That was extraordinary. I was surprised from the very beginning by how vivid and vibrant the world in this book is. I have never before read a book with such a detailed and complicated world and I struggled sometimes to use my imagination and dive into it.

The story itself is not so simple - we have old traditions, families, agreements, and the magic which is not as black and white as we would like to hear. The relations are complex as well - many strong characters, many hard decisions, and all of these wrapped in the darkness. Sounds interesting?

I appreciate the writing, the construction, but on the other hand, it was not the best book I have read. I was kinda exhausted to remember all the things in new language, new order, totally different world. Especially, that I cannot afford (as many of us would probably agree here) to sit and spend 6 hours in the row to just read and feel it. And when I was coming back, day after day, at first I was lost and it takes time to enter this story one more time.

The overall story was fine. My issues were with the charachters mentioned in the book, some of them hardly had enough details. For me a key driving fact to read through are the charachters of a book, being invested in them.

As that did not happen, it a little difficult to complete this one.
Maybe not the best pick for me

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! The book definitely seemed very interesting and exciting to me. The world is built very well, the characters are extremely diverse and interesting. But at the same time, it seemed too long. I love the way the author writes. I can tell that she have inexhaustible ideas and tried to pass it all on to a piece of paper but it can definitely be divided into at least two parts so that everything can be built even better. There are gods, undead , and definitely a lot of intrigues , and at times it was very difficult for me to keep an on top with everything that was going on. At times, I was like, "What are you" or "God, what was that, I have to go back and read again." There is definitely more positive than negative things for me in this book so my rating is 4⭐ / 5. I liked it, but as I said I wish it was split into two parts. However, I would definitely recommend it. If you like this genre ,it is definitely worth reading the book and getting acquainted with the amazing world in it! But yes.. You will need more time to read! I'il follow the author with great interest for her next books.

3.5 stars
This was an okay read for me. Nothing too exciting and nothing boring as well. So let's say this read had been in the middle for me.

The title gave me so much of a powerful female MC vibe which was there and I loved it. Lainie was a character I hadn’t thought I’d love but I did. The world building was another highlight that added to my list of ‘what I loved’ about this book although it may seem a bit complex in the beginning. I loved the plot and how unique it was among this bookstagram and booktok era of fantasy fiction, which should really be appreciated. In addition, I enjoyed how the story concluded. So you may find it a bit difficult to start but it’s good when you get around the hang of the story.

Something that gave me difficulty was the writing style. It was good but not the right one for me and was slow paced, which was one of my bookish pet peeves. This led me to not read the book for almost a month until I decided that I should really read this. Overall, this is a book I’d recommend to readers who love fantasy books with intricate plot details and an amazing witchcraft kind of setting (that was a bonus for me)!

I was so interested in this book after reading the blurb, but it was such a slog the entire way. The base premise is an interesting one, but there is just so much going on, with so much unecessary world building you were regularly pulled out of the story for it. I absolutely love world building when it is done well and it's important to the story but so much of the worldbuilding in this book just felt superfluous & unneeded. I really liked Lanie (short for Miscellaneous which seemed like a ridiculous name but anywho) and her revenant housekeeper/nanny Goody, but could not stand her sister. She was quite literally a psychopath with no redeeming qualities. The magic system is an interesting one but you only learn dribs and drabs about it, enough to start to get a feel but not enough to actually understand it or be interested in learning more which is a shame. I would have liked to learn more about the magical system & had less of the extensive world building taken out. I really wanted to love this but in the end I barely finished it because of how exhausting it was to read. The chapters that were good were extremely enjoyable, but they were quite few & far between for me personally. 2.5 stars moved up to 3 for Goodreads. I was given a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review by Netgalley.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this but, unfortunately, it was a DNF for me.

The concept of a necromancer who's allergic to death was intriguing but this was DENSE. The worldbuilding was dense, the writing was dense, the plot was dense. I probably could've handled it if I'd been really gripped by the story, but I found it a bit underwhelming.

Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I'd say this is somewhere in the 3.75-4 star range.

Saint Death's Daughter is an absolute sensory treat, with expansive world building and genuinely delightful characters.

