First of all, I'd like to thank St. Martins Press/ Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this book: The Wicked Saints, in exchange for my honest review.

This book will be released on April 2nd, so there's still time to preorder! Please be aware of self-harm and parental abuse triggers in this book.

Synopsis: A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself. A prince in danger must decide who to trust. A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war. In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

Ok. So I'm going to be 100% up front. I gave this book 4.75 stars because it's brilliant, gorgeous, cold, and truly astonishing. I found it to be perfectly paced. You know how, when you're watching a movie or reading a story, and the characters are about to make a big decision and you just know it's going to be wrong, and it irritates you because it seems like the author/ writers didn't think the logic through? Yeah? There's NONE of that in this book. The characters make decisions that you're not sure about, but that you'd probably make yourself. I found myself thinking 'wow, I totally would have done that tool' and watching everything burn to ashes.

I really really liked this book. It wasn't perfect, but few books are.
I loved the {POSSIBLE SPOILERS}
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.twist on the 'royal hidden away in the monastery', instead of having Nadya actually belonging among the clerics and sisters in the remote place of god. The twist within the members of the little rebel group actually made my jaw drop, and I honestly enjoyed every bit of this story. If you're looking for a seriously dark, gothic epic fantasy that will blow your socks off, this is it.

• Title: Wicked City
• Author: Emily A. Duncan
• Series: Something Dark and Holy Book #1
• Pages: 400
• Genre: YA Fantasy
• Rating Out of 5 Stars: 2.5 rounded up to 3

My Thoughts: By all intents and purpose this should have been one of my top reads of the year. It was certainly one of the most anticipated reads. However,

It starts off with a bang. An attack on the monastery where our protagonist resides. When we are first introduced to Nadya, our Kalyazi priestess, I found her to be a quite the dynamic character. She comes across as flawed but still willing to try and work with what she is. She speaks with the entire pantheon of the faith system she follows and can earn the favor of using their powers. She’s got a bit of an attitude problem and doesn’t necessarily have the best relationship with several the deities which makes her use of her magic refreshing. Yes, she’s a bit of an anomaly in the realm of magic users but she not immediately an unstoppably badass either. She takes more then her fair share of knocks. Her early focus chapters I liked much better than the other two I will mention. Not only did they have more context and drive the story further, but the interactions between the characters could get highly entertaining.

Our next character is Malachiasz. He has defected from Tranavia, but he doesn’t really work for Kalyazi either. His intentions tend to flip to what suits his best interest until our main driving point in the story takes place. I can’t say too much more about him without their being some hefty spoilers.

Our antagonist Serefin is a blood mage with poor eyesight and a bad reliance on alcohol. He also has no love or respect for the gods of the realm. Instead of seeking the gods favor to produce magic he bypasses it all by shedding his own blood for access to his powers. He is also the prince and heir to the Tranavia throne. (which I’m not going to lie, I read this as Transylvania probably 95% of the time and had to mentally correct myself)

The issues between the two kingdoms are pretty standard. One follows one religion one follows the other, both think the others are heretics, long war ensues, one king is power mad…you get the picture. By the time we’ve made it to the height of all the chaos, politics, feuding and danger…I just didn’t care what happened anymore. This was such a shame because there are some wonderful pieces of writing in here that I did enjoy.

I think it has a big part to with this oddball handling of this three-way enemies-to-lovers trope that plays out about 2/3 of the way into the story. We have other side characters that tie into it making it even more of a convoluted mess. The other is that even though this book starts out being about Nadya, as soon as Malachiasz is introduced it really becomes his story. Nadya takes a backseat and he becomes the main driver of the narrative. If you want a romance in a story that’s perfectly fine. When it loses focus on everything else that been built up before just for the sake of said romance…that I have issues with.

We do meet several other characters that feel like they should mean more in the broad scope of things. Mostly they feel like they just pop in to help break up some of the tedium of scenes. I can’t really say more on them then that. I didn’t find them to be all that interesting or developed.

I don’t really have a complaint on the writing itself. I thought over all it was well done. (save for my dyslexic mental translations of places). My main issues fall with the execution of the overall story. There are plenty of strong points that have questioning which side you’ll agree with. Moments that will frustrate you, make you laugh. I can see the comparisons to the Grisha series in the first third of the book but after that it becomes its own entity. I feel this is going to be one of those polarizing books. People are going to either really love it or not care for it at all. Unfortunately, it was a miss for me. I do however encourage others to read this if the premise sounds interesting to you and make your own opinions.

