A must-listen for fans of the Grishaverse, especially with the lovely Ben Barnes (aka the Darkling!!) as narrator. I found both narrators to have pleasant voices which made for a quick, enjoyable listening experience. 

The Lives of Saints is a must read for fans of the Grishaverse, though, for me, it's a one and done kind of thing. It's nice to get more into the folklore of the world but it's not something I see myself returning to.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Lives of Saints transports us back to Racks and neighboring countries as we learn the origin stories for the saints of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. Leigh Bardugo stuns with each new story as they pull you back into a world of magic and monsters.

These stories are so captivating, even though each aren't super long. These are saints I would happily pray to, and Bardugo reminds us again that sometimes the worst monsters walk and talk amount us. This audiobook is read for us by Ben Barnes, our Darkling in the Netflix series that follows both pieces of Shadow and Bone as well as Six of Crows. His narration only makes me more impatient to watch the series as I believe he will do a fantastic job bringing the Darkling to life.

If you liked Shadow and Bone you will love this collection of stories. I recommend this title for anyone 12+ after reading the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, though Six of Crow duology is not necessary

So I might have gone a little click-happy when I got this book. Just because Leah is not my favorite author, but I still wanted to give it a chance. Plus the audiobook is short so I said why not, you might end up loving it. 

Definitely, one of those books where getting the physical book would have been better for the pictures. I did like the Shadow and Bone Series more than Six of Crows, and I have not read Ninth House yet. So I went into this with an open mind, and I was happily surprised by how much I loved this. 

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. I am so happy I took the chance and listened to this. We all love shorter books at the end of the year.

A quick listen. I found it useful as I had read the other books by Bardugo. The perfect companion for her series, and I thought the narrator was well chosen. I like each of the stories and would definitely love to have a physical copy of this on my shelves.

This is a lovely little collection of short stories and snippets revolving around the Grishaverse's Sankts and Sanktas. They read like fairytales, crisp and imaginative, and whimsically dark. I read the audiobook version, which was beautifully narrated by Lauren Fortgang, and Ben Barnes. 
 I've only read a few of the Grishaverse books, but I still enjoyed this collection a lot. It'll be a must-read for Bardugo fans!

Title: The Lives of Saints
Author: Leigh Bardugo (@lbardugo )
Rating: 4⭐️ 
Narrators: Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang 
Publish date: 12/8/2020

A collection of small stories of the saints from the grishaverse. 

Narrated by Ben Barnes (Darkling in Netflix Adaptation) and Lauren Fortgang. They definitely bring the stories to life. The stories are interesting I wish they had more background. Some of the stories are super funny. If you like the grishaverse this is definitely one you will want for your collection. Some of the stories are about the saints and others are about people that pray to them. Not what I was expecting. It’s a quick read/listen.

I received an early copy of the audiobook from @macmillan.audio via @netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

#grishaverse #livesofsaints #sanctaalina #netgalleyreview #netgalleyaudiobooks #youngadult #shortstories #collections #macmillainaudio

“You can choose faith or you can choose fear. But only one will bring what you long for.”

These are short, very short, stories. It felt more like the description of a tarot card. Most were very sad stories. In order to become a saint you have die a tragic death. It was however fascinating. I don’t usually like short stories. I feel like so much is lost. I kind of wish the book was a large deck of cards and it had the picture of the Saint in the front and the story of that Saint on the back. How cool would that be? I’d cherish that book/cards.

Leigh Bardugo is one of my favorite authors and I love her Shadow and Bone series so I was excited to listen to this.

This book is very short, the audio is 2 1/4 hours.  If you are expecting to learn about lives of Catholic saints, this book is not the book for you.

I wasn't familiar with Leigh Bardugo's other books and series of books.  After listening, I can imagine that this book probably compliments her other books.  I found this interesting even though I have never read any of Leigh Bardugo's other works.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/Leigh Bardugo for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lauren Fortgang and Ben Barnes are the perfect narrators for “The Lives of Saints.” Lauren Fortgang narrates Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha series, so I enjoyed the consistency of her narrating this amazing companion story. Also Ben Barnes is starring in the upcoming Netflix adaptation the Grisha series, so it almost felt like a sneak peek into the show. 
Fans of Leigh Bardugo will recognize this as the book carried by Alina Starkov in The Shadow and Bone Series (Grisha). I loved hearing the stories of the Saints coming to life. If you love the magical prose of Leigh Bardugo, this is the perfect addition to the collection. I really enjoyed listening short to the Istorii Sankt’ya, but the physical book also includes incredible illustrations, so I highly recommend getting both!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an eARC

This was a fantastic little book filled with magic, whimsy, and darkness. It tells the stories of the Ravkan Saints, including some familiar characters from Bardugo's other books.  Each short story follows the origins of a different Ravan saint and the trials each endured to become a Saint.  I listened to the audiobook for this selection and have not seen the images but will reread the physical copy to get the book's full effects. Most of the stories were quite compelling and explained several known characters and situations within the Grishaverse. I have loved Bardugo's writing for years and would highly recommend this book to anyone who feels the same way.