This was, however, one of the most challenging reads I've come across in awhile, and I haven't had to work this hard in a long time. For the first third, I found the writing so lyrical and... dense? that I almost felt drunk while reading it. In many ways it is like Terry Pratchett's Discworld had a very bizarre baby with a Tim Burton movie, and I could almost hear a whimsical but also a wee bit creepy underscore of music playing in the background while I read. Don't get me wrong, though, I do think that all of the work I put into reading this was worth it, and I think this work was wholly original—I think that comparisons to Gideon the Ninth are unfair to both books, because apart from the necromancy and macabre vibes, they are quite different (even the kinds of macabre are different: I'd say Saint Death's Daughter is macabre, but if you slathered a layer of whimsy over it). The writing in this is so visual that I am really excited to read this one on audiobook when I get the chance, and I hope there is some sort of visual medium adaption at some point, because I think it'd be absolutely beautiful.

The other thing is that this book is long, and a lot happens. At times I found myself wondering why this wasn't multiple books, but when I got to the end I understood why and how all this fit into one volume. It's a laborious read, but again, I thought it was very worth it. This is the kind of book I want a physical copy of to take highlighters and sticky notes to, to make connections and write theories and so on and so forth. It was a delightful read, and I enjoyed it, and I think if you're ready to work hard and be ready to be delighted as well as bewildered, this one is absolutely for you, and I do think that this is the kind of book that would just grow and expand with reread upon reread. In any case, I sure do hope this is a series because I simply must know more.

I like complex worldbuilding but in a show me way, not the tell me way. Sadly, this was a tell me. Huge info dumps tangled with seemingly pointless side plots. The writing was a bit verbose/pointlessly complex for my taste. I felt so lost in the story immediately and felt like I spent every page trying to catch up. I kept having to force myself to return to the book before finally DNFing, which is incredibly disappointing as this was one I was excited to read. Maybe the wrong time for me.

Huge thanks to Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for the e-arc of Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I’d heard a few descriptions of this book before I started it, which were a little mixed and initially when I forayed into the first few chapters U had my doubts. There was a lot of information to absorb, not withstanding the family history, days of the week, etc, but then it clicked and I absolutely must say this book is an utter f***king delight!

Miscellaneous (Lanie) Stones is the youngest daughter in the family of royal assassins and a necromancer, with a severe allergy to death and violence, she suffers echo wounds and huge allergic reactions whenever she is in the presence of violence or death…the touch of someone linked to any form of violence is shockingly dangerous to her!

Lanie is introduced as a child, and her growth throughout the book is fabulous. She definitely takes a journey physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually and magically! Despite or maybe as a rebellion against her upbringing she is an amazingly loyal, empathic, emotionally strong, fierce survivor, she loves those around her resolutely and applies her intellectual and emotional intelligence to learn and be better!
Saying this, Lanie still makes mistakes, which just makes her more human, but her strength lies in learning from those mistakes and recognising that she isn’t alone and does have allies with the same aim as her.

The world building and plot in this book are complex, but the footnotes (delivering a definite Pratchett-esque vibe,) are supportive and amusing. This is a world of politics, political families fighting for survival amongst a macabre magical society, dominated by Gods, magical seasons and surges, and plots aplenty.

At times the plot is so complex that you do need to step back, think about it and return to reread certain sections, which for some I can see being frustrating. However, I found the complexity to be all the more engaging. This book is an onion. There are layers upon layers of intrigue, plotting, gods and the undead. Talking of which, a total shout out for Goody and Grandpa Rad - amazing characters for totally differing reasons that I dare you not to be enthralled by.

This book calls upon some key themes, including love, familial and to a lesser extent romantic, found family rather than the family you are born into, loyalty and protecting those you truly care for, whilst trying to do what is right.

In terms of how this rates as a fsntasy, it’s definitely in my top 5 overall, nudging some strong contenders aside and I really can’t wait to read the next chapter in Lanie’s story! Definitely grab this one with both hands when it’s released, find your quiet comfy spot and carve out time to be pulled into Lanie’s world!

I read 20% of this book and realized it wasn’t for me.

As far as I can tell it seems to be a wonderfully written YA novel and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to readers who enjoy YA. I had hoped that the fascinating premise would win out over my general disinterest in YA, but I just couldn’t get into it.

(I’ve rated it based on what I think a fair rating would be from someone who enjoys the genre.)