Trigger warning for self-harm and gore.
EARC Kindly provided by NETGALLEY and St. Martin’s Press in return for an honest review. All opinion are my own.

Cover: 🌟🌟🌟 (The cover is pretty to be sure. It's vibrant and in person, sparkly which I love. It's not my favorite cover this year, but it's not bad.)
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ("Let them hear her." Oooh I love that tagline! It makes me think of fierce female leads.)
Characters: 🌟 (I honestly could not connect with any of the characters in this book. I wanted to like them but I just ended up finding them lacking. It's infuriating with a tagline on the cover and the premise of a fierce female lead that I'm left with the impression that the female lead is more of a side note in someone else's story.)
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟(This book should have had amazing worldbuilding, the blurb sets you right up for it but in the end I found it unoriginal. Maybe I've read too many fantasy novels of late, but this setting just didn't stand out for me.)
Story: 🌟(I really tried to like this book. The premise sounded good but this book fell flat for me. I often find that when a book is as hyped up as this book has been, described as "one of the biggest hits of the year," that I struggle to get through it. I found myself skimming this book more than actually reading it. I have peculiar reading tastes and this book just wasn't for me.)
Overall: 🌟🌟 2.4 of 5 Stars!

Wicked Saints has an interesting premise and magic system, along with friendships, twists, turns, betrayals, and forbidden romance. I personally had trouble relating to the characters on a personal level, though they are all interesting with varying motivations, personality traits, and charisma. Nonetheless, if you are interested in fantasy, books with dark politics, or enjoy books where no one can be trusted--perhaps not even the the things you believe in the most--this is the book for you.

After finishing this book I still don't exactly know how to think about this. There were many things that I really enjoyed and that reminded me so much of what I liked about the GrishaVerse. However, it didn't completely compel me like Bardugo's books do, and there were many aspects that had me quite annoyed.

Emily A. Duncan's novel follows Nadya, a 16-year-old girl who has been gifted by the gods that people in her country, the Kalyazi, believe in. This means that she can pray to them in order to use their magic (e.g. healing, speed, silence), which makes her a rare cleric in her country. The Kalyazi have been involved in a war with the Tranavians, their neighbor, for many years now, and after Nadya's monastery is attacked by Tranavians, lead by their high-prince Serefin, Nadya swears herself that she will be the one to stop the war and kill the prince.
On her journey to vengeance she finds allies in the mysterious and broody Malachiasz and two loyal friends of his.
The novel explores not only their journey to the capital of Tranavia, Grazyk, where the king resides, it also describes the magic system in great detail and before each chapter, previous clerics and saints are introduced, which is very interesting, but quite confusing at first.

WHAT I LIKED:
I loved the different magic systems in this world, and I especially appreciated that people from different areas in the world and from different beliefs are able to do different kinds of magic. While reading, you explore the magic, and when you think you have understood the gist of it, another magical twist and turn comes along.
I also felt all the feels when it comes to the main character, Nadya. She was such a strong and interesting character, and even though she was portrayed as the CHOSEN ONE (which is a trope I am actually a little fed up with) I was so rooting for her and loved her.
I also liked how multi-dimensional some of the other characters were, since you don't really have a full villain here, as all of the characters show strengths and vulnerable sides, and they all have good and bad intentions.
The ending and how the story evolved with all its twists and turns was not at all predictable, and I was very surprised. I can't wait how the story progresses in the sequel.

WHAT I DISLIKED:
The book starts in the middle of an attack on Nadya's home, a monastery, so you are thrown right into the action, which sounds fun in theory, but in practice it was a reading nightmare since I had no idea what was going on for a good 50 pages into the book. I had no idea who the characters were, how the magic system worked or where this all actually happened (needless to say WHY everything happened). A little bit of world building would have been gladly appreciated, since I was close to drop the book and DNF it.
Since the book has so many different magic systems it was very difficult to understand how everything worked. This might be just me, but personally, I found it very confusing and since nothing really was explained, I was constantly confused.
Quite contradictive to the fact that I would have appreciated more explaining and backstory, I was quite annoyed at some parts (or basically the complete first half) of the book. There was sooooooooo much dialogue, characters talking and getting to know each other and it was just so slow as nothing really happened. What is more, is that even after finishing the book, the first part still seems unnecessarily slow since only a little part of what was written actually contributed to the outcome of the story at the end of the book. Only Malachiasz's accounts and explorations of his past seem relevant to me in hindsight.
The last issue I had concerns the relationships in the novel and how the characters were connected to each other. Some relationships weren't specifically explained while others developed in a whirlwind, which was, again, so so confusing - basically when two of the characters were suddenly kissing, I was just like... huh? Not only were no previous romantic gestures made, it happened very very fast, and also no chemistry between them was transferred to the reader. And this goes to all of the romantic encounters.

