I was ready for this to blow my socks off.....

But my socks are still on.

We get started. Boom. we get an assassin and spy master; which I'm usually love no matter what, but it was a miss for me. She (spy master) is so well known for her abilities, but nothing is giving I should be scared of her. Seems like she's the only one scared of her.

Then we have the queens second (the assassin) who has done dark and unspeakable things.... But everyone keeps getting the drop on him. Not very menacing of him.

They go to a neighboring kingdom to get help with her powers because they have changed and get thrown into a mess and another POV that must mean something in the next book because it was pretty useless in this one.

I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book. There were a few things I had some issues with, but not enough to detract from my overall enjoyment.

To start, the world was well thought out, with kingdoms going to war/on the brink of war, to power hungry monarchs, I had little issues with picturing things. The magic system felt a lot like a mixture of the Grishaverse and Avatar the Last Airbender while also minting its uniqueness.

What really brought this together was the characters to create such an intriguing and captivating plot.

Some issues I had which I feel like didn't detract much from the story: we see the wolves who are bonded go wild, and there's a lot of stree on them being bonded and hoe their powers won't work on the wolves etc etc. But after this scene I feel like the wolves are dropped? Which to me was fine. There was a lot going on with powers and training and political intrigue that I barely noticed it.

I loved Will. He was that enemy I loved to hate until he was something else and I loved that too. With him and Aya, it gave me all the Katara X Zuko vibes that I had desperately wanted in AtLA, but better. I shipped them the moment they were on that ship. Literally. Aya annoyed me at times, but she made up for it in the end which made me love her character.

All in all, I loved it. And that ending was intense. BEWARE THE CLIFFHANGER!!

I cannot wait for book 2.

I honestly enjoyed the premise of the story and what it could have been but story felt quite repetitive and the characters weren't fleshed out very well. The characters were given powerful positions yet felt like quabling teens who lost there smarts or didn't have any to begin with.

I specifically disliked Will from the starting of the book. Whenever he was mentioned I just didnt like reading and wanted to DNF. You surely shouldnt feel like that about the main character right? Again maybe some others may share a different opinion and enjoy it but I didnt think it was the book for me.

I received the arc of this book from Net Galley and the publishers.

‘The Curse of Saints’ by Kate Dramis, a story told from multiple POV’s, was magical and gripping and full of sweeping enemies-to-lovers romance, and fantastically performed audio. Highly recommend!

*3.5 rounded to 4 stars*

After reading the description of this book, I was really excited to get an early release! Overall, I did enjoy this story and I think that for a debut novel, it has a lot of potential. The plot and ending definitely set the stage for a continuation and once the next book comes out, I will pick it up. I will say that I thought this book was slightly more geared toward YA than adult fantasy, which may impact people's perceptions of it. It is also heavy on tropes (e.g., enemies of lovers, a chosen one), which can sometimes make it feel a little tired (in the sense that I've read something similar before).

The Curse of the Saint follows Aya, who is part of the Queen's triumvirate (the Enforcer [Will], the General [Tova], and the Spymaster [Aya]), as she comes to grips with the fact that her magic might not be the standard compulsion influence she grew up knowing and, consequently, something that she cannot completely control. All this happens as her country is being thrown into turmoil by a group of radical magic users. Aya and Will are forced to seek support from a neighboring ally in preparation for war and Aya must learn how to control her magic before these radicals overthrow the Queen and bring about destruction.

One of the things I liked about this story is the idea of morally gray characters - I think that it's more realistic and relatable that way. However, I did feel as though, overall, the character development, especially for Aya, could have been better. For the main character, I didn't really feel as though she did anything to stand out and I thought her personality was rather boring.

I also found the dynamic between Aya and Will somewhat offputting. You have these two individuals who've known each other since childhood and for no real apparent reason, they hate each other. As the story progresses, it becomes clearer that this may be a little more one-sided than initially thought, and with this continued lack of understanding of where the hatred comes from, I felt it was more a rivals than enemies type of relationship. Some of the revelations at the end of the book, which progresses into the romance portion of the story (see below) also kind of made me roll my eyes and dislike these two as a couple.

