Ohhhh, boy. This was a brutal, brutal read. And I do mean that in the best possible way. This book is bloody and spares no one's innocence. I must strongly advise/caution that, as the author has mentioned, this book deals with a lot of cutting and other topics that aren't appropriate for all readers.

Nadya is a cleric - a person who is able to commune with the gods. When the monastery she lives at comes under attack by the heretics who use blood magic, she flees. A war has been raging for decades and Nadya becomes determined to be the one who ends up. When she meets people who can help her achieve this end, she joins up with them and begins a journey into enemy land that will change everything.

I really enjoyed this book. Nadya and the other characters are wonderfully realistic. They have tangible hopes, dreams, and worries. They have flaws and other issues. The book is sometimes a little fast-paced (I found myself lost a few times and had to go back and re-read a scene or 5 because I had no clue how we arrived at where we did), but it's not a bad thing. While there is a romance, it's well-fleshed out and takes its time. A few plot points disappear in the course of the story, but since this is the first book in a trilogy, I have hope that they'll be addressed in next book.

I love the influence that eastern Europe/Russia has had on literature lately, but I found myself desperately wishing for a glossary of terms. As one does, I had forgotten what words meant and, being a semi-lazy person, instead of attempting to figure them out or go back and find where the word was introduced, I simply guessed what they meant and moved on with life - this definitely isn't the best approach but, again, Lazy. Also, while it may spoil things, a list of characters and who's on what side would have been helpful as well.

Overall, this was a great read that completely captured my attention. If you like your fantasy a little dark and manipulative, definitely check this book out when it comes out in 2019.

Why is it that YA authors are obsessed with competitions? Is the genre still shaking off its debt to The Hunger Games? Is it some kind of weird subliminal obsession with beauty pageants? Are people still traumatized from student council elections? I can't figure it out, especially because, more often than not, it's so unnecessary. And bad.

Wicked Saints has one of those unnecessary competitions. But it also kind of...stops having one midway through. The main character, Nadya, gets to dress up pretty and stay in a nice apartment, and then the plotline gets discarded. Like many of its other plotlines, there's nominally an excuse for this abrupt about-face, but it mostly seems like the author got really excited and wanted to try every YA trope all at once.

Emily A. Duncan is so clearly a debut author that I kept trying to find things that I liked. The imagery is excellent. The Vultures in particular are a triumph of twisted imagination. With iron nails and iron teeth and masks that hide their bloody tears, they are worthy nightmares given flesh. Adding to their malevolent aura is their devotion to advancing their blood magic craft. They experiment on prisoners of war, but also on their own, using ever-new and increasingly violent techniques to bind acolytes to their order.

The larger context for this order, a magical Russia and Poland, is good but thin. There's too much good writing with an Eastern European and/or Russian setting for Wicked Saints to rely on intermittent and surface-level setting description (see: the Grisha trilogy, the Winternight trilogy, and the And I Darken trilogy), and I hope Duncan pushes the envelope harder on her descriptions and sense of place in the next books.

More than sense of place, not enough time is spent on setup and orientation. The magic system never feels fully fleshed, whether that’s blood magic or the religious magic Nadya wields. There are twenty gods with unique powers and unique relationships with Nadya. Some love her, some resent her, and some are entirely silent. This dissent within the pantheon would be more interesting if we had a sense of the gods' personalities, but Duncan doesn't seem to have a good understanding of whether the gods are remote or intimate, casual or formal, profound or petty. Rather than developing them, she seems to think that the absence of explanation imbues them with mystery. But ignorance and mystery are very different. Mystery invokes awe. Ignorance only leads to confusion. And I mostly spent my time struggling to remember which god did what, and whether they were on speaking terms with Nadya, not feeling awed.

Duncan doesn't really earn most of her emotional beats, not just the divine ones. Only about a third of the way through does Nadya decide that what she wants is as important as what the gods want—but the conflict of her desire vs. her obligation barely registers before this point, and there is little consequence either way. Nadya also does something early on that, by the standards of her faith, is profoundly blasphemous. Yet the gods do nothing. Consequences give decisions weight; the absence of consequence makes the entire setting seem insubstantial.

It’s also unfortunate that the few consequences the characters do face are not handled very well. Handed an admittedly significant setback, Nadya wakes from unconsciousness bloody and bruised and then does something that ruined her character for me. She gets up and shrieks "it's not fair!" at the walls.

I burst out laughing.