BOTTOM LINE:
Despite my critique, I still enjoyed reading this novel, since I love worlds like these. I will definitely read the sequel, as I hope that all this confusion will be gone when going into the second part.

Wicked Saints is a gorgeous phantasmagorical love story- with a villain! How delicious is this book? Let me say that the lyric "Love, love will tear us apart- again" should be amended to say, "Love, love will tear YOU apart, again" Emily A. Duncan certainly knows how to reach inside your secret wicked little heart, and wrench it straight out of your bleeding, gaping chest.

And I mean this as the highest compliment! All the starts!!!!

I can see why this book was recommend to fans of Leigh Bardugo, because I did get some Shadow & Bones vibes from it and the world itself is fairly dark and gritty. I wanted to really love this one, but there were certain aspects that I just didn't really enjoy.

I did really like some of the characters, especially Nadya, who indeed does remind me a bit of Alina from the Shadow and Bone series, but of course is her own character. This is the second YA fantasy book that I have read lately where I had a really hard time focusing because I could keep the character's straight and had to keep looking back to see who they were. This in itself distracted me enough that I didn't really become invested in the characters and therefore lost interest in the plot. I do have to say that the author's writing is beautiful and rich and the world building is excellent. The religion in this book was also not my favorite and I found it a bit hard to keep straight.

I can see why Nadya and Malachiasz have been compared to Alina and The Darkling, although they again are their own characters. I got some of the same vibes from these two characters as I did from that series. The story itself is fairly dark and gritty, with some Russian influence and definitely contains some violence. I do think that between the author's excellent writing, the world building and the characters themselves, that a lot of people will really love this book. I do look forward to reading the rest of the series and will probably end up re-reading this book before the next one is released.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for sending me an ARC of this book and inviting me to be a part of the blog tour.

Hands down, this is one one my top reads of 2019!! It was amazing! I couldn’t put it down! I loved everything about it, the plot, the characters, the writing! Kudos to this amazing author! I can’t wait to read more of her work!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

This review will be posted to my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales on 28th March 2019.
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com

I spent so long agonising over how to rate this book! This one one of my most anticipated books of the year and I have very, very mixed feelings and, I suspect, some unpopular ones. It's a book of two very different parts.

I struggled with the beginning of the book. Really, really struggled. To be honest, if this hadn't been an ARC for review, I'd probably have DNF'ed the book.

The plotting is slow. Very slow. Despite blood-shed, angry gods and a protagonist on the run. Somehow, it still feels slow.

The world-building feels messy to me. I have no problem with the blood-letting magic system (although, as above, this is something to be very aware of. It's not one-off, but throughout the book and central to the story). However, I don't feel like it was ever really explained very clearly. How are the spells created and written down, why does blood activate them, what's the education system for learning? The politics (both between the warring countries and within the Tranavian court/ government) was the same. I didn't feel like there was anything happening beyond what was going on with the two or three characters in that very moment. There wasn't any real depth to the world beyond them.

Similarly, the characters were very two-dimensional for much of the first half. I still don't feel I know much about Nadya as a person, her personality is never developed. Of all the characters I thought that Serefin was the only one I really felt a connection to, and even then it took a long time to get there.

However -- and it's a big however -- the book started to pick up around the second half: once Nadya and the others reached the royal palace (although it wasn't until almost the three-quarter mark that I felt really interested and invested in the book). Around this point in the story, the plot took a couple of sharp twists and the excitement really amped up.

I really, really liked this last section of the story (the third act, basically). I wish the book had started at a later point in the story. The entire first half have could have been cut down and it felt to me more like padding so as to make the story run for a full trilogy. I'm curious whether Wicked Saints would have been stronger as part of a duology. That aside, I can't say much about this section without giving too much away (since it's right at the end) but I really did think the last 20% of the book was really good: full of action, surprises and character moments.

Which brings me back to: I spent so long agonising over how to rate this book.

