Unfortunately I agree with some other readers that this is not Legrand's best work. While the premise is interesting, it's not exactly a fresh take, and I have definitely seen it done better by other authors. I do think Legrand has a knack for horror though and I would check out more from her in the future.

Claire Legrand's writing is so poetic and beautiful.It was weird, creepy and overall a decent read. I did find the plot a bit anti-climactic but the writing did still draw me in.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Stars: 1 out of 5.

DNF at 35%.

This is definitely not for me. I don't deal well with religious drama, cults, and religious zealots, and while I was told that the book eventually moves past that, I just didn't feel the strength to slog through that part of the story to get to the interesting bits. I put this book away and picked it up so many times, I finished 3 other books in the meantime. And I had to force myself to pick it back up every time. The only reason I stuck with it so long is because it's an advanced copy. I usually feel obligated to at least make it through a quarter of a book I received for review before I call it quits.

Religious oppression and violence is not the only reason I couldn't finish this book. I can't stand the main protagonist. I also don't understand her motivations. The choices she makes don't makes sense. She is so pious and ready to become a saint, and judgmental of anyone she considers not pious enough, especially her mother... then she decides that she wants to find the Devil? Hmmm, why exactly? How a barely remembered story (that ended badly, by the way) would make her think that confronting the Devil would save her village? Why is she willing to commit theft and perjury for that?

There are a lot of her other choices and behaviors that made me shake me head in dismay. And they made me like her even less. For someone who sees herself as a sort of paragon of piety and virtue, she is extremely judgmental and unkind to everyone who she sees inferior to her. That's especially glaring towards her fellow saints and her sister. I'm sorry, but I can't possibly root for someone this unlikeable.

The worldbuilding is wobbly at best. I can't even picture how this village lives. What kind of technology do they have? How do they feed themselves? What do they wear? How do they craft their tools? Nothing. The explanation about Extasia is also rather unsatisfying. 

I've seen a lot of raving reviews for this book on Goodreads, but for me, it was a disappointment.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Claire Legrand book. Wow! It will NOT be my last.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

This book takes place in a distant dystopian future, and follows a girl who lives inside a deeply misogynistic society. I had such high hopes for this book, but I found the world building to be very confusing, and the story to be equally confusing, I honestly had a hard time following what was happening in this book. I know a lot of other readers have been really enjoying this book, so I'm glad it has found its readership!

So so good. Be prepared for some religious trauma. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the ending, but the more I sit with it, the more I do like it.

I went into it thinking it’d be this dystopian, dark fantasy type read with a witchy theme, but it turns out it is so much more than that. Legrand wrote a story that was intense in some parts and hard to put down. My interest in cults could have helped my favourable opinion of this book. Although it was longer than I think it needed to be, I think the overall story was well written, the characters were fleshed out, and the world building was decent. 4 stars.

I had high hopes for this one. Amity, the main character, was well developed and I loved the world created here. However, most of the other characters fell flat in comparison.

The premise of a coven of witches hiding in the woods, luring young girls away from the misogynistic cult they belong to had me invested from the start. Then the story starts to drag until the end and I lost interest.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy to read in exchange of an honest review.

I loved this author's writing style and I can't wait to read more of her work. It was beautiful and atmospheric.

With witches, a coven, a religious cult this is an awesome read for those who love horror and all things spooky.

Extasia is a horror novel about a witch named among the four saints of Haven. If you love the movie The Witch, read Extasia. It's perfect for anyone who enjoyed that films. It's a unique, atmospheric tale with beautifully lyrical writing. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Extasia in time for Halloween.

WOW I hated this book!!!! The writing was really subpar and the characterization was disjointed at best. The sci-fi twist at the end was poorly executed and took away from the rest of the story's buildup. I have no sympathy for a person who was gifted power and then doesn't use it to help others, so the protagonist was just a complete disappointment to me. Instead of this drivel, go read Slewfoot by Brom.

I really liked one of Claire Legrand's earlier thriller novels (Sawkill Girls) and I was hoping for something similar in this, but unfortunately that was not the case. It was just too long for my liking. It definitely didn't need to be almost 500 pages. I definitely was intrigued off the start of this novel, but quickly grew disenchanted with it. And many of the events that occurred past the halfway point only confused me more.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but it drew me in quickly. The small village the main character lives in has secrets--some easy to guess if you've read books in this genre before, others less expected--and it's honestly got some pretty twisted religious rituals.

One thing I appreciated about this book was that the characters were not all stereotypes--most of the "bad" characters had some redeeming quality (if only to Amity or someone else who cared for them), and characters who were "good" had some not-great qualities as well. It felt much more realistic than "all these men hate all women, all these women should hate all these men, and no one is redeemable to the other side" which stories like this can too easily devolve into.

My main qualm is the pacing seemed a bit off, and a bit more character exposition would've been nice.

Content warning: religious trauma, misogyny, dead parent (mother), dead dog, attempted sexual assault, suicide (mentioned), vomiting, gore

Extasia takes place in a post apocalypse where supposedly the last bastion of humanity is a village called Haven, run by patriarchal fundamentalists who believe that a woman’s role is to be a pure baby maker. The main character, whose saint name is Amity, has wanted nothing more than to be a saint, especially after her mother was ousted from the village. But she catches two other girls wandering off to a coven of literal witches, and suddenly, she has an idea to put an end to the increasingly mysterious and gory deaths of the men in Haven once and for all.