Sure, in the hero's journey, the hero has to hit their personal nadir. They might weep or rage, they might momentarily give up. But I never want them to sound like a preteen deprived of a chance to stay up past 9 PM. Nadya grew up in an austere monastery during a multi-generational war that her country is losing. "Fair" should not be in her vocabulary.

She then proceeds to become even more foolish, trusting someone not once but multiple times who proves himself to be untrustworthy. And every time, I'm supposed to believe that her heart is broken and her world is ending. I get that she's naive, having been raised in an isolated monastery, but there's always a fine line between naive and stupid and she hops it like jump rope.

But Nadya isn't the only problem. None of our heroes really do anything. They have extremely vague plans, never act on them, and then seem surprised when others set things into motion. When characters are only ever reacting, never acting, they lose both a sense of urgency and agency. The book as a whole also loses a coherent theme: I honestly could not tell you what this book was capital-A About in any larger sense, other than dark.

This was not as dark as I had hoped. Sure, it's bloody, but that's not what makes a book dark. True darkness comes from an emotional core, one that taps into the feelings that everyone would be ashamed or afraid to admit they have. Or, it has to look directly at the suffering of others, at the consequences of evil and suffering, and not flinch. Darkness depends on vulnerability. This book isn't raw enough to be truly dark.

While most clerics speak to their patron, Nadya, speaks to the entire pantheon. With their power and blessings in hand, Nadya seeks to end the war between the holy and the heretics. When carefully laid plans are torn asunder, Nadya is forced to align herself with a group of rebels led by enigmatic blood mage, Malachiasz. Together, they seek to assassinate a king, but even darker things linger beyond the gaze of the gods...

A exquisitely visceral tale of blood mages, holy warriors, and political intrigue, WICKED SAINTS will delight fans of Leigh Bardugo, and Holly Black.

I’d seen mention of this book float around my circles for MONTHS, so I was delighted when I finally was able to peer into this mysterious new world that so many were fond of.

The world-building and creativity is excellent. I was consistently reminded of the notorious blood mages of the Dragon Age franchise, as well as the method of spell-casting used in Dungeons and Dragons. It allowed a sense of true power, while also limiting the characters in effective ways. Every good cleric needs a long rest now and again.

I had a hard time getting a read on Nadya and Malachiasz. I would have liked to have seen more of this evil villain Malachiasz early on versus simply taking Nadya’s word for it. Whereas with the third lead, the alcoholic prince Serefin, I understood immediately. I felt as though I learned the most about this world and story through his POV.

As for Malachiasz, I couldn’t quite grasp him as a character until THE REVEAL in later chapters. I saw the bits and pieces, but it wasn’t until then that I *got* it. But the reveal was satisfying, and I look forward to seeing the full scope of his arc throughout the trilogy. 
Duncan is clearly a talented author, and this is an impressive debut. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Wicked Saints is dark and brutal, glittering and blood soaked. It will make you question everything you know. It will make you fall in love with monsters in plain sight. I think if you have ever loved a villain, you will become utterly absorbed by Wicked Saints. But it's more than monsters, blood magic, and heresy. There's forbidden love, friendship in unlikely places, and a journey of self-discovery that will change all you think you know about this world.

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, but dark fantasy is slowly becoming one of my favorite. While I know it's not for everyone, if you were ever craving more grit, high stakes with the world order in the balance, and a forbidden love that might just be unholy, then Wicked Saints is definitely for you. It's a book that places you smack dab in the middle of a war that has waged for years. Wicked Saints is about desperation, saving our country, and sacrifice.

This book started out strong, even to the point of making me tear up in the first chapter. However, the middle was super slow for me. I felt like I never had a strong connection with any of the characters, this played a part in hindering my enjoyment of the book. Also, there were a ton of unanswered questions about the world.
With this being said, I still think it will be a well received book, it just wasn’t for me.

Huge thanks to St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for sending this one my way. This is one of my most anticipated books of 2019 and I might have screamed when it landed in my in-box. I expect this book will be huge. I can absolutely see people going crazy over it, especially fans of the Grisha series. Which, yep, that's me.


I loved the world and the magic system and the monster boy. Speaking of the monster boy... This book reads like a love letter to the Darkling, and I'm totally on-board for that. I just wish the story didn't feel so familiar. Yes, the magic system is unique, and I really enjoy how Nadya accesses her powers and communes with her Saints, but, at times, the story started to feel somewhat derivative. And by somewhat, I mean a lot. The parallels... If this series ends the same, I'm gonna be mad, y'all.