3.5/5

✨DISCLAIMER:✨
Ehem, so this book did not sit well with me. SPECIFICALLY because it does a lot of things I dislike in YA fantasy books. It DOES have a lot of positive aspects and IS a journey of a fantastical story and a fabulously developed world. There is much to admire and appreciate as can be seen below. If you are not like me, the book may be in the 4 stars, if you ARE like me, this is a highly frustrating and dissatisfying read and a 2.5 - 3 😒

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ The BEST set of names I have EVER read
~ An incredible start to a seemingly rich story and development of characters
~ Footnotes which are absolutely brilliant and enchanting
~ Very thorough world-building with robust characters and motivations
~ Lots of rich detailing (except dark skin colours )

Miscellaneous Stones is allergic to violence and death. As a necromancer, she is frail, dreadfully allergic and unlikely to reach twenty before her weaknesses kill her off. Not only this, but her recently dead (and forever asleep) parents, left her and her psycho/murderous big sister with tremendous debt - debt that will now see them removed from their homes forever; but not before marriage proposals, visiting queens, several deaths, a captured man/bird and a host of attempts at raising the dead. As Lanie passes through troubling stages in her life, in which she behaves like she is still 15 and NOT 23, her magic and bond to Saint Death will grow and her fearsome ability as one of the last remaining Stones will cause a royal city to quake and hearts to break.

✨Give it a read.

🌱THE MEH
~ The lack of bathing EWWWW and making her EXTRA dirty for WHY?!
~ I wish the author had done more research into describing dark skin colours; the fixation on mediocrely using ‘black skin’ and ‘black-brown’ skin, left MUCH to be desired in the otherwise highly enchanting descriptions of colours. It really is a disappointment. 😔
~ A tad too much fluff, time wasting and anticipated idiotic decisions 😬
~ Wasted expectations!

♡🌱 But that’s just me ;)

Saint Death's Daughter is a wonderful spooky fantasy that is utterly complex and unique! While the many components of the story got consfusing and it is somewhat of a slow start it was worth it all in the end. The quirky characters, detailed world and history of the characters create a beautiful narrative that keeps you wanting more on every page.

Saint Death’s Daughter follows Lanie, who has gift for necromancy but is afraid of death and violence. The concept was creative in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. The irony of the main character’s gift and her fear is what really kept me reading.

All the characters had a strong personality which made them the story more interesting but Lanie is staying with me for a while. At first, I didn’t connect with her but after she became my favorite. The way the author wrote her made her unique and fun to read.

Although the characters were great, the way the pacing was executed wasn’t beneficial. I found it really slow sometimes and fast others. I couldn’t put it down but then it was boring because there were a lot of details that weren’t completely necessary. Later, those details made me confused and unmotivated to continue.

Overall, it was a good story with some minor flaws. Still, I encourage avid fantasy readers to check the story out.

An enjoyable read that didn't quite keep my attention consistently = 3.5 stars rounded down because long books these days bring me down. However! This was just darn pleasant for a book about a necromancer with the word death in the title. It's heiress to Garth Nix's Abhorsen series and Tanith Lee's Claidi series in tone and creativity and for main characters who are wholly themselves and lovable for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC!

A very cool premise and and very well done. I liked the characters and the development but I did find the book a bit long overall.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

I escaped into the frightful world of assassins, necromancy and sinister plots weaved by Cooney. Here’s an author brimming with creativity and intelligence, creating such a fantastical and intricate world with different types of magic and an elaborate cast.

At times, it was too much, and I found it difficult trying to follow the complex storylines which were all woven together - it felt like many stories in one, with a lot going on. Along with the sometimes complicated language, a confusing mash up of unusual names and nicknames, and a strange and unfamiliar calendar tracking the time at the beginning of each chapter, I got a little lost and overwhelmed. It made it difficult to truly engage with the story and fall into the world Cooney designed. That being said, I admire the attention to detail and immense skill it must have taken to build this world and the story.

This was a long and often slow paced novel, but I think its last few chapters were its greatest strength. The unexpected plot twist (you’ll know it when you read it!) had me saying out loud ‘no freaking way!’ and wanting to reread the book immediately to look for any hints of what was to come. Over the course of the book, told through Lanie’s eyes, my heart broke and warmed for her. An innocent girl excited by her craft and talents, with a purity not shared by her family. A girl trying her best to do the right thing and living in fear of the fallout from her family’s reputation - fallout anyone can see the softhearted necromancer doesn’t deserve. Lanie is a multi-layered character who can tug at your heart strings and have you cheering for her. Watching her build relationships outside of her household is rewarding but my favourite thing was the journey her relationship with Mak took. A tumultuous beginning for a pair that were both hurting in their own ways and a lot of miscommunication, prejudice and trauma living between these two characters but seeing them chip away at these with their joint freedom as the novel progressed was an absolute treasure!