The magic is very real and the cult seems omnipotent, this book is a little less The VVitch and little more like The Village, but definitely in conversation with works like The Grace Year by Kim Liggett.

To start, Amity is deeply unlikeable, which makes sense. She’s been steeped in patriarchal misogyny her entire life and that’s reflected in her views and interactions at the beginning of the book. Menstruation is something to be feared as it affects her saint status. She berates her sister for masturbating and is terrified watching two other girls kiss like “husband and wife.” It’s clear the Legrand has done research into the psychology of a cult member and it shows on the page.

The discussion of gender in this novel is very binary, but because the rules are localized to this story, it worked for me. Especially given the primary context of a cult with strict gender roles to begin with, and whose origins do get explained in the end. If the vilification of women’s agency under the cloak of Christianity like something out of The Scarlet Letter makes you uncomfortable, this will not be an enjoyable read.

But much like in Legrand’s other YA horror, Sawkill Girls, there is a tenderness and love among the cast that includes romance, but elements of found family. Edges are thorny, there are no easy answers. Some actions take place fueled by intense emotion, and the presentation of the literal magic are dreamy and nightmarish in equal measure.

There is no shortage of blood and gore, and I really enjoyed how Legrand explores forgiveness, accountability, revenge, and justice. I’m going to cipher discussions around the ending, but for every horrible thing that had been done to the girls, there is justifiable anger. In terms of character development, Amity definitely gets deprogrammed through her interactions with the coven, even though the motives are not at all pure and stand in direct opposition of all her values in a variety of fronts.

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This book was amazing. I coudn't put it down. It was magical. Higly recommended! The characters, the plots, the writting: wonderful and perfect.

The saints wear the hood and absorb the sins of the flock. If becoming a saint will restore the reputation of a family, then it will be worth the price. Extasia examines the box all females are placed in and how that box needs to be broken. The plot is action driven by spooky experiences and bases most of the immersion on gore and details. The reader will constantly feel unease and fear of what will happen next. While there is a thin familiar plot throughout the book, subplots are introduced and take away from the horror aspect of the book. The surprise ending doesn't close the book but leaves a "what?" feeling that does not tie anything together.

Christian/neo-Puritan cult that uses young girls as saints to take out their frustrations on basically. The book follows a girl who becomes a saint in this cult. This is a dystopia in which the world was destroyed by wicked women and Haven is the only place where humanity survives, by the grace of God. I did feel some Handmaids tale vibes on this one. Just a touch in terms of the cult aspect.

Saints are young teen girls chosen by the village elders to become vessels for people to take out their sins on, by way of beating/scratching/anything really so they won’t lay their hands upon anyone else. This is so messed up and it made it hard for me to read at times. It definitely took time to get into this one. As our main character's eyes are opened to the abuse and lies of the village I began to enjoy the book a bit more. The author does a good job of making the reader uneasy and to be honest a bit sick at the abuse of the main character. If that was what Legrand was trying to do then it was successful. However, the journey was worth it and our main character does have a sapphic relationship with another character as do many of the other girls in the novel.

If you like dark horror and witches then you will enjoy this novel.

EXTASIA was so good! It gave me righteous rage witches, sweet baby Sapphic witches that I would die for, and a great balance of horror and fantasy elements. Just delightful!

And delightfully gory! Legrand clearly knows that the way to a girl's heart is flowers and viscera.

Claire Legrand is back, but this time her fantasy world is much darker than her usual tales (which is saying something). Enter Extasia, an LGBTQ+ friendly horror novel full of the paranormal and more.

Extasia is the story of a girl turning saint – but not in the way you might expect. You see, she's the saint only in the eyes of her cult. The elders have marked her to become a saint, making her stand out from a young age.

It will be her task, alongside her sisters, to head into the black mountain and deal with great evil. This evil has killed many adults. Once completed, this will prove that she and the other are saints.

Ouch. Extasia is arguably the roughest book I've read this year – and no, I am not referring to the quality of writing here. There's just...a lot to deal with within these pages. Honestly, I almost put it down on more than one occasion.

What do I mean? Well, there are lots of warnings worth discussing; animal death, sexism, sexual harassment, abuse, suicide, cannibalism, and torture. These elements play a huge role in Extasia and thus can't easily be skipped. So please do consider yourself warned. I mean it when I say that it was almost too much for me at times. I had to take lots of breaks while reading, especially following the animal scenes.

It's pretty clear even from the description that this story is about a girl in a cult. Thus, it doesn't take long to become concerned about her well-being and eventual fate. Especially not once they start talking about her becoming a saint.

While Extasia was a lot to deal with, I do think that it opened the door for some pretty interesting conversations and ideas. Amity's character is strong, even before she gets her hands on power. Yet that very power forces her to enter a new realm of struggle.

Having sapphic characters and plots was a nice touch, if I may say so. It was a grounding (and positive) element of the book that I really appreciated seeing.