But, back to the beginning. The first scene is action-packed and still manages to introduce the characters and give a good feel for their personalities. I was totally hooked. I wanted that pace to continue, but, alas, things slowed down. Don't get me wrong. There are a few more action-y moments, but they're interspersed with some down time.


So the middle sags a bit. It does build toward something. However, the thing we are promised does not materialize on the page, which, not going to lie, was disappointing. Then there were unlikely alliances that seemed way too easy, cemented by a pivotal character who feels very cliche. The pacing at the end picks up speed a lot, so much so that I'm still not entirely sure about everything that happened. There were a few stream-of-consciousness sections that I legit skimmed. Sorry. I kind of got what the author was going for, but there wasn't enough on the page to really make sense of it.


Mostly, I think my biggest complaint was that I didn't feel immersed in the story or the characters. We're told stuff, but not really shown that much. The author just sort of skims the surface and there were plenty of moments when I wanted to see things fleshed out better. That said, there's plenty of room for more development in the next installment. Yes, I will be reading it. I'm curious to see where this goes. Some of my favorite series started off slow for me, so I'm giving this one the benefit of the doubt.

If you're a fan of Leigh Bardugo and/or Holly Black, then this is a book for you. That isn't to say Emily A. Duncan doesn't make a name for herself because she is—I'm sure this is going to be a best-selling novel. Imagine the Grishaverse except darker, more gruesome and more bloody.

WOW. That's all I can say. Honestly, this book sweeps you off your feet into an action, intricate journey. You'll devour this book so fast that as soon as you reach the last page you regret reading it so quickly because when is the next one out??

Wicked Saints is about magic. But another interesting aspect is that you never really know who is right and wrong, should you trust a certain character or not....


Expect the unexpected.

I really wanted to like this. I'd heard such good things. The concept was brilliant. I liked the first few chapters. But then it devolved into instalove on one side, and politics we weren't told enough about to follow on the other. I read it to 52% and then skimmed through the rest, I'm afraid. I didn't hate it, I'll recommend it to other readers, but it's not one of the better ones I've read.


Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.

I’ve desperately wanted to read this book ever since I saw the blurb on Goodreads. Unfortunately, as with most things that are over-anticipated, it was a bit of a let-down. On the bright side… that is an absolutely epic series title.

I suspect that a bit of my disappointment has to do with the setting. Wicked Saints is, essentially, set in a fantasy version of Eastern Europe: the land of Kalyazin serves as a thinly-disguised Russia, while their enemy – the neighbouring country of Travania – is basically Poland. (There’s also Akola, aka India, but it only exists on the sidelines).

Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so too. Russia has always been an INCREDIBLY popular location for fantasy worlds. I am, of course, mostly thinking of Leigh Bardugo’s fabulous Grisha Trilogy. I could forgive the setting for Duncan’s book being a bit cliché if there was awesome worldbuilding behind it. Not so. The first half of the book took place in snow-covered forests – well-described, but typical stuff; in the second half, the action shifts to the main court of Tranavia. This didn’t even have the benefit of being well described. It was very hard to visualise the actual physical backdrop to the characters’ actions. What did the buildings look like? The clothing? The people? Beyond a passing reference to onion domes, I have no idea.

Luckily, the characters were a lot more interesting. At least… the main ones were. Nadezhda Leptova – known as Nadya – is a Kalyazi cleric; this means she was given the ability to commune directly with the gods. They’ll do almost anything she asks for, as long as she prays nicely. She’s the only cleric to have existed in Kalyazin for a long, long, time. Nadya is actually something of a state secret – she grew up secretly in a mountain monastery, and Kalyazin is planning to deploy her against the Travanians to turn the tide of the century-long holy war. Tranavians are blood mages, heretics who don’t acknowledge the power of Kalyazin’s gods, and the two countries have been battling to impose their beliefs on the other.

Nadya was mostly a good heroine. I thought she trusted a bit too easily, but then again she did grow up in an isolated monastery, no matter how viciously she’s been trained. So I cut her some slack. When her monastery is attacked, she flees and comes across three other people: two Akolans named Parijahan and Rashid, and – more intriguingly – a defected Tranavian named Malachiasz. As an ex-Vulture, a member of an elite blood mage corps who’ve had their powers tortured into them, she doesn’t trust Malachiasz as far as she can throw him. But she needs his help to sneak into the Tranavian court so she can assassinate the king and hopefully bring peace.

