The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo
Narrated by: Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang
Publication Date: December 8, 2020 - Out Now!
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Description from NetGalley...
“Dive into the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this audiobook adaptation of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is a magical keepsake from the Grishaverse.

These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint.”
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Thank you to @NetGalley @macmillanaudio for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
Since reading Six of Crows I’ve become a fan of Grishaverse and Leigh Bardugo. The audiobook was good, though I did prefer the narration of Ben Barnes: there was something more believable with his narration. This book was a collection of short tales about Grishaverse Saints and they were quite interesting to hear. Leigh Bardugo has done remarkably well in building this world and these stories are a great addition  in making Grishaverse more believable and realistic.

ben barnes is so fucking hot and his voice is just another level of hotness.....  that's all. thank you for listening to my ted-talk.

While I’m a huge Six of Crows fan and I have had a hard time getting into the other Grishaverse books. The Lives of Saints is the exception. I enjoyed the short stories about the Saints that I’ve only seen mentioned in passing until now. It was a quick read made even faster by me not wanting to turn the audiobook off. 

Ben Barnes has a fantastic reading voice and I was eager to get to the male Saints just so I could hear his voice. It was the perfect blend to Lauren Fortgang’s narration. To me, a good narrator makes you forget that you’re just listening to someone’s voice with an eerily quiet background and you fall into this new world, instantly sucked into the story. Both of them definitely did that for me.

The stories themselves were a good mix of “oh that’s right they’re Saints because people are awful” and some happier stories. I think my favorite was Saint Nikolai! The couple stories at the end did a great job of tying into the events of King of Scars and even answered some questions that I never even knew I had.

Overall this was a fun book and an even better audiobook. Whether you’re looking for a lightweight audio to listen to or to explains your grishaverse knowledge, The Lives of Saints is a must listen to!

A beautiful companion to the Grisha universe.
One of the narrators is the same as the rest of the series and it all ties together beautifully. 
This series of short stories adds a wonderful layer to the Grisha world and I loved every moment.

Beautiful stories read beautifully. I'm a sucker for all of Leigh Bardugo's dark, gut-wrenching tales, even more so when they are told expertly with confidence and grace.

I confess that I have not read all the Grishaverse books, however, I found this to be an instantly engrossing collection to whet my palate. I love the set-up, where each Saint life is presented separately, sometimes by a different narrator. This felt like listening to a book of Saints from our world rather than a fantastical world. The narrators did a terrific job, Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang. They brought life to the stories telling the lives and reasons each of the Saints were made saints. The stories also explained why they were the patron saint of each thing. Well done. I would say that my only criticism is the same I could make of Catholic Saints stories, there wasn't as much background as I wanted! A great taste of why I should probably dive into the novels.
Recommend to those who don't know all the characters in the Grishaverse but want to get a feel to see if its for them and to those who have read all the novels and just want a recap of the lives of these characters.
#TheLivesofSaints #McMillanAudio #Netgalley

I was interested in reading this book after enjoying the Grisha trilogy, and this collection has some really intriguing and fun stories. Unfortunately, none of them stood out to me as particularly incredible or memorable, but it was a generally good collection to follow up the lore mentioned in the Grisha trilogy. I enjoyed the alternating narrators' POVs and I think it was a nice bonus to experiencing the audiobook.

This is a audio book review -

I have adhd which makes it hard for me to pay attention to audio books but this was such an easy read plus Ben Barnes... need i say more? I was so excited to hear that he was narrating part of the book and him and the other narrator made it easy to pay attention plus Leigh Bardugo is such a great story teller especially with short stories. 

This book was a ton of short stories of Saints in the grishaverse and how they become saints. Loved the stories.

The Lives of Saints is a great little book for Grishaverse fans who want to dive further into Leigh Bardugo's YA fantasy universe. If you haven't already read the Shadow and Bone trilogy at the very least, don't pick this up quite yet - The Lives of Saints isn't its own full narrative, but rather, a deeper look into the lore of the world. Objectively, it's probably just a way to rake in some more money, but I appreciate it all the same. 