I thought that the world-building and the magic system were set up well and I liked the idea of political unrest and the back story this required. At times it did feel a little information-heavy, but it never got to a point where I felt bogged down by it. I wish that the author spent more time incorporating the bonded wolves into the overall story. This just seemed like an arc that didn't really go anywhere and it could have been an interesting aspect of the plot.

The beginning of the book was well-paced and one could see the story progressing to a major conflict. However, toward the middle of the book the story started to drag for me, and while it didn't necessarily slow down my reading, I did find myself wishing that it would pick up the pace.

Another point in the story where it somewhat lost my attention/understanding (for lack of a better phrasing) was when Aya sets out to do this "impossible" task. She seeks this group of individuals who are really hard to find (it's a long, arduous journey) and it is said that no one survives a meeting with them. Given this description (which pops up on multiple occasions leading up to Aya's departure), one would expect a decent amount of time dedicated to the journey and her eventual interaction with these individuals. I felt as though there was very little time dedicated to the journey (it felt like it was a couple of days) and her interaction with the individuals was somewhat anti-climatic in the overall scheme of things. This is further exacerbated by the fact that once Aya returns, people still make the statement that she never should have returned because no one does and I just felt like the harrowing nature of what this journey should have been was lacking overall.

Finally, I don't think this book should be toted as a romance. While there is some (minimal) romance in it, it doesn't occur until almost the very end of the book and, quite frankly, it could have been left out. I think there either needed to be more romance earlier in the book or they should have just become friends. I didn't really feel a romantic connection between these two and the relationship seems kind of forced. If you're someone that is looking for that romantic aspect throughout, you will be disappointed. This was definitely a VERY long slow burn (that barely comes to fruition)!

While it might not seem like it from my review (haha!), overall I did enjoy this book and I will read the next one in the series. As I said, I think this series has potential and as a debut book, I think the author has the opportunity to build on some of these shortcomings.

The author's joy and enthusiasm for her book on social media is infectious. Can't deny the author knows how to market a book and generate buzz. Unfortunately, this book felt more like a collection of romantic moments loosely connected by an underdeveloped plot. Or plot moments purposely designed to be romantic moments. When the plot did get explored in greater detail, it started to feel a lot like Shadow and Bone 2.0. The Chosen One MC who becomes a living saint, wielding unmatched power.

I wanted to like Aya. I really did, but there is just nothing about her that makes her any different from any other YA heroine out there. Unfortunately, her personality doesn't extend much past her contempt for the love interest and her sense of duty. Will is the dark and brooding love interest and supposed enemy, despite how he's the very definition of her ally. He was certainly the most interesting character in the book, but his personality could be summed up as brooding love interest.

To give this book credit, there are political machinations explored and while some of it had potential it never quite reached that potential. Somehow this book simultaneously had too much world-building and not enough. This may be down to execution. The author tries to explore too many avenues without fully realising the ones that came before, making the political landscape of the book terribly confusing.

Some of the writing showed promise, but too often it relied too heavily on tropes, using them as a crutch to carry it through the story. The author rarely takes a chance or tries to do anything original with these tropes, which only adds to the feeling that I've read this before, many times.

Full review on Goodreads.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I did find it a bit slow in the beginning and the magic system was a little confusing as it was so detailed - but one I wrapped my head around it all it was great and I was hooked. I'm definitely keen to see Aya and Will again in The Curse of Sins.

”It was as if his darkness had called to hers, and she hadn’t been able to resist responding. And for that, she hated him.”

What you’ll find in The Curse of Saints:
🖤 Enemies to lovers
🖤 Morally grey characters
🖤 Deadly Magic
🖤 Chosen one trope
🖤 Forced Proximity
🖤 He falls first
🖤 Slow burn
🖤 Knife to the throat

"I saw you walk down those stairs...and I wanted you so badly that I thought I might set this whole godsforsaken world on fire just to have you."

Thank you for the gifted copy!

I had a hard time getting into this book and investing in it. It was too YA/NA but if it's your thing then you might enjoy that. Unfortunately it fell flat with plot and characterization.