3-stars is a compromise. I'd rate the last part much higher (4 to 4.5 perhaps?) but the first part was so slow and poorly developed I just can't go any higher. I just can't justify trawling through 75% of a book before it becomes worth reading.

But!

But.

The ending is great and, weirdly, I think I'd actually still pick up the second book because now I'm interested. I just don't think it should have taken 300 wasted pages to get there.

A girl who speaks to and is granted power from the gods, a reluctant prince who prefers the war front to the scheming of his father and other nobles, and a blood mage of the most abominable kind. These three come together to assassinate the king and end the war between their countries.

I really appreciated the effort that was put into building the world and the system of magic. The love/hate story felt natural and evolved organically, and the heroine Nadya was easy to root for. Shadow and Bone has been sitting untouched in my kindle for god knows how long so I’m not able to make the same comparisons that others have. I deal with a lot of Eastern Europeans in my line of work so the names for the most part didn’t trip me up (except Tranavian.... I kept stumbling over that one because I wasn’t sure how to pronounce it).

Overall I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next! Thanks to the author, St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC and the chance to returns to my roots.

What an easy read - I did not want to put it down. If I had not had to 'adult' I would have consumed this book in one sitting. And at 400 pages it's a little on the longer side for that to be doable. From the moment you pick it up there's action. I love a book that sucks you right in and there's not a lot of pages that are devoted to characters just 'sitting around and talking about what to do there was none of that here.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the fact that with different perspectives - it gives you a taste of (seemingly) opposing sides of the holy war that's taking place in the land. Duncan does a great job humanizing both sides and you realize fairly quickly that maybe the sides really aren't so opposing in many cases. I'm interested to see how she develops the characters further in the other books.

While I loved the magic/saint/god system Duncan put in place, my one (minor) complaint is that it was a little hard to follow at first. Especially with you being immediately thrown into action, and the fact that there's such Slavic/Russian(?) influence within the names of the gods, places, and characters it can be a little overwhelming to keep straight. By around 25% I was on track though and feeling confident in keeping things straight.

There's a little bit of a romance and tension going on and it's very reminiscent to Alina/Darkling from the Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse trilogy. I am Darkling trash so I'm 100% here for that and hope it continues into the other books. Gimme all the slow burn tension - I volunteer as tribute.

Definitely looking forward to the next book, and recommend this to anyone looking for a dark fantasy read and those who enjoyed the Grishaverse trilogy. You will love it!

Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan was one of the books on my most anticipated list for this year and I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed it! I do see where people are able to compare the story to the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo but only slightly.

At the center of this story is a war that’s been going on for a while between Kalyazi and Tranavia. The division between these two countries has made it so that neither is willing to give up their cause and they have very different beliefs around what is and is not acceptable magic. The challenge for the Kalyazi is that their practice of magic has been wiped out by the Tranavians and they are losing the war.

Hidden away in a monastery is Nadya. One of our main characters and she just happens to be the only cleric in Kalyazi. Being a cleric means she is connected to the gods and the gods grant her the magic she uses which is rare. When the Tranavian prince hunts her down and attempts to take her, she is forced to run but Nadya knows she won’t be able to outrun him for long so when she runs into some questionable strangers, she takes a chance and decides to join them because as they’ve stated, they are looking for a way to end the war and the only way they can think to do that is to kill the Tranavian King.

I’ll come back to the characters here in a moment, but I have to say, I found the world that Duncan built in this book to be an interesting one. Countries in turmoil or fighting against each other’s beliefs is not new but the magic and the way it is done was definitely interesting. There is a lot of blood used by the Tranavians to access their magic and it must be tied to a spell book to complete the spell but to Nadya this is heretical and to use blood to cast a spell goes against everything they believe. I found this belief added a layer to the story for Nadya in that she had to figure out what she was really going to stand for and just how in the grey she was willing to go if she was going to work with those who used the blood magic.

Another key character in this story is the Tranavian Prince, Serefin. He has been at the front of the war for a while now and having found Nadya, wants to chase her down but he has other things to worry about. When he is directed by his father to return to Tranavia to participate in the ceremony to find him a wife, Serefin begins to think there is something more going on. He has never had a great relationship with his father but to force him to come back now, Serefin knows that the King is up to something and he is motivated to find out. Unfortunately for Serefin, he doesn’t really know who he can trust and that puts him in a very precarious situation.