I'm not usually a fan of audiobooks, but I had a lot of fun with this one. It's narrated by Ben Barnes (our very own Darkling) and Lauren Fortgang, and both voice actors do a wonderful job! They have a lot of diversity in their various approaches to different characters/stories and were both successful at captivating me as a reader/listener.  Having two readers made it easier to stay with the story, too, which I greatly appreciated.

All in all, if you're as deeply embedded in the Grishaverse as I am, it's worth buying both a physical (which is so incredibly beautiful) and audio copy (just to listen to Ben Barnes, if nothing else) of the Lives of Saints!

I loved this book. The narrators were fantastic and the stories were engaging. 

This really fleshed our the grishaverse even more, perfect for Leigh Bardugo fans.

First, don't read this if you haven't read any other book in the Grisha universe.  This is 100% a companion novel that just adds to the background and history of the world.  It really isn't a story, but instead a bunch of short stories of, you guessed it, the lives of saints.

I completely think that this book was pointless to be written, but that doesn't mean that I'm not grateful for it being here.  I have read all of Bardugo's works including the other series of short stories to accompany the Grishaverse "The Language of Thorns".  If you liked the world that Bardugo build but want to know more about its history this is for you.  If you want answers and more of the old characters you loved, this is not for you.  

Overall I enjoyed myself.  I listened to the audiobook and really loved hearing Ben Barnes voice in this. I wish I could have had the physical book to look at the words as well, but that can easily be fixed on my part.  For a short story collection this was great.

My personal favorite part was the Darklings story.  He and Alina got little sections to themselves (less than 10 minutes each), but I liked that it helped show why so much of the population learned to love the Darkling and put him in power.  

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Lives of Saints is a fascinating collection of short stories about, well, the lives of saints, that I’m sure will add greatly to the world building of Bardugo’s Grishaverse. Incredibly reminiscent of books about the lives of Catholic saints, but with more of a fairytale feel, I found the collection charming. I loved the combination of religious and fantastical. The stories are formulaic in the best sense of the word. A collection like this in the real world is supposed to be for spiritual edification first and entertainment second, so I can only assume that’s the feel that Bardugo was going for. However, these were far from dry, and were without a doubt entertaining. 

The saints presented in the collection were wonderfully varied, though most of the tales adhered to one common trope or another. There were pious youths who find themselves persecuted, superstitious citizens who killed what they didn’t understand, cowards who took their blessings so much for granted that they refused to protect them, and greedy nobles who insisted on draining a gift completely dry. The inclusion of these tropes imbued the collection with a timeless quality that reminded me of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Even the cover art hearkens back to Butler’s Lives of the Saints.

Honestly, I haven’t read most of the Grishaverse books. My sister-in-law has read them all and loves them. The only one I’ve read is Six of Crows, which I enjoyed. But, while I have yet to return to Bardugo’s world, it has always been my intention. I thought this audiobook would be a perfect way to dip my toe back into the Grisha waters, so to speak. 

The Lives of Saints is a book that features in the main series, and I love when authors pull out fictional things like this from their world building and make them real. At 128 pages in physical and a little over 2 hours in audio, it’s a very fast read. The audio version is narrated by Lauren Fortgang and Ben Barnes. BEN BARNES. I usually try to always read things in publication order, but BEN BARNES, Y’ALL. Both narrators did an impeccable job conveying these short stories.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the audio, I was very glad to have a digital copy on my phone because the illustrations were gorgeous. There’s something about being read to while also reading the words yourself that reminds me of fairy tales from my childhood, which did nothing but improve my experience with this book. I have no doubt that The Lives of Saints will be a 5 star read for those who are already enraptured with the Grishaverse.

