So immersive! I loved every moment of listening to this. A little cliche, but incredibly fun and sometimes that's all you need.

4.5/5 stars

War is looming on the horizon, and Aya must reconsider who she can trust—including her nemesis (Will), the heir to an allied kingdom (Aidon), and even the queen she’s sworn her life to—as she grapples with her inability to control her magic, hiding the fact that it is far more powerful than it should be.

Books that give the characters corruption arcs, asking them how much of a monster they would become to save the ones they love are my kryptonite, and boy does this one deliver.

The Curse of Saints is heavy on the political intrigue, so the worldbuilding makes the beginning a bit slow because you have to learn about all the relevant parties and their stakes, but stick with it, it is soooo worth it, especially when you get to that TWIST at the end (my head is still spinning).

I absolutely adored the three POV characters in this book (and can I also just give an enormous thank you to Kate Dramis for giving us POVs from all sides of the romance).

Move over Will Herondale, there’s a new brooding, dark-haired Will to swoon over. The things that came out of his mouth when he finally “confessed” made me melt. He's your classic, morally-gray antihero, and yet nothing about him felt boring.

Aya is ornery, repeatedly makes bad calls and actively refuses to trust anyone, aka she is “unlikeable” in the best way. My only complaint with her is that her arc started to feel a little stagnant, since it was clear the other characters were growing and changing (especially Will), to the point that she kind of got left in the dust for a while.

And then there’s Aidon. Regarding the other reviews implying Aidon was a boring character simply because his chemistry wasn’t as good with Aya as Will’s was (it wasn’t supposed to be), I question whether those reviewers actually read the whole book because . . . holy twist, batman.

Since this review is for the audiobook version, I did want to mention that while I loved the story and characters, I wasn’t crazy about this narrator. Her tone was a little too dry/flat at times, which sometimes worked well for Aya, but other times felt a little boring. The story and characters are fantastic, though, so I’d simply recommend the physical or ebook version over the audiobook.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape media for the advance copy of the audiobook.

This book was absolutely amazing. The character dynamics. The plot. I was fully immersed inside or this story.

I listened to the @dreamscape_media audiobook while reading along to my @netgalley arc and it was perfection! Unique magical world/abilities, fierce female MC assassin, fast paced action plot, bonded wolves, political intrigue, thick enemies to lovers tension, and strong friendships/found family themes. I’m so excited to continue this series! Add it to your TBR today!

Ooof, this one did not click with me. The writing is fine, skill is obviously present. But there heavy use of my least favorite romance tropes: avoiding talking about it, secrets to keep you safe, ungrounded angst, overuse of guilt. Aya's big guilt, the thing that proves to her that she is naturally a bad person, is that SPOILERS she yelled at her mom once when she was eight. Like, no sweetie, no. And Will the love interest keeps pointless secrets to "protect" her when telling her what was going on would obviously make Aya much safer. Again, the writing isn't bad, it just really is not a good match for me.

First and foremost this book for sure was one my top TBR Titles of this year. And to get to hear it in audio form is such an amazing experience.
The narrator was a perfect choice to narrate this book. They captured this story perfectly. This audiobook for sure took me on one hell of a journey. From the intense fight scenes to the romantic attraction scenes I felt like I was there. The authors writing and narration worked perfectly together to give this story depth and bite.
It for sure had its predictable moments, been there done that. But I enjoyed it enough to see where this story goes in future installments.

Thank you to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for a audio copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I was super hyped to read this book. The authors marketing was flawless.
Reading the book was enjoyable, but it did not live up to the hype. Characters weren’t introduced, so I spent much of the first section confused. (Thank God I found the glossary). The book has mediocre tension throughout, enough to keep me reading, but I was very dissatisfied with it overall. The enemies to lovers theme I was most excited for didn’t seriously come into play until the last 10 or so chapters, and then it was glossed over in the epilogue. A write off as soon as the romantic tension started? I was bummed. I had so many questions at the end of this book, and after 526 pages, I’m just disappointed. I thought this would be a stand alone given its length, but it is part of a trilogy. Altogether, I read the whole thing through, but it the marketing was better than the book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book

Before I get into critique, I should note that I was super interested in the concept and fantasy elements in the book description. I thought it had a lot of potential. That said...

It felt like this was a first draft. And possibly like it would have been better classified as YA.