Conveniently, the king’s only son Serefin Meleski is being forced to hold a bride-hunt, giving Nadya the perfect disguise to slip into the court. Serefin was an awesome character. He’s the warrior-general High Prince of Tranavia, whose job it is to hunt Nadya down and who was responsible for the attack on the monastery. He’s spent his whole life on the front line; he has no desire for a bride, but his father – jealous of the son whose power is outstripping his own – has ordered it. So Serefin uses alcohol to self-medicate. He was by far the funniest character in the book, with a droll sense of humour I really appreciated.

Malachiasz’s character was a bit too enigmatic for me to fully get behind. He was all over the place – awkward and anxious one moment, icy and reserved the next. I couldn’t quite attribute this to a deliberate choice on the author’s part, because his personality felt somewhat unpolished. Hopefully this will clear itself up in the next book. Fellow fantasy author Roshani Chokshi compared him to the Darkling, which I have to say felt like a huge stretch. The Darkling’s power and personality absolutely barrels off the pages and slams into readers with the force of a truck. In fact, everyone’s personalities in the Grisha Trilogy does that. Here, nearly everybody except Serefin and Nadya felt like either clichés (the mad prophetess in the tower) or cardboard cut-outs (Parijahan and Rashid). There was just simply nothing behind them.

On a related note, while I don’t really have any objections to the development of the romance between Malachiasz and Nadya, Serefin’s sudden bout of lust was astounding. He calls what’s essentially a random girl with two prior appearances ‘the only person in the court he trusted’! It was incredible, and completely out of character.

The writing was pretty good, just tried a bit too hard to be atmospheric. Like ‘her scream was blood and nightmares and teeth’… that sort of thing. Sadly I didn’t become as immersed in it as I was hoping I’d be.
While this was a somewhat raw book, and definitely felt like the debut novel it is, I anticipate a lot of my issues resolving themselves in the sequels. I’ll certainly be reading them! To end on something which I found pretty amusing… a constant refrain throughout the book is the phrase ‘blood and bone.’ After that massive blow-up between Tomi Adeyemi and Nora Roberts, that made me laugh.

4 out of 5 stars

The Wicked Saints is a dark ya fantasy novel about a girl who can communicate with gods, whose country is on a brink of destruction and who is struggling to find her own identity. It is well written, with great characters and a very interesting world.

While I enjoyed the book and the story, I found that I put the book down and forgot about it for weeks. Don’t get me wrong - the story is good, it just didn’t grip me to the point where I couldn’t put it down. Also, the language I found a bit baffling - it’s a mix of slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Slovakian and Polish), but every single nation speaks the same mix? It was a bit confusing - that the nations didn’t have a distinct language. Cause I can assure you, Polish sounds NOTHING like Russian and nothing like Ukrainian.

It is also dark, but not grim dark, yes it has blood and gore but it’s not overpowering. I think the best way to describe it is as a gothic YA story - gothic as in the original meaning of the word - dark and twisted. And like any YA book it has a love story (but really well done, not in your face), it has great friendships, princess, villains, gods and monsters.

Overall I did enjoy the book, I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the magic and the world, and I will definitely continue with the series. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Leigh Bardugo books or Sabrina (Netflix) series.

I loved this book. I loved the balance between the violence of the war and the (usually) gentle nature of the characters. I loved the suspense, I loved not knowing how it was going to resolve or who I should or shouldn't cheer for. All of it. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Nadezhda Lapteva (Nadya) is a chosen cleric of the goddess of death and magic, Marzenya herself. Nadya has the ability to call on any who reside within the pantheon of the Kalyazin gods and ask for their assistance. If they’re feeling so inclined, they lend her their power and with it, she becomes a mortal instrument of their will, a human sword eager to swing in the service of the deities to which she has devoted her life.

She is the first cleric Kalyazin has seen in over 30 years, the secret weapon that could actually turn the tides of this seemingly endless war once and for all.

When the Tranavians, godless heretics, brutes and blood mages, show up on the steps of her beloved monastery where she’s lived her whole life in peace, she knows she can no longer hide. As the only life she has ever known burns behind her, she pushes forward into the unknown, eager to use her sacred power to end this war and bring Tranavia to its knees.

The friends (?) she makes along the way and the truths (?) she uncovers could shatter everything she’s ever defined her life by. Is this what she wants? Is this what the gods want? Do the means to the end even matter?

