated reads and it disappointed me so hard I couldn't carry on, so I stopped.
The second time I DNF'd was coz it said the sun goddess was Alena and I remembered how much Alina disappointed me at the end of Shadow and Bone and I couldn't detach from that, so I had to stop. And before anyone says anything, I know Alina Alena, but still!
The third time I DNF'd was coz I didn't really know what the heck was going on anymore and I wanted it to stop, so I just stopped. I was on Chapter 8 and I really thought I was going, but nope, I wasn't.
But whooop, here were are again!
What I can say is that it's not...... great. It's not particularly....... good either, but it's something. From like 50% to 70/80% it actually gets interesting and I actually wanted the characters to succeed in their plans, but then it kept going and then I didn't care anymore. When it got to the last few chapters I just wanted to be done because I didn't care for the characters anymore.
Usually I fear what'll happen to the characters, especially when it seems they're about to meet their inevitable end, but with these poor babies I just didn't give one eff. They could've died and I would've just been thought okay, and moved right along. I feel like I wasn't given the right kind of something that would make me love these characters and make me want to see them succeed and be hurt if they got hurt. I just felt meh about them. For a while I really did care about Serefin but then even he slips from my heart by the end. I just— it didn't matter by the end, they didn't matter.
And I didn't care about Nadya and Malachiasz, like at all. Every time they so much as got romantic I wanted to fast forward because I wasn't given the right motivation to love them. Usually with enemies to lovers, there's this *thing* where you see it building up slowly and you're losing your shit because you want them to finally just kiss and stop your torture. This one didn't have that. There wasn't really any enemies-to-lovers here. They just hated each other because they were from opposite ends of the war and that's that.
Naturally I was expecting it to be Nadya and Serefin, especially considering the first two chapters of the book. That would've been more realistic to me, and the entire time I was reading I was expecting it to happen. And I feel that I would've lived them more knowing what kind of character Serefin is (sweet misunderstood baby, I still love you I lied!).
I feel like Duncan wanted so badly to have the girl fall on love with the dark princling that she didn't really care how it happened. I'm not saying I know her thought processes or anything, but that's how it feels. I feel like the romance was half hazadly done despite it being one of the things that Duncan spoke so much and that it could've been done a lot better.
I just feel a raging disappointment over the whole relationship because it could've been glorious. I feel cheated of a greater story for a fanfiction of Kylo-Ren-meets-the-Darkling. I feel like Serefin and Nadya would've done some epic things as a couple. I know it's done often and a lot, but we aren't tired of it. If she'd wanted Darkling vibes she couldve for sure used Serefin, he had the potential. But I guess I can kind of get it, wanting the girl to fall in love with the darkest of the dark. But meh.
This is probably one of my most disappointing reads, and it probably had to do with how hard I was anticipating it when Duncan was talking about it on Twitter. I got hyped for it and I was so ready to love it and have it completely ruin me. But then it didn't do that, instead it just disappointed me so much that, I don't know, by the end I didn't care at all.
A shame.
I don't understand the epigraphs. Maybe, okay, maybe I wasn't paying attention right? That's why they don't make sense to me. Sometimes I felt like the epigraphs were just there to make it fancy. I know that's not it, but it felt like it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
DNF 20%
CW: self-harm, ableist slurs
Its not going to happen. I've tried reading this 5 times now and I keep stopping and having zero desire to keep going, so I'm going to stop trying. Maybe I'll try again next year, but I'm done for 2019.
And the saddest thing is that I was so excited for this up until I wasn't.