The character writing was shallow. It went straight into action scenes before I knew who they all were or why they were all seemingly mad at each other. More characters got added into the mix as it went on, and they all suffered the same kind of flat character writing with limited emotional range. I didn’t get to know any of them beyond the surface, and absolutely didn’t care about the sexual tension/sex between them. In fact, the relationship between Aya and Will was really off-putting. Aya was always angry for Reasons, and consistently thwarted by Will professionally and socially; Will was always the kind of self-involved jerk who thinks he’s doing people favors by making choices for them whenever possible—and raging like a toddler when they don't listen to him. I’m not sure what was supposed to be attractive about that combo.

There were also plot holes. As one example: what about the whole thing with the bonded wolves? It was introduced as a plot device and then… absolutely fizzled out.

A lot of it didn't thread together well at all. The storytelling was weak.

Overall: Lots of ingredients (some good, some bad), and not nearly enough development.

For reference, this review is for the AUDIOBOOK. Sometimes audiobooks can skew the perception of the story if the narrators don’t give the story what it needs.
…
To be honest this book was really boring to listen to. I found myself spacing out (which I never do for audiobooks) when I put this on. There just wasn’t anything that ✨hooked✨.
It’s about this girl who has explosive power… so she must be prophesied as special, but then she realizes the power isn’t what she’s told it is.
Then there’s the romance that doesn’t kick in until halfway through the book, but the characters really don’t give into their desires until late in the story. Which would be nice, but the other characters involved made the romance feel flat. I didn’t like the Aya and Aidon storyline at all. I don’t know. I enjoy books with a premise like this, but this one fell flat.
Due to my constant zoning out, the characters ran together and I couldn’t keep up with the storyline. Maybe it’s a me problem, but looking at other reviews, I would say it’s across the board.

Thanks @netgalley for the chance to review A Curse of Saints. I loved this book - and the narration was wonderful! Aya, the Queen’s Spymaster, works alongside rival Will, the Queen’s Enforcer. Strange things happen with the magic in the kingdom, including Aya’s evolving talents.

This got a little slow in the middle. Multiple POV, enemies-to-lovers, and I loved the ending! Just a sprinkle of spice. This was a fun read for sure!

DNF at 16%

Usually I will give a book until 20-30% for a DNF and typically, with an audio, I have no problems pushing through. Unfortunately, I could only push myself to 16% after initially DNFing at 6%.

I really wanted to love this, I requested it due to the quote bait Kate Dramis posted prior to the book being available on NetGalley. It really just seemed like nothing that was happening gelled together…like they were written as their own story but never intertwined with each other.

While I do tend to enjoy fantasy reads that drop me straight into the thick of it, I felt like while this was the approach, I wasn’t learning anything about the plot or the world. I knew more detail about daily events in current time and past than I did about what was happening. The jumping timeline would be fine, but mixed in with the other issues, I found it to be unnecessary because there was nothing to build.

I’m not sure if my disinterest in the narrator can be attributed to the bland storyline or if the narrator is lacking energy and emotions in all reads as this is my first from her. As such, I will only say this narration was lacking something.

The Curse of Saints was an enjoyable read but I didn’t love it as much as I expected. From reading the synopsis it sounded like there were a lot of tropes that I typically love in books, but I found it fell a little flat for me.

While I enjoyed the story as a whole, it felt fairly YA to me and seemed to take a long time for the actual plot to get going. This may partly be due to the fact that one of the events in the blurb only happens about half way through the book so we only seemed to make plot progress from then onwards.

While I enjoyed the relationship dynamics between different characters towards the beginning, I felt that the romantic aspect progressed too fast and was unrealistic towards the end.

I will be continuing with the series because I am intrigued by the world and what will happen next between the countries and with the Gods. The series has potential to be very good, but this first instalment was average for me. To anyone considering reading this, I'd still recommend trying it out to see what you think.

The narrator did a very good job in the audiobook and I think that added to the experience. I will definitely listen to more from this narrator in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audio copy.

A fun, if a little generic. This reads more as a YA book, with more accessible language and world building than you would typically find in an adult fantasy book. I would say this is not a book for fantasy lovers, but for those who like a romance set in a fantasy world. There's a love triangle—which I always appreciate—and a man willing to do anything to protect a woman, even if it means letting her believe he hates her. Overall the plot was a little lackluster and the chemistry between the characters was lacking. While this lacked a certain spark, it was a fun enough read for me to get through the book. I likely won't pick up the next one.