At the end of the novel, after the massive surprise Cooney had in store near the finish line, I found myself needing to know what comes next. The majority of the novel ties up nicely and could go without a sequel but that one unravelled thread needs closure, and I’m hoping Cooney will deliver it in future!

Really interesting concept of a book, the blurb draws you in and then the plot delivers the killing blow.

Life gets complicated when Death gets involved.

To be born into a family of royal assassins pretty much guarantees that your life is going to be… rather unusual. Especially if, like Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones, you also have a vicious allergy to all forms of violence and bloodshed, and an uncanny affinity for bringing the dead back to life.

To make matters worse, family debt looms – a debt that will have to be paid sooner rather than later if Lanie and her sister are to retain ownership of the ancestral seat, Stones Manor. Lanie finds herself courted and threatened by powerful parties who would love to use her worryingly intimate relationship with the goddess of death for their own nefarious ends. But the goddess has other plans…

The characters were great and really diverse with lots of different representations. The characters developed throughout and would jump in and out of the narrative. The main character was easy to love and I found myself routing for them.

The plot was so interesting and was ever-changing so I didn't get bored, with lots of twists and turns.

HIGHLIGHTS
~reliquaries > roses as the Most Romantic Gift
~Do you floomp or do you froof???
~The dog does not die
~Real necromancers love life
~don’t trust the birds
~dress your school up like a brothel to trick people into an education

A very few times in my life, I’ve encountered books that make the universe entire shift into alignment, books that are the culmination of every moment from the Big Bang to now. Books that feel like the reason the Big Bang happened, like everything that has ever existed did so just so that these books could be written and published and put in my hands. Like every moment that ever was has been leading up to this one.

Books that feel like the point; of the world, of humanity, of me.

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek. Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente. A few priceless others.

And, now, Saint Death’s Daughter.

How are you supposed to talk about a book it feels like you were born to read?

*

Take a generous handful of edible candy jewels and mix them into a casket of perfectly-cut gemstones. Stir in the most beautiful sugar skulls you can find. Add red velvet and pink tulle, spangles and razor blades, sequins and silver spearheads. Choose the most perfect, moonstone-gleaming bones and entomb them lovingly with your treasures. Breathe life into little mice skeletons to watch over your hoard. Give them tutus and tiaras and burning blue fire where their eyes would be. Give them cuddles and kisses and names.

Cast royal blood in a circle around it all, and set that blood alight.

Et voilà: Saint Death’s Daughter.

*

<In all her twenty-two years, Lanie had mainly kept company with forty thousand skeletons (mostly furniture), a ghost (megalomaniacal), and a revenant housekeeper (seldom garrulous).>

The thing is, I don’t want to tell you much about this book. I want you to experience it the way I did; a cake whose every layer is more delicious than the last; a gemstone that always has another glittering facet when you turn it over in your hands; a gift that never stops giving. And part of that was the surprise, of going in not knowing what to expect. For once, I have no argument with the blurb being coy with information. This is a book you should go into unprepared.

And unarmed.

Lay down your armour. Your cynicism, your scepticism, your grown-up-ism – set them all aside. The part of you that frets about what other people think, the part that would be too embarrassed to dye your hair rainbow colours or deck yourself in glitter, the part that’s too shy to get up on stage and sing karaoke even though you’d love to – let all of that go.

You don’t need them here. Saint Death’s Daughter is an escape, and it’s an escape because it’s true, because it taps into something real and rare that too many of us struggle to remember: life is fucking wonderful, actually.

*

Saint Death’s Daughter is joy. (Not a joy – although that too! – but joy.) It’s a feast, a banquet, a ball, rich and glittering and strange and perfect. This is a book about a necromancer but it is fundamentally a book about life, about the love of life, about how beautiful and wonderful it is to be alive in the world.

<Love was the Dreamcalling, love the Great Wakening, love the foundation of the Maranathasseth Anthem. It was the finest of all reasons to live–and after death, to live again.>

You would not believe how long it’s taken me to write this review, or how many drafts I’ve started and scrapped. I simply don’t know how to talk about it. But something clicked recently, and I realised what it was I was struggling to put into words about this book:

Saint Death’s Daughter is the opposite of depression. The exact opposite. It is the opposite of depression, distilled.