As I mentioned earlier, when Nadya escapes the prince, she runs into some people in the woods. Two of them happen to be from Akolan (Parijahan and Rashid) but the third, a Kalyazi, has Nadya nervous because his magic feels even stronger than the prince and she doesn’t really know if she can trust him. He isn’t really forthcoming, and he keeps asking Nadya about her magic which puts her on edge but eventually he tells her some of his story…at least what he remembers and that includes his name, Malachiasz. When the Vultures, a cult that has formed within Tranavia that has a lot of power and autonomy from the King, is sent to retrieve Nadya, the group quickly works together to escape the attack and come to an agreement on how they are going to accomplish their goal of getting rid of the king.

As Nadya finds herself right in the middle of the people she needs to avoid, she begins to learn more about herself, her magic, the Vultures, and the magic of Tranavia. By getting both Nadya’s and Serefin’s points of view within this book, I was able to see both sides of what was going on and I was glad for that. I do love that as the story proceeds, there is a clear point at which the character’s stories come together and I loved it.

I can’t say much more about this book without ruining the story so that’s all you get from me on this one. Trust me when I say, if you enjoy fantasy stories with lots of magic, a lot of danger for the main characters, blood, and (of course) some kissing, definitely check this book out. I will absolutely be waiting anxiously to get my hands on the next book as the ending left me wanting more!

Thank you Wednesday Books for inviting me on to the Blog Tour, and for gifting me an E-ARC in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I saw this book come out during one of the Book Conventions, months ago, and I knew immediately that I had to have it. The tagline on the cover was yelling my name, and then reading the synopsis, I was sold. I contacted Wednesday Books, and shortly after I was invited on to the Blog Tour.

I was so excited to start this one, I even subscribed to a Book Subscription box, just because it’s going to be based on this book. So I went it with some serious high hopes.

First the bad, I really, really struggled with the first half of this book, I couldn’t keep the characters straight, and I couldn’t stay focused on what I was reading. I did know that the writing was very rich, and very intricate.

The good, Nadya, and Malachiasz, (who are being compared to Alina and The Darkling) These two are fire! Are they a warm you heart type of fire, or a dumpster fire? I’ll let you find that out. But these two are the characters that kept me reading the book. However, there is Serefin, and I sure liked his character too and towards the end, I may have even been leaning his way. There is no doubt that these three main characters are brilliant, and screwed up, and dark, and so delicious.

Also, this is a book that had secondary characters, that I enjoyed just as much as I did the MC’s. I think maybe my struggle had more to deal with the religious aspect, and the very hard to pronounce names. It took a way from the flow of the reading, for me (the names). However, I’d have to say, this is one of the best endings I’ve read in a YA book. And I am going to be impatiently waiting book two. I need more of this delicious threesome!

I was so excited about this book but it kind of fell flat for me. There were a lot of hard names. I'm all for different names.... Just not overly complicated ones. There was magical action but not enough to keep me very interested. I probably wouldn't continue with the series.

This book was amazing! I will be adding this book to my list that i will reread a million times!.This book gives everything from twists, danger, and love. I would recommend this book to everyone! Love it!

I was really looking forward to this. I saw people said it reminded them of the Grishaverse....but I haven't read those (but are up next!) so I went in with no expectations..not that you should judge a book on another authors series but just to explain where I was!!!

List format works for me here!

• I defo swooned for Malachiasz!
• Nadya and Malachiasz were fab to read together,
• Serefin was also very delish (to me!),
• Nadya annoyed me at times,
• The world building and the magic system was totally amazing,
• Loved that the Gods had actual personalities,
• It was on the darker side which I loved,
• The beginning had me sucked in,
• The ending was so action packed that I was on the edge of my seat,
• But the middle, it sort of sagged for me,
• The epilogue was defo oh yes.

Probably not for the first time ever, I am left feeling conflicted over a book and a rating. I'm going for 4 because I defo loved this more than I never .....

Anyone who has done more than a cursory study of the life of Joan of Arc will have some understanding of her essential strangeness. Joan, an illiterate teenaged peasant with visions of angels somehow made it into the French royal court, and then somehow met the heir to the throne, who then, for unknown/mystical reasons, sent this girl to war– which the French then started to win against superior English forces. Joan went on to lead the French army to numerous victories until she was betrayed by her king and burned as a witch by the English. Her biography is less “I’m not like other girls”, and closer to “I’m not like other human beings”. With her debut novel, Wicked Saints, Emily A. Duncan attempts to create a Joan-like figure in Nadezhda Lapteva, or Nadya, a teenaged peasant girl who has spent her life in a monastery. Her great gift comes from the fact that when she speaks to the gods, they talk back, granting her divine powers based upon the trait of the god she calls to.