This felt like a crash course in how NOT to write a YA fantasy: cliché storytelling, a square plot hammered mercilessly into a round hole, wincingly bad dialogue, completely unbelievable romance, questionable worldbuilding (such as there is), enough 'tell and not show' to be frustrating, and a romance between two unlikable characters who inadvertently make celibacy look really really great.

Aya is part of a triumvirate of barely-out-of-teens young people who serve the queen in the highest positions in the land. She is the spymaster, Will is the advisor, and their good friend is the general. Aya and Will do not get along - she even almost killed him when her powers awakened after he was teasing her. Yet they have to work together even though she would rather not. But dark magic is growing and they will soon be called upon to work closely in order to save the kingdom and even the world! How can she keep her heart from fluttering every time Will calls her the supposedly derrogatory, "Aya, love"?

This is the type of book where we are told Aya is the greatest spymaster ever in the history of the kingdom - and then we watch as she can't even figure out what's going on around her/botches all her spying jobs. This is the archetype 'too stupid to live' heroine who, when she discovers she has unique snowflake superpowers that are prophesied to save the world, argues with everyone that the powers are evil (and therefore she should be immediately executed). But don't worry, she's reconciled with them by four more pages - and so is everyone else. There are so many situations like this that it was stupefying; we are told so much but no actions ever actually show that what we are told is true.

The world building is lazy. It's the usual British-set medieval fantasy. Though the women get fantastical names like Tova or Aya, the guys get uninspired currently trendy generics like Aiden and Will. Then there is the political structure of a bunch of kids making all the ruling decisions in the kingdom. Why in the world would a queen pick three inexperienced kids to be her general, spymaster, and council is beyond me (especially considering how dense and honestly stupid the characters are throughout the book). But with how badly they botch things throughout (as neat excuses to throw Aya and Will together or to create third party sexual tension with Aidan) the silliness of that becomes very obvious. At the point where our spymaster is in a room with tradespeople as Will negotiates trade agreements and Aya spends the whole time picking at a thread on her shirt and then complaining afterwards that the seats were too uncomfortable and she was bored, you really have to wonder what the author was thinking (or not thinking through).

I listened to the audio version and I was impressed with how bad the narrator was: at times I seriously thought she was a bot. Monotonous, with no attempt to provide character distinctions in the voice, it's read like a phone book. I actually had to double check that this wasn't an electronic voice copy with a simulated voice.

Honestly, I was never a fan of Holly Black or Sarah j. Maas and this book pays full homage to those two authors. So if you like their books, I imagine you will like this more than I did and will overlook the glaring issues. But I would recommend the book over the narrated version. Reviewed from an advance listener copy provided by the publisher.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator was great and easy to listen to! The story started out with a lot of info and was a slow burn. I loved the intriguing world building and magic system. I enjoyed the rivals to lovers romance between the main characters. I can’t wait to continue this series!

Thank you Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, and Kate Dramis for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

"I will destroy everything I have ever loved, just as I always have."

Darkness, godly magic, and knives to each others throats. This book follows Aya, the Spymaster to the queen as she comes to grips with the dark magic running through her veins. The narrator did a wonderful job with this audiobook in capturing the tone throughout, I would love to listen to more books from the narrator, Devon Sorvari. But, the plot as a whole I struggled with. I ended up listening to this at 1.25x speed so I could get through it, and felt relief when I saw I only had a couple of hours left.

"This is where we always end up, isn't it, Aya love," he breathed. "you with a knife to my throat."

The characters in this book should have been something I loved, but I found the majority of them to be one-dimensional. I wanted to love Aya and Will but they felt like something I have read time and time again. It was hard to find something unique and different within the main characters, and even the side characters. The romance was alright, but it felt very instant, they hated each other and then they didn't. There isn't much more to it than that. However, the ending left me hopeful for these two and where their character and relationship development is headed in the next book.

Hearing the words "Aya, love" got exhausting really quick. I know it was supposed to be taunting, and eventually teasing and designed to build tension between the two characters. But it was used too much. The first couple of times was fine, but I started to dislike it the more I heard it.