I LOVE Leigh Bardugo. I love Lauren Fortgang, and now.. I love Ben Barnes! This was a wonderful addition to the world that Leigh Bardugo created. The audiobook version really added to the stories by bringing each Saint to life. At times I felt like I was being told rich bedtime stories and folk tales around a fire. I loved it, if you couldn't tell! 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an early release!

Thank  you @netgalley for an audiobook copy of this book! Anything Leigh Bardugo writes I’m all in! She is my auto buy author and I’ve been meaning to pick this book up! I love how she did short stories in the universe and all I could imagine was little kids every night wanting to hear a bed time story. The stories were short and entertaining! I highly suggest the audiobook version as there were dual narrators. The narrators voices were smooth and perfection!

This book is absolutely gorgeous. I read along while listening to the audiobook - which by the way, is narrated by Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang, who do a wonderful job, would recommend. 

The art is stunning, and Leigh Bardugo really delivers on building the Grishaverse further in a collection of shorts about the Saints. Definitely one for the collectors, but totally worth it.

This is such a phenomenal book ans step into the Grishaverse. It's filled with short stories (and I do mean short) about the Saints (Sankt) and how they came to be Saints.  The two narrators (Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang) each tell separate stories. I enjoyed Ben Barnes more than Lauren Fortgang's narration, his has more emotion to it and was easier for me to listen to, Lauren Fortgang was still good to listen to.
Leigh Bardugo is so brilliant, each of these stories was very detailed and some more intense than others. I don't know which Sankt's story I liked more, but I know I will be reading The Lives of Saints again in the future.

Thank you MacMillan Audio and Netgalley for the Audio ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Leigh Bardugo for creating such an astonishing world and characters.

I was pretty excited when I saw the announcement for this book and I would have loved to have it in my collection but unfortunately, I can’t afford it right now so I had to settle for reading the ebook from my library and also listen to the audiobook galley. 

After listening to a glimpse of the Shadow and Bone tv show’s score a couple of months ago, I was feeling a little nostalgic, so it was nice to be back in the Grishaverse. The stories of the Saints in this book are just little incidents of their miracles in life and while they were interesting to read, I don’t think I would remember most of them. It was still a joy when familiar names of places or characters showed up. But as with many dark fairytales, most of these stories end in brutal ways for the Saints despite their benevolence because it’s human nature to misunderstand people and their good actions while they are alive, but revere the same ones after they are dead. So, this did end up being sad and bittersweet on many occasions. However, the illustrations for each of the Saints are beautiful and I’m sure they’ll look even lovelier in person. Hopefully I’ll get to buy it someday soon. 

Overall, this book is perfect for you if you are missing the Grishaverse and want to delve into it again, and have a little time to indulge. The two narrators are also spectacular in the audiobook, and I’m now even more excited for the show because Ben Barnes narration is pretty cool and I’m already imagining the Darkling’s dialogues in his voice.  Here’s hoping it’ll satisfy me till we atleast get the trailer of the show.

This was a really fun collection of super short stories about the saints in the Grishaverse. I thought this was going to be more like Language of Thorns and have longer stories, but they were really short. So it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I still really enjoyed it. Every story made perfect sense with the saint it was depicting.
If you are looking for just a little bit more of the Grishaverse before the Netflix adaptation, definitely check this one out!

Thank you so much, Macmillan audio e Netgalley, for the chance to listen to this audiobook! 

I'm a huge fan of Leigh Bardugo and the Grishaverse is amazing! I loved listening to the saints stories, it was so evocative and perfect and I loved the narrators! It was so great getting to know more about this universe and it's STUNNING!
I definitely recommend the audiobook and the book for wonderful, interesting and intriguing stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the chance to listen to this audiobook. 

I liked Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha trilogy, and I loved her Language of the Thorns book. I was excited to finally get my hands on this. Now that I’ve listened to it, I need to buy it. I can’t imagine my collection of books without this one in it. I’m excited to see all the art throughout as well. I especially loved some of the darker stories. It’s a fantastic book. The narrators were also amazing. I enjoyed the changing between the female and male voice. The accents added to the beauty. Everything was read clearly and well. I’d recommend this audiobook to anyone.

Well, this book has left me conflicted. I am so well versed in the Grisha stories, that while I loved getting this glimpse to a part of the world that is actually in the world (rather than about it), I’m feeling very indifferent and apathetic. Most stories were incredibly short and they all seemed incredibly formulaic. A person sees a problem. They do something. They are lauded as a saint because of it. This isn’t anything bad, but since the stories were short and some names were familiar, there was no attachment. It is very cool though to hold a “relic” from the story and does give the sensation of being a part of the story. 

One of the great things that was lost from the print book to the audio was the art. Many of the images are able to poured over for hours and still discover new details. Those don’t get portrayed in the audio, taking away some of the beauty of it. The narrators by far make up for that though. Ben Barnes has such a soothing voice and is so easy to listen to. It feels almost like a medieval bard is telling an epic tale. His voice and tone and speed is how I imagined the story was intended to be read and told. Lauren Fortgang helps to narrate the stories and also does a masterful job. While two narrators were a bit unnecessary for the length of this audio, they both worked well together and read in a very pleasing manner. I did tend to enjoy Barnes’ narration more, but still greatly enjoyed Fortgang’s narration. 

While I don’t see myself frequently rereading this collection, it adds an interesting new layer to the Grisha world.