<She wanted to eat everything and everyone right down to the bone and suck the marrow clean.>

This book is giggles and glory, richness and rawness, sweet and seraphic and swish. It is ornate and orphic, jubilant and jocose, luxurious and luminous and lit. It is flamboyant and fierce, dashing and devious, iridescent and intoxicating, extravagant and effervescent and epic. It is candyfloss and glitter and toe-bones as love-gifts; a literal, physical allergy to violence in a babe raised by a revenant; jewelled nail-talons pricking fingers so you can wield blood-fire. It is rich in everything, and overflows with love and life and gorgeous prose, an ivory cornucopia of unstinting, unending magic. Literal magic: necromancy and shapeshifting and blood-fire-wielding, deities and revenants and ghosts, even one character who can slow down time. But also the kill-for-you die-for-you live-for-you magic of family and friendship, and I don’t care if that sounds like a Hallmark card, it’s genuine and moving and caught my heart in my throat.

It is everything at once, and I don’t know how that’s possible – I don’t know how you can have Epic Fantasy vibes and a school set up inside a brothel to trick would-be patrons into getting an education, how you can have green moustaches alongside terrifying Blackbird Brides, how you can have divine benedictions alongside mispronounced lemonade. I don’t know how you can have Fire Knights next to froofing, how footnotes full of glorious silliness can go so well with scenes that will have you sobbing, or how any one story can juggle so many different kinds of love and make them all balance perfectly, none outweighing the others. I don’t know how a single book can make me gasp and beam and cackle and quake and pother and hiss and whoop and goosebump and cheer and crow and curse and cry, but I can only assume each of the 12 gods of Athe blessed this book like fairy godmothers and these are all the gifts they gave wrapped up in paper and ink.

Saint Death’s Daughter is absolutely a gift.

<“Bless your prism eyes, that see rainbows trapped in the plain plumage of your fellows.”>

(I wish I could take it through a time-machine back to baby!Sia, leave it on her pillow so she’d know that being weird is wonderful, is something to be celebrated, not only is there room for you in the world, the world wants you. You’re going to grow up in a world where this gets written and published and it will be good.)

<“But, as you Lirians say, ‘a salacious selling point is the first friend of social change!’”

Lanie lifted her head. “Wait. We say that?”

“Sex sells,” Canon Lir translated.>

It is delightful. It is whimsy writ large and bolt and brilliant; it is gutpunchingly powerful; it had me breathless with laughter one minute and my blood pounding at the poignancy the next. It is as extravagant as a Guo Pei fashion show, as exuberant as a Pride parade, as stirring and beautiful as Día de los Muertos. It is an exhilerant – an exhilarating accelerant of a book, lighting you up with elation.

It’s impossible to sing its praises too much or too loudly, just as it’s impossible to point to anything – anything! – and call it a flaw.

For real. Usually I’m able to take a step back and admit that however much I love the thing, this and this and this could have been better. I pride myself on my ability to be objective like that. But here? It doesn’t matter how far I step back, I can’t see any stretch marks. I can whip out the magnifying glass, the microscope, and I still can’t find anything to critique. Not one single thing. Not the characters, not the dialogue, not the plot, not the worldbuilding, not the relationships, not the villains, not the quests, not even the outfits. Not even the TIME-SKIPS, and we all know how impossibly difficult those are to utilise well! But not even them.

<Mak was taking all of his daughter’s daytime dreads and re-shaping them into a beautiful nighttime myth, the same way he reshaped his body with sothaín into the very essence of his prayers.>

And I do think I’m being objective when I say that. Why do you think this hit me so hard? Why do you think I’ve been struggling like I have to talk about this book? It is literally perfect. Just thinking about it now genuinely, honestly brings tears to my eyes so my glasses get all smudged up. I have had to take so many breaks, typing this up. I can’t – there aren’t words.

<She felt surrounded by a lifetime of Canon Lir’s letters. It was as if she moved through the world protected by the walls of an invisible library>

There aren’t words, so I made one, because that’s apparently what I do whenever I’m given a new Cooney book. Thus: the only way to describe the world of Athe that Cooney has created, this book she’s written about it? Is athegravagant. Saint Death’s Daughter is athegravagant, and you’ll only understand what that means if you read it.

Just. This is my book, folx. This is The Book, for me. This is everything I ever wanted and everything I didn’t know to want.

(Except a unicorn. I must admit that I did not spot any unicorns, but! This is only the first book in a series and so I will hold out hope that there will be one later, and you know what, even if there isn’t, Saint Death’s Daughter is still perfect.)