"It wasn't the gods he feared. It was her. Her knowing the truth and hating him still."

There are certain characters in this books who are bonded to these wolves that are seen almost as respected deities. I wanted to see more of them, to understand their significance to the characters they are bonded to. But then they showed up a couple of time... and nothing, that was it? Maybe they will be more prominent in book two.

“If there are our last moments, then know I will climb out of the hells and take on the gods if it means finding you again in the Beyond.”

As a debut novel, there is a lot of potential here. Kate Dramis has the right ideas and knows the type of books people are looking for these days. There just needs to be more fine tuning, more focus on plot in character building. I think Kate would shine in the world of YA books. The Curse of Saints seems to be advertised as an adult book and the only thing that really makes it adult is the age of the characters. The voice used within this book is very YA, which isn't a bad thing by any means. If Kate is able to take this and run with it, I think she could do some good things.

Oh my what I would not give to have this book be written in first person POV - the FMC is witty and I just wanted to be inside of her head. I was lucky enough to have received an eARC of this and did enjoy the book - I wanted to see if the audiobook heightened my mild enjoyment of it and unfortunately it kept it at or around the same level. Additionally, it pointed out some points I had initially glossed over my first go-around. Like - the fact that this book would have been leagues better if the romance wasn't included? The premise is so interesting and I just found the relationship/romance to be a background disturbance bc of how interested I was in the world building and that plot line that I felt the "love story" to be a bit distracting.

This truly had all the perfect bits and pieces. The characters were complex and interesting, the pacing was truly excellent, that slow burn I adore and plenty of suspense. The narration was excellent and really added to the story.

There definitely were some surprises that weren’t that surprising, but this was a fun read and kept my interested and enjoying myself the entire time. This has the formula for everything that makes for an enjoyable read and as someone who reads to escape, that’s exactly what I look for in a story. I don’t want to feel like I’m wading through muck to get to the good stuff and this serves that by diving right in and weaving a complex but digestible story.

Ich fand es sehr schwer der Hörbuchsprechering zu folgen. Daher brach ich das Hörbuch nach einer halben Stunde ab. Vermutlich liegt es an dee Sprachbarriere aber ich hab bereits englische Hörbücher gehört, doch diesmal fiel es mir zu schwer. Ich denke, andere haben sicher mehr Freude hieran.

"Go ahead, he'd once told her. Tell me what a monster I am so you don't have to face the fact that you're one, too."

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I think I discovered this book either from a friend in a book club or because I watch out for Sourcebooks books up my alley after the Furyborn trilogy ruined my life in the best way. 🤭

I really didn't know much about this book going into it except that my friend enjoyed it and a single IG post from the book's Instagram with tropes (the top 3 that got me were enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and will they/won't they).

The Curse of Saints is set in two kingdoms, with two of a queen's inner council members sent to a neighboring kingdom under the guise of negotiating trade agreements while also attempting to garner a stronger alliance for an upcoming war and while spying for more information. This is already interesting enough, but the two spies are enemies due to a sordid past they refuse to talk about while forced to work together, the prince they're spying on is hot and hilarious and charming, and one of them is having an existential crisis regarding her powers. What could go wrong? 🤭

I could NOT put this book down!!! I think, after Fourth Wing, this might be my favorite book of 2023 because it felt like it was personally made with all of my most niche favorite scenes and tropes! I loved almost every single character, I adored having 3 POVs, I loved that they were a bit of an unreliable narrator trope?? Not necessarily in terms of lying but in terms of withholding information from us whenever it's convenient for them. 🤭 The tension was fabulous and this is one of my favorite takes on a love triangle! The three characters sort of reminded me of Cassandra from Tangled(the animated tv series)/Natasha Romanoff(?) meets Rhysand(ACOTAR)/Xaden(FW) meets Nikolai Lantsov (S&B)/Robb Stark (GOT) and I am so in love with them and their angst and their fights and their witty banter and tension with each other that I will probably reread all of their scene throughout the next 12 months while I await book 2 (which comes out my birthday week!!!)

I don't really have anything critical to say? I would like to learn more about the bonded wolves (Athatis?) and more about different abilities the characters have, but I really didn't dislike anything I read!

I would definitely recommend this to people who love romantasy, slow-burn romances, and court intrigue!

I wasn't sure about the narrator at first, but they quickly grew on me!