There was so much I liked about this book. I was afraid I would get bored with the *~everything is not how it seems ~* vibe I was getting, but wow was I wrong. Duncan’s fully formed characters and her masterful plot movements made this unique story all the more fun. I legit didn’t know how this tale was going to unfold. I had no idea where we were going, but I loved where we ended up.

Duncan’s debut is messy and bloody and ruthless and tender. ‘Wicked Saints’ doesn’t drop until April 2, 2019, and I’m sorry to tease you, but I can promise you it’s worth the wait. She hasn’t even mentioned anything regarding book two but I’m HYPE.

Woah, this was a wild ride. Full confession: I wasn't too into the book in the beginning because it felt like a lot of walking with not much payout. The opening scene and the introduction of the Vultures were really cool, but other than that I felt a little disconnected from any action. But that all changed halfway through once Nadya and co reached Grazyk. The pacing became fantastic at that point, and I loved the plot with the rawalyk and the disparate squads working through their plan to kill the king.

The characters are a real strongpoint in this story. Malachiasz is especially amazing. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is going to fall in love with him. He's incredibly complex and likable, and everything that happened at the end with him was wild. It just made him even more compelling. I'm so excited to see what happens with his character as the series progresses. Nadya is a good heroine as well. I liked seeing her struggle with her faith and I think the whole chosen aspect is handled a bit differently than every other Chosen One trope. She's a living saint, who hasn't really performed her miracles yet. You know she'll go down in history though, and that's very cool. Serefin is pretty funny too. I found myself laughing at his perspective more than once. I like what happened to him in the end, too. None of it makes sense and I am here to learn more! I feel as if we don't know him very well, but based on where his story was in the end, we are certainly going to see a lot more of him in the next book.

The darkness of this story is handled really well. The blood imagery got a little too heavy for me at times, but that's a small complaint over all. That scene with the blood raining on the cathedral on the end was so freaking cool. Very Castlevania, very nice. General warning though, this book is DARK. In the YA scene, I can only compare it to Jay Kristoff's Nevernight, which is right up my alley but definitely not for everyone. Think The Grisha Trilogy on crack.

The mythology is one of my favorite things about the series. The Vultures are so well-crafted, and I'm really excited to get to know more about their order, especially since it seems we will be seeing a lot more of the Black Vulture in the next book. That whole thing, along with Malachiasz just make this a fantastic book. I think it's a great start to a series. The first half felt a little slow to me, but the second half was perfectly paced, with an explosive ending. There is so much room for development and I am thirsty for it. I am certainly excited for the development of this series. If I could read books 2 and 3 right this second, I would.

*Spoiler free, 4.5 stars*

This book has been on my radar for awhile. I didn't know much about it at the start, but the more I found out, the more I wanted to read. So many people have adored it and the premise sounds dark and bloody.

This book is really, really good. Without taking anything into a account anything else, at its core, it is just so solid and so amazing. It doesn't feel like a debut novel and after reading it, I'm shocked that it is.

It's as bloody as it sounds. But, its done with class? I dunno how to explain it, haha. The blood magic is handled gracefully and it got its point across without being too graphic, which I really appreciated. It allowed the story to stand on its own and not rely on shock value.

It's hard to describe how vivid this world is. I can practically feel it. While it didn't come across as strong while reading it, as I think back on scenes, everything is so strong and so clear. I know that's weird, but I think it says something for the writing. I got such a clear picture of the world, the characters, and even the magic system.

There were some parts of this book where I was starting to think things were going to go downhill and I wasn't going to be a fan of some plot points. But, a few chapters later SURPRISE! NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS! And those plot points are completely different and completely amazing once again. The twists came at just the right points and jerked me out of whatever calmness I thought I might have found.

The world is nothing like I've read before. It has political intrigue, while also having an overflow of monsters. Which is amazing. I can't wait to see this world expanded on and some bigger, badder monsters take center stage. And while this world is strong, the plot still moves along smoothly and the characters are still incredibly well developed. I even got attached to side characters and I felt such a connection to their little rag tag group.

This book is something else. I never thought you could put religion, monsters, and holy wars into one book and yet here we are. All the hype is definitely worthy. I cannot wait to see where this story goes, cause I think the next two books are going to be even better than this one.

WICKED SAINTS was one of my most-anticipated reads of 2019 and it did not disappoint in the slightest. This book is full of everything I love - monster boys, magic, and dangerous clerics. Though brutal, the story is also surprisingly humorous at times and I immediately latched onto each of our protagonists. If you're a fantasy lover like me, this is the dark and wintery read you've been waiting for. I think Emily Duncan's book earns its place on the shelf next to Leigh Bardugo and Katherine Arden. My only regret is that I'll have to wait so long for the sequel!