I enjoyed listening to this story. I would rate the story 4/5 and the narration 3/5. The last audiobook I listened to was Belladonna and compared to that this narration just fell flat. It was hard at times to stay in the story. I did like Aya and the story in general. Worth it if you are intrigued by the story but you might want to just grab the book instead.

A Curse of Saints was quite good! It has a lot of info dumping at the start and expects you to catch up with certain terms quickly — so make sure to stick with it at least 20% into it. In my copy of the book, it had a glossary at the back which helped (note I had the ARC but I also preordered it and it arrived early). I enjoyed the relationship that played out. I did not enjoy some of the repetitive nature, especially at first. The amount of times one of them confirmed she “hates” him was waaaaaay too many. However, I really enjoyed the unique magic system. The book seems to only scratch the surface of the concept of Gods/Saints so I feel like this was mostly set up for future books. Overall, decent concept, could have been better executed but not at all poor. Thank you very much to the publisher and NetGalley for an audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Aya, the Queen's third in command, has secrets. Secret powers, secret feelings, and secret tragedies. When she's forced to work with Will, who harbors as many secrets as Aya. Is Aya the secret weapon that will save the world in a war that so many people see coming? Who are friends and who are enemies? Aya and Will have to find out.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was...fine. I would have liked to see even more character and world development, though some might say that it was well-developed. I didn't mind the trope-heavy storyline, really. It had some of my favorites: chosen one, enemy to lovers, secret powers. But Aya, despite having moved up in the ranks because of her different prowess, makes bad decision after bad decision, can't get herself out of sticky situations, and generally doesn't prove to me that she deserves the rank. The miscommunication trope is one of my least-favorite, but whatever trope this is, the "I'm a powerful woman but the man still has to come save me every time" is worse. 3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

I was very excited to read this one as the premise seems right up my alley. Characters felt one dimensional. In terms of the romance, I didn't feel the spark.

Thank you so much to Dreamscape media, Netgalley and Kate Dramis for this arc!

I struggled a bit to get into the world building of this book at first but once I really got into it I really enjoyed it!

I really liked the storyline in this book. It was interesting and different (in a good way lol). It really kept my attention, there were quite a few high stakes moments.

The characters were super interesting and morally gray I loved it. I also liked that they didn’t shy away from the fact that they were morally grey, the aspect was kept consistent in the book. Will and Aya really embraced being morally grey and I loved it. I really liked that the relationship between the two main characters wasn’t too rushed and they had the best tension, it just made the build up so much better. The way they were enemies to lovers >>

Also the audio narrator in this book was superb! She did such an amazing job of voicing the diverse cast of characters!

I will definitely be reading the second book!

This book was ok. I think it should be classified as YA or NA. Definitely not adult high fantasy. It was full of tropes I hate, and the love triangle was not good. There was nothing fresh or new, it's all been done before.

I did enjoy the narrator. I don't think I would have been able to finish a physical copy.

Aya is Spymaster to the Queen and has sworn an oath to protect those she fights with. This includes Will, the Queen’s Enforcer and someone who constantly makes Aya quite mad. But when rumors of a dark magic in a nearby kingdom begin to spread, the two of them are sent to investigate. While there, Aya’s powers begin to shift and change, and the two of them must learn the truth to protect Aya and the monarchy.

The premise of this one was interesting, and I was hoping to see the author take it somewhere compelling. Unfortunately, everything about this read felt generic and bland. And this is classified as “Adult Fantasy,” but was more YA than many of the YA fantasies I’ve read.

The author relied on info dumps throughout the read, though they were especially concentrated at the beginning. Not only did this take away from the plot and characters, but it was also so much information at once that it wasn’t easy to absorb or understand its relevance. And despite the info-dumping, the setting and world of this book were not described or incorporated well at all. This story could have been put into any generic fantasy world and it would have blended in. However, the author described everyone’s eye and hair color anytime they came into a scene. There were also things that were mentioned that are quite modern, despite this supposedly being a high fantasy setting with gods and magic. I also disliked how many times the characters remembered something someone had previously said verbatim– this sounds like a small quibble, but the number of times lines (often the exact same ones) were repeated in this book became cumbersome.