This is a useful ability given that she is among the last clerics of her home country, Kalyazin, which is fighting a century-long war against the neighboring country of Tranavia, where blood mages rule. These blood mages are branded as heretics in Kalyazin, but the Tranavians’ lack of faith has not stopped them from making headway in the war. The Tranavian army is led by the crown prince, nineteen-year-old Serefin Maleski, a powerful blood mage tasked with winning the war and wiping out any of Kalyazin’s remaining clerics. As the story opens, Serefin’s forces attack Nadya’s monastery forcing her to leave behind her best friend and everything she has ever known. During her headlong flight into the forest, Nadya meets an enemy blood mage, Malachiasz Czechowicz, who is also fleeing from the Tranavians, but for very different reasons. Together, Nadya and Malachiasz decide to sneak into Tranavia and assassinate its king, thereby ending the war. At the same time, Serefin is summoned home to participate in the Rawalyk, a Travanian tradition designed to find the prince a suitable bride. Magic, faith, and treachery collide in a divine battle that will determine the futures of Kalyazin and Tranavia.

As a concept, Wicked Saints is compelling. What does war do to young leaders? How does it affect those who the world sees as monstrous? What role should the faithful play in war? Add in a Gothic tone with its attendant dark setting and brooding atmosphere, and you should have a strong story on your hands. Unfortunately, Wicked Saints retreads a literary ground that has long since been tramped down to mud and fails to stand up to basic questions regarding its own world. Case in point, “In a land where gods are real and active, what does it mean when a heretic army is victorious?”. I asked myself this question early on, and so predicted a major plot twist from the ending. And while Nadya is billed as a ‘Gothic Joan of Arc’, she has none of her real-world predecessor’s strangeness or ability to inspire armies. Instead, Nadya is set to be yet another entry in a long line of bland Strong Female Characters who can’t help but fall in love with the Bad Boy With a Dark Past, and who is willing to forgive the war criminals she associates with simply because they have a sad past and a cute haircut.

The world, too, is underdeveloped, as though Duncan was relying on the setting’s Polish roots and the book’s description as “Gothic” to complete the exposition for her. Sadly, that’s not enough to describe a world, and we’re told little more than that it is cold and wooded. We are given churches and cathedrals and little sense of what they look like, and dangerous lands the characters easily cross within a day or two. The morose atmosphere and realism edged by a looming supernatural threat- hallmarks of Gothic literature- are barely evident. But to give Duncan credit where credit is due, there are moments of truly creepy imagery. These are often spoiled in the next paragraph by stilted dialogue or yet another action scene designed to make the book action-packed without adding significantly to the story.

It’s a shame. Wicked Saints promised to be an incredible tale of dark and divine magics striving against each other in an eerie world of gloomy, wintry cathedrals. But in the end, it is little more than processed story product wrapped in a shiny black veneer. And so I’m left with this final impression: Wicked Saints– neither wicked nor saints. Discuss.

I am having a very hard time wrapping my mind around how I feel about this book. I loved it????? But it was also not perfect. Yes. It is also the first in a series so there is so much room to grow in these characters/plot/mysteries so that is also a factor to consider. I have a hard time rating series books when they’re not surrounded by their sequels. I feel like sometimes reading a sequel can change how you feel about the first in a series. Sometimes questions you have are answered and things that didn’t sit right all of a sudden are knocked into place. So. Know that I loved this, had some (minor) issues with certain parts, but those issues are not set in stone as my feelings on books are subject to change at any moment lmao.

The Faith

I think my favorite part of this book is its relationship with faith. I am not religious although I did grow up going to church, being confirmed etc. It was really interesting reading about a mc who is so passionate about her faith there is no room for question or deviation from what her Gods request of her. She gives them her whole devotion and they grant her with magical powers. Right? Not quite so simple. This book explores how it’s alright to question your beliefs and how you can want to have absolute faith in someone so much, but they don’t always measure up. I felt this not only with Nadya’s relationship with her Gods but also her relationship with Malachiasz. The push and pull of their relationship is so freaking tense and compelling. I think I could have used even more internal dissonance from Nadya about how she felt and what she was supposed to do. There’s obviously a divide within her and I think because we get her POV there could have been more room for her to voice the conflict. (this is really so minor though, but maybe I just love internal drama.)