I loved this book and the narrators, they brought the saints to life. Now I really need to read more of the Grishaverse and finish the first series. I love the world Leigh Bardugo and you can almost feel that it is a realy place with all the love she has put into it. I would 100% recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the Grishaverse and anyone who loves to see worlds come alive.

Leigh Bardugo manages to spin lovely stories of the saints within her fantastical world, adding more depth to characters and plots she wrote years ago. These stories feel like home while also being new and fresh.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for letting me listen to the audiobook version of The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo (narrated by Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang) early! The print version of the book came out back in October I think, but the audiobook came out today and I really enjoyed learning about all of the saints and how they came to be saints/those they helped! This review is going to be a little different from my normal reviews (format wise) in that my whole review is going to be in this paragraph and then you’ll get my rating and the summary from Goodreads- I figured I should give y’all a heads up since it’s a little different from my normal. Initially, when I heard about The Lives of Saints, I didn’t think I was going to read it, because I didn’t think it was that important in my Grishaverse journey, but I’m really glad I listened to the audiobook version of it. Not only did I get acquainted with Ben Barnes’ voice (oh I am so excited to see him in the show!), but I also really appreciated hearing about where the saints came from and I feel like it really added to their characters, especially since we see them so much in King of Scars. The Lives of Saints is a quick, fun audiobook (it was less than 2 hours for me since I listened to it at 1.5x speed) and I definitely recommend it!

The Lives of Saints 5/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Dive into the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is a magical keepsake from the Grishaverse.

These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint.

I want to start with the narration. It was on point. The narrator felt like they belonged in the world of Leigh Bardugo. From the first sentence i couldn't stop listening. It was melodic and intriguing. It has been a long time since an audiobook drew me in so well and kept me entertained. I will have to see what other works this narrator has done.
The story was well written and if you are a fan of the original series this is a must read/listen.

These stories have the same flavor as Leigh's other stories, but they lack the depth of those in the Language of Thorns (mostly because they're shorter). For a book about the history of Saints, however, it's pretty much what I would expect, and there were some nice tidbits and tie-ins with the rest of the series. Mostly they just made me want to go back and listen to the Grishaverse novels again.

I appreciated them more, with Lauren Fortgang and Ben Barnes reading them, than I would have if I'd read them myself, though I did miss out on the illustrations. The narration was excellent, I loved the intro/finale music, and in general, the audio production was top notch.

The audiobook itself is wonderfully done. Audiobooks are not my preferred reading format, but these stories were simple enough for me to easily follow and keep track of. I love the narrators and the music. It was interesting to hear about the different Saints referenced in Leigh Bardugo’s books, and to have the “actual” Lives of Saints book from the Grishaverse. In comparison to her other short story collection,The Language of Thorns, this collection does t have as rich or developed writing/descriptions, plot, or characters (although it still had poetic turns of phrases). The tales of the saints are shorter and a little more bare-bones. However, I think it was a smart writing choice because of how they may compare to the accounts of our own Saints and holy figures. I think that’s also why I liked to audiobook so much—-if these accounts were real, they most likely would have been spread through the oral storytelling tradition before being written down and compiled.

A beautifully narrated book! I absolutely enjoyed listening to all these stories and would 100% recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the Grishaverse!!

A fun addition to the Grishaverse world novels! I love seeing authors write additional material to support their worlds that aren’t part of the existing storyline. I enjoyed the Shadow and Bone series, wouldn’t say I loved it, but The Lives of the Saints plays a big role in the trilogy and seeing Bardugo actually write the stories and share them just gives the reader more to love.

A little bit inspiring, a little bit terrifying - all the things that make Grishaverse unique and wonderful. If you enjoy her other novels in the world, absolutely recommend picking this up to read (or listen to, as I did). 

Audiobook narrators were great - I really liked having the male/female readers for the different saints! Only criticism was possibly in the audiobook production - I typically listen to audiobooks at 1.25 or 1.5x and when put at 1.5x the sound was very shaky. If this was longer than just a couple hours, it may have gotten very annoying. Otherwise great readers!