Phenomenal. Wicked Saints is a treasure. Flawed and authentic characters paired with dazzling worldbuilding make for an exciting read. This book is wonderfully researched and excellently executed. The tight prose and nail-biting plot thrilled me and made me beg for more. I cannot wait for this title to release so I can buy a million copies and support the author.

Magic. A society at war. Fantasy. Strong heroine. All the ingredients for a young adult novel that I enjoy. The dual narratives was cool. The set up of the book was typical but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

This book was a bit of a surprise for me. I went in thinking I had a good grasp of what the plot was going to be about based on the synopsis, but as I continued reading, I learned that this book was so much more than a historical retelling.

Wicked Saints is a story about Nadya, the first cleric her country of Kalyazi has seen in many years. She is able to communicate with multiple gods, who grant her magical powers that she uses to help her fight and defeat the heretics from Tranavia with whom the Kalyazi have been fighting for a very long time. At the forefront of the Tanavian army is Serefin, a High Prince, and a gifted mage. His goal is to defeat the Kalyazi, capture the cleric, and end the war. Nadya soon joins a ragtag group of people who only have one goal in mind, to kill the king of Tranavia, and end the war between the two countries.

I loved the world in this book. We have two countries, both of which have two very distinct magic systems. It is hard enough for an author to create and explain to the reader one system of magic, but this author created two and, in my opinion, explained them really well. The world was very robust and well rounded. I really appreciated that there were not super long info dumps, which is fairly typical in a young adult fantasy book in order to help the reader understand the world the novel takes place in. Instead we had short bursts of explanations throughout the book, which helped to flesh out the world. There were moments were moments where I did feel a little confused about something in the world, but it was almost immediately explained, which I loved. I also loved the historical setting of the book. Even though it was obviously a fictional world, you could really see the real-world influences in the descriptions of the architecture, cities, and other surroundings.

I also really enjoyed how the book started us in the middle of action. It really helped me get into the book and I was engaged right away. I did think there were parts that dragged in the middle, and some parts of the narrative felt a little disjointed. We jump between Nadya and Serefin's perspectives in this book, and there were some points between their POVs that I felt could have linked a little more clearly, as I was left a little confused as to where we were in terms of time and place. Although there was a slow middle, the ending made up for it. There was a lot of action, twists, and turns happening, and I found myself flying through the last 20% or so.

Nadya was an intersting character and I liked seeing her going from despising those who were different to her, to learning to accept people for who they are and not where they are from and what they believe in. I also enjoyed Serefin's character, but I wished we could have seen more development from him as a character, but I am sure we will see that in the next book. To me, the most intersting character was Malachiasz. We never got to see into his head, as a reader, so he was always slightly mysterious and I never knew what he was going to do next. I also have a soft spot for morally ambiguous characters so I loved that about him as well. The only thing I didn't love about the characters was the romance in this story. I felt Nadya was a very strong, and independent young woman but she spent so much time pining after her love interest and worrying about that instead of her mission. It just didn't quite match her character, in my opinion.

Overall, this book was great! I loved the plot and I am very excited to see where it goes in the next books in the series.

I liked the story, I didn’t like the characters. Nadya was annoyingly whiny and obnoxious for being the main hero of the story. I wished her dead multiple times. While the premise of the plot was interesting the writing was redundant and lack luster.

SciFi is not usually my favorite genre but the description sounded really interesting so I requested it. Tripped over the complicated names a few times but it was well worth it. This book has it all: action, adventure and some romance. Interesting premise with the different powers (blood mages). Lead character was pretty good, not a wimpy airhead but a pretty strong girl. I really like how she finds peace with former enemies. If only it was like that in real life. Oh, now I have to wait for the next one? Ugh... I hope this author will crank it out fast!

Something Dark and Holy indeed. Wicked Saints was one of the best books I've read this year and it doesn't even come out until next April. This was a book about right and wrong, and the grey area in between. I got serious Grisha Trilogy vibes but also my girl, Joan of Arc. A story filled with many twists and turns. Characters change their alliances and trust. Nadya was a fantastic morally grey character. She was given a mission and you saw as the story progressed, her motivations change. If you were a fan of Alina from Shadow and Bone, than you will really fall love with Nadezhda Lapteva. Great character development for not just the MC but also the secondary characters. A fast-paced book that I just couldn't put down. I loved this book.