<spoiler> I love how much she wants to believe in him up until the very end. She wants so badly to trust him that she decides to look beyond the evidence and put her faith in him just to find out she really shouldn’t have. I think their relationship allowed her to not only come in to her own person outside of her cleric duties, but also see that there is merit in making her own decisions and that maybe it is alright to question her Gods. Just because she realizes this though, does not mean that she with completely throw them away. Up until the end her goal is to remove the veil shielding the Gods from her neighboring country. She doesn’t turn away from them despite her questions. </spoiler>

The Conflict

I love how complicated this entire story is! Each character has their goals and they have their reasons. There is no black and white. Throughout the entire book I tried to decide who the villain was. Which side is wrong? Both countries have committed atrocities against the other, and each believe the other is at fault, but where does the conflict truly lie? This is so freaking real!!!! One country, Kalyazin, believes wholeheartedly in their Gods. They construct shrines and churches in dedication to each of them. They pray to them for multitudes of reasons, and in return clerics are granted powers from a deity that deems them worthy.

Their neighboring country, Tranavia, does not believe in the Gods. Not necessarily that they do not exist, but that they are not worthy of praise. They commit heresy by participating in blood magic of which the Gods do not approve. Each country believes the other to be completely wrong. Kalazi believe Tranavians should die because they do not believe in the Gods. Tranavians want nothing to do with the Gods and would rather see them banished. Is either country wrong for believing what they do?

It’s so easy to write a story with a clear line between good and wrong. People love a common enemy they can hate. This story does not make that so easy. <spoiler> even the king yearning for power in a world where he is seen weak because those lesser than him have a stronger hold on blood magic is understandable. Did he do some messed up stuff to obtain power? Yes. Do a lot of people do some messed up stuff to achieve their goals in this book? Double yes. </spoiler>

The romance

Oh, god did I jump on this ship the moment I saw it approaching. I cannot, I repeat CANNOT, refuse a misunderstood and broody male character. Like hello. Yes, please. Give me more. Malachiasz, in Emily Duncan’s words on twitter, is not merely the love interest. I feel like that is apparent after you’ve read the entire book. <spoiler> I know people voiced that his POV was lacking, but like if you read the book that’s how it has to be??? He’s hiding his entire goal the entire time. His POV wouldn’t work since he’s hiding so much the entire book. First, that he’s a vulture, then that he’s their king, and third that he’s going fucking hard on that blood magic. It’s obvious he is going to play a major role in the future (and probably get his own chapters), and as he cannot even remember his own name, it will involve more than him just pining over Nadya. </spoiler> I love me a good enemies to lovers romance, and this is what we get baby. They never wholly trust each other (even if they believe they do) and I think that serves only to increase the tension between them. It’s forbidden, it’s wrong (but actually so right!!) and I can’t wait to see where it’s headed.

The writing

Ughhh the writing in this story is so beautiful. There’s a specific scene near the end of the book that took lyrical writing to the max, and tbh I could have read an entire book that read like that.<spoiler> Serefin after he dies and he’s in the weird place with all the stars and moths? Yea, dude that was it. </spoiler> I know some people really don’t like overtly lyrical and twisting prose, but bitch it’s what I live for. I know this book was marketed as gruesome, and twisted and I definitely think it lives up to that description. It wasn’t quite and messed up as I was expecting, but I think it still did a great job at creating that dark gothic tone. If I were to get a perfect book, I would want even more cruel, even more gore in the future (I don’t know if that’s the vibe she’s going with for this series tho, so it’s possible this will never happen.)

Things I wish were included (not actual critique, I just got excited)

How could you tease a fun competition like that and not see it through???? When it was announced I was so freaking jazzed that I knew in that exact moment books involving competitions are my kryptonite. I love them and will always love them. I’m not going to say that would have increased my rating bc that is petty af and the competition has really nothing to do with the book, but ugh. I love competitions.

I received this arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan is the first novel in a new fantasy trilogy set in a pseudo-historical Eastern Europe/Russia world. It is perfect for fans on Leigh Bardugo or Kiersten White..

This book sent me on a ride. I couldn't tell until the end what rating it would get. There are parts that are so good and compelling and parts I was incredibly bored by.