Another big issue is with the characters. They’re generals, spymasters, enforcers – these are high-ranking government officials that are powerful, smart (apparently), and dangerous. So why did they act and sound like fifteen-year-olds? We’re told time and time again how “dark,” “edgy,” and “dangerous” Will is, but aside from growling or literally just doing something “darkly,” there was no real grit, danger, or strength to him. In fact, whenever he spoke, I just ended up rolling my eyes (how many times can one person growl or “grin darkly” in a paragraph? And if he says, “Aya, love” one more time…). And I really have nothing to say about Aya other than that she was not a compelling protagonist and was poorly written.

Rather than a work of fantasy, this read more as a teenage competition to see who can be the moodiest and most broken. I can’t recommend this read at all unless you like bland YA “fantasy”. I received a copy of this work from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The main troupes of this book are the chosen one and rivals to lovers. I enjoyed the romance the most in this book, the MMC was initially annoying but he grew on me. There’s much angst/tension and you can’t go wrong with that. Limited spice meant this was throughout the book though, which can be frustrating to read.
I didn’t care much for the world building/political atmosphere of the book but I liked the magic. I listened to this as an audio book and the narrator was good, easy to listen to and distinguished well between the characters. I was able to easily listen to it at 2.5 speed without it sounding robotic. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an audio ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I had a very hard time getting into this one. The narration had more of a podcast or news anchor cadence, which kept throwing me off. It was also a very slow start. Overall, I enjoyed the magic system and the tension between the main characters, but I had to force myself to continue to the end.

Debut well done! Could’ve been better but it was really promising! I liked almost everything about this book actually. It was very Throne of Glass and that’s a gigantic compliment. I would’ve loved more world building and history but that is my only complaint! I loved all the characters and their dynamics.

In "The Curse of Saints," Aya (the queen's spymaster) and Will (her childhood nemesis) must go on a quest to protect the kingdom, but honestly I struggled so much to focus on or engage with the plot that I can barely tell you more than that of what happened. The writing on a line level was decent but I really struggled to like the characters. At no point did I buy the chemistry between Aya and Will - their dialogue got grating, and it felt like I was being told they had chemistry when there was none reflected on the page. I struggled to understand and follow the plot, and I have read and loved some epic fantasy and romantasy recently.

Unfortunately, the mediocre story was made worse by some flat-feeling audiobook narration. The dialogue in particular was really painful to listen to, and felt very awkward. I never bought the tone of how Will was always hitting on/bantering with Aya. The "Aya, love," and other ways Will talked to Aya got extremely old extremely fast, and I came to dread their conversations. It feels like the author was trying and struggling to capture a Feyre/Rhys dynamic.

On that note, overall, it felt like this book was trying to be A Court of Thorns and Roses but with none of the heart, just a checklist of things that you could say, hmm, yes, I see what the influence was here. It felt like a lot of cobbled together pieces that didn't every quite gel for me. I've seen a few reviews saying this is like an homage to SJM, but as a fan of those books, it didn't feel like a good tribute to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advance audio copy in exchange for a review.

The Curse of Saints is a well-plotted fantasy with excellent world building and an interesting political landscape and mythology. Kate Dramis has created a universe with a lot going on, machinations abound, and a kick-ass FMC to boot.

At the outset, we find Aya as a warrior in the Queen's service, sworn to protect her kingdom. When a rival kingdom renegs on the terms of a previous accord, the Queen sends Aya and her rival from childhood, Will, to unspool the plot. We discover that Aya is the realization of a longheld belief in her kingdom, a weapon that will come to save them from their enemies and we follow Aya on her journey.

I do find that the romance between the FMC and MMC was a little forced. We're supposed to believe it's an enemies to lovers, he fell first, but they don't really seem to be enemies. They seem to get on each other's nerves and Aya certainly holds some weird things from childhood against him, but I didn't really believe the tension and it was pretty obvious that he was in love with her in spite of her constant thoughts on how he was trying to bring her down.

I thought the world building was very well developed and I am eager to read the next installment in the series. Fans of the Shades of Magic series as well as Samantha Shannon should enjoy this. It's much more fantasy than romantasy, without being too intricately plotted high fantasy. I thought it found the perfect balance.