I’ve never read anything like this before. I’ve never experienced this sense of – of being seen and loved and celebrated by a book. I don’t know what to say. I want to sit here and write pages and pages of adoring analysis on each and every character, even the villains; I want to write epic love poetry to the worldbuilding, which is beyond anything I’ve ever encountered, or thought possible, or thought was allowed. I want to create altars to the gods of this book, Doédenna and Sappacor and Amahirra and Ajdenia, Kantu and Enjoloth and Wykkyrri and Brotquen, Lan Satthi and Aganath and Yssimyss and Kywit, and that sounds Extra as hell, doesn’t it, but the thing is, I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen gods who feel so much like gods before, I’ve never come across an author who managed to make me believe in fictional deities, who wrote the grace and majesty of them so well that every time they appeared on-page I understood what it was I was supposed to feel in cathedrals as a kid.

So trying to talk about this book feels…impossibly intimate. I want to shove a copy into everyone’s hands, but I feel shy about it too, like it’s private.

I know it’s silly. It’s just that it’s true, too.

It doesn’t take a prince, after all, to turn blood into light.

If you crossed Catherynne Valente with N.K. Jemisin, you might be lucky enough to get something almost as extravagantly epic as Saint Death’s Daughter. You might, just, come close to the wealth of word-love and magic and strangeness and wonder and JOY. You might, almost, brush your fingers against the edges of vast, impossible imagination and creativity that went into this world, these characters, this book.

*

I said there aren’t words, so I invented one – exhilerant – because that’s apparently what I do now whenever I’m given a new Cooney book. But here’s another; because the only way to describe the world of Athe that Cooney has created, this book she’s written about it? Is athegravagant. Saint Death’s Daughter is athegravagant, and you’ll only understand what that means if you read it.

*

Hi. My name is Sia. Here’s my heart in a book. I think it might hold yours too.

You should read it and see.

I really enjoyed this book! This is an epic new world, with an amazingly intricate magic system.. I loved it.. There is alot of world building through out the first half of the book, but were learning it along side Laine or as she is teaching it to someone else.. I love the stories she tells Datu about her own family members they were completely outrageous and hilarious and awful all at the same time..

This the tale of Miscellenous aka Laine Stone.. a necromancer growing up in a family of well... very interesting people. Assassins, gamblers, and a whole house full of people that have no problem with torture and murder. which is a problem for Lainie, as when she is close to violence in manifests on her own body. So she basically ends up on her own with only the house Revenant Goody, and her ghostly Grandpa Rad (Irradient Stone) as companions and teachers. All Laine wants to do is protect whats left of her family and she will do whatever it takes to keep them safe.. Which they don't make easy.. This is along tale that cronicles Laine and her growing power as she finally comes into her own and realizes her destiny.. While it was certainly wordy at times I really feel like this is how the story needed to be told I wouldn't change a thing even how long it was lol..

I really think that this would make an amazing audio book, the whole time I was reading I kept thinking that this is a story I would love listening to.. Also after that epic finale, I can't wait to see what will happen in the next book.

Saint Death’s Daughter by C. S. E. Cooney

Pros: fascinating magic and mythology, interesting characters, great world-building

Cons:

Miscellaneous ‘Lanie’ Stones is the first necromancer born in over 100 years in the city of Liriat. Her family has been the right hands of the ruling Brackenwild family since the founding, acting as royal executioners and assassins. Which makes Lanie’s allergy to violence a challenge to manage. So she’s raised by the family’s revenant, Goody Graves. After a series of events leaves her older, sadistic sister Nita in charge, Lanie’s life changes. As she grows both in wisdom and power, Lanie struggles to live up to the expectations of the past and forge her own future.

Lanie is a wonderful character, surprisingly kind and loving despite her limited human contact and dysfunctional home life. Necromancy is usually depicted as evil and gross, so seeing Lanie’s pure joy in her power and love of the creatures she reanimates is nice to see. I also loved this depiction of the goddess of death.

The larger cast is a mix of nice and terrible characters. Nita is simply horrifying, willing to use her power of fascination to force people to do her will. I had real sympathy for Mak and the abuses he suffers. Canon Lir was intriguing, and the friends Lanie makes later in the book were a lot of fun to hang out with.

The world-building was great, with several distinct cultures represented. I was impressed with the depth of detail given to each culture, making them feel very real.

The story is slow moving at times, giving you the chance to really get to know the characters and world.

The ending left me feeling melancholic. This is the first book in a trilogy so while a few story threads are tied up, there are some major threads left unresolved. It’s an ending that I had to sit with for a few hours to better understand and appreciate.

It’s a great book that does some unique things.