I'll start with the good. I really enjoyed the ideas of religion/magic in the book. The way that these two countries had such vastly different ideas about it. One side believing that gods drove their lives and their magic. A sort of fate, one doesn't really have control over their lives without the gods will. Magic done with gods help. The other rejecting the gods. They believe in free will. They are viewed as heretics, when really they just want control over their own destinies. The beginning of the chapters and the stories of the saints was awesome. Nadya's halo. Really, all the illusions of Greek Orthodoxy in general. Good stuff It made it hard to view either side as the "bad" country/belief system.

Some of the characters. I loved all of Serefin's story line. His journey, his friends, his struggles etc. I found him compelling. I wanted his chapters to be longer. Mal, I couldn't stand at first but by the end I LOVED where the book went.

I really enjoyed when the protagonists made it to the capital and all the court politics. The fact that Serefin was called home to participate in a weird courting/arranged marriage ritual. The duel. The old witch in the tower. The tension between Serefin and his dad. Who would win in their machinations? etc. Good stuff

The Vultures. The idea of them. The culture around them. All of that was so cool.

The plot twists. There were quite a few. I loved all of them. I was reading the book and enjoying it but the super quick romance was killing me. I really wanted more from the book. I was ready to give this book a two or a three, but then all the plot twists happened. I was a huge fan. It went super dark and I was thrilled. So happy Duncan went there. It really elevated the book and made me go from thinking it was run of the mill to the start of a great new trilogy. I just hope the books don't lose that element!

The ending. I loved it. I loved that it went dark. I love that its a cliffhanger. I don't love waiting for book two.

The negatives I'll discuss are. I don't know if she really succeeded in creating a "Russian" like world. I didn't feel the cold.I didn't think the characters acted very Russian. The language was driving me nuts. It sounded like American teenagers of today not Eastern Europeans of yesterday. Also they pacing killed me. I like a slow book. That's not an issue. The problem with this book is that it felt all over the place. Fast in the beginning, slow in the middle, a little faster...then slow. Then a crazy ending. Also I wanted her to spend more time on individual events. I'd love another 50 to 100 pages for this book. I know that's a publishing issue and not really a big problem.

Overall, this book was highly enjoyable. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a dark YA fantasy like the And I Darken series or the Grisha verse. This book fits right in, while also not being a copycat. Can't wait for more.

One of my most anticipated YA releases of 2019 was definitely WICKED SAINTS by Emily A. Duncan, so THANK YOU NetGalley for approving me to be an early reader for this! Let's just say as you can see from my blog and Goodreads account, fantasy is my entire jam. So when I caught wind of a book that tells us of a girl who can speak to the gods, I was already all the way in. Now, I realize it sounds a little Percy Jackson-ish, but I assure you this is so deliciously dark and satisfying and wonderful, you would do well not to get them confused!

WICKED SAINTS follows a girl named Nadya who makes her home deep in the Baikkle Mountains of Kalyazin, in a monastary that sits seven thousand steps above the base. She has the special ability to talk to the Kalyazin gods through a necklace she wears faithfully every day. Its with this necklace she can communicate with the gods and use their powers using the different beads on it. Rather quickly, she is forced to flee the only home she's ever known when an army comes from Tranavia and completely raids their beloved monastery.

It's when she flees she is briefly introduced to Serafin, the high prince of Tranavia, and eventually she meets Malachiasz, Rashid, and Parijahan. Together, they set off to the most dangerous of tasks where they realize just how much people would go through to have all the power in the world.

Okay, so I loved this. It took me a while to get through (I originally started it back in February) due to school work and testing, but I'm so glad I finished and I loved the world and the plot so much. The one thing that confused me sometimes were the amount of characters and their crazy names that I sometimes forgot who the book was talking about. Malachiasz (I'm assuming is pronounced Mal-uh-kai?), Parijahan (I started off the book saying "Par-ee-juh-han", but then there was a part of the book where she's referenced as "Parj", so then I started saying "Par-zhen", but I don't know which is correct!). So it took me a while to get used to everything, but the world-building was crazy good so it all worked out in the end! What's a good fantasy novel without long names, right??

Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend this one if you are a fan of darkness, monsters, betrayal, blood magic, it has it all. Plus, THAT ENDING THO?? I am so very excited for this to come out next month that I've already preordered a copy for myself and one for my classroom library! Do yourself a favor and preorder this one, the final copy is so stunning!

Thanks again to NetGalley who allowed me an early read in exchange for an honest review!