The Starving Saints is one of those books that takes a while to get going, but once it does, it really digs in (sometimes literally). The first third is a slow, atmospheric build—almost frustratingly so—but by the time things start to unravel, it’s a wild, body-horror-laced dive into faith, obsession, and decay.

Caitlin Starling absolutely nails the vibe of medieval mysticism. The mix of ecstatic religious devotion and physical suffering feels deeply rooted in that era’s strange, beautiful, and often horrifying spirituality. The body horror is intense, but it’s never gratuitous—it always feels purposeful, like a natural extension of the characters’ beliefs and the world they inhabit.

That said, I have to mention one small thing: the word "insensate" pops up a lot. Like, enough that I started noticing it every time. It’s a minor nitpick, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Overall, though, this was a richly unsettling read. Definitely not for the squeamish, but if you like your horror theological, visceral, and steeped in historical weirdness, this one’s worth pushing through the slow beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!

I had a great time with this one—it was my first dive into medieval horror, and the setting and atmosphere really hooked me! There were some seriously unsettling moments that kept me on edge, reminding me of movies like Midsommar and Hereditary, where it felt like a fever dream until you’re neck-deep in the madness. That said, it felt a little confusing at times due to the lyrical writing, and the first half could’ve been trimmed down a bit, since it took a while to get to the truly wild stuff. But if you’re into strange, creepy reads with a touch of cannibalism thrown in, I’d definitely recommend it!

Thank you so much for the ARC!

I LOVE Caitlin Starling, The Death of Jane Lawrence is one of my favorite horror books, so I was ecstatic when I was approved for this on NetGalley and it completely lived up to my hopes!

Caitlin Starling has such a unique writing style and approach to speculative horror that I really love, it strikes the perfect balance between readable and flowery historical prose. She writes absolutely fantastic imagery, and is able to craft vivid scenes while not moving away from the action.

The plot of this book was so unique and not really like anything else I’ve ever read. The Constant Lady and her saints are unlike any other folklore or creature I’ve ever read about, and it constantly kept me guessing.

The pacing is quite steady, perhaps a bit slower than the average horror but a fair bit quicker than most historical fiction; I thought it was a very nice happy medium between the genres.

The three main characters are all distinct and compelling, each with well rounded personalities, backgrounds, and motivations. I think one of the things Starling really excels at is characterization, and this book was no different.

If you’re hoping got a weird girl historical fiction summer, this is definitely the book for you!

4⭐️
Thank you for the ARC publisher and NetGalley!
A visceral, gothic descent into madness, The Death of Jane Lawrence meets Masque of the Red Death in this nightmarish medieval horror. Caitlin Starling crafts a haunting tale filled with cannibalism, a tender sapphic romance, and—unexpectedly—bees.

Following three compelling female leads, this book excels in character development and unsettling atmosphere. Each woman’s arc is distinct and powerful, pulling you into their descent as dread builds steadily. Starling’s prose is immersive, with grotesque imagery and eerie worldbuilding that leaves you squirming in the best way.

Unrelentingly eerie. I loved it.

This book was a complete fever dream on acid! Written in a very lyrical way it felt like to me, I many times did feel a bit lost as to what was even happening. Specially in the beginning as I was trying to get into the story and the feel of this world, which is very lucid medieval.

You follow 3 main characters, a madwoman, a female knight, and a servant. You are at castle Aymar and they have ran out of food- and you follow along with the dread, tension, stress of what are they to do. There are some very drastic measures they can follow (cannibalism) and they are at that point to consider it as people start to pass away.

Though all of a sudden these gods appear offering a endless bounty of food- though this is where the madness begins. Flipping through the different POVs from each FMC you are seeing everything unfold from different angles throughout. Brainwashing, cannibalism, music, fests, body horror, joy, terror, uncontrollable, religion. There is so much going on that your head will spin. Slow burn love triangle, I THINK?!

The descriptions of the feasts that take place, stomach churning (I love it). Magical elements mixed with religion. There are so many powerful things that take place.

I felt lost a lot of times, but I do feel like getting a 2nd re-read I will be able to comprehend and enjoy the story event more. Perhaps if there is an audiobook release I would love to get that and experience this story that way. ALSO THAT COVER!!!! Love!

Medieval horror with a touch of sapphic longing, cannibalism, and religious madness come together in this story about three woman who all are in the same castle and must deal with the new godlike visitors that enter. Aymar Castle is under siege, food is running out, there is no rescue... and the three women find themselves at the center of it. Ser Voyne is the war hero who is aligned with the Constant Lady and tasked with caring for Phosyne, Phosyne is a nun turned sorceress tasked with creating miracles for the king, and Treila is a girl who seeks revenge against Voyne while also wanting to escape Aymar's walls. When Phosyne summons saints to the castle... their new guests are not what they seem and all these godlike people are much more monstrous than anyone could imagine. As the castle descends into madness, the three women must find a way to work together to get out before it's too late. This was such a weird fever dream of a novel that simultaneously had not enough going on and also so much happening. There's no romance strictly it just lust and yearning, and at the same time the horrors are happening. I do think it's a weird little book that horror fans will have a fun time with and while I should have been the perfect person for this book, it just kind of felt like a missed vibe for me.

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Harper Voyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Too many points of view switching in the dialog, gets very confusing. I think a lot of the "felt like dying" phrases could have been shaved down. Good Idea, not great execution (ha ha).

The Starving Saints is an enthralling and horrific fever dream of a novel, with a focus upon three unique and very different women as they attempt to survive within the besieged Aymar Castle. Sickness and starvation flourish, until four beings who bear a remarkable resemblance to holy figures of worship suddenly appear with a promise of food and succor.

But nothing comes without a price.

The beginning of the Starving Saints takes some time to build momentum and while the focus upon the main characters is great, I wish there had been slightly more time spent upon the world-building surrounding the initial conflict. The religious aspect is also very intriguing: with nuns serving in roles of influence and intelligence, as opposed to solely focusing upon matters of faith.

All three of the main characters are complicated and imperfect: Ser Voyne, the dedicated knight bound to the selfish king, Treila, a resilient former-nobel forced to serve and Phosyne, a former-nun with the ability to perform “miracles” cast into the role of the King’s madwoman and the castle’s would-be savior.

Each woman has their own motivations and imperfections and their complicated relationships with one another-obsession, hatred and need-while enduring utter horrors, are fascinating to behold.

The antagonists of The Starving Saints are otherworldly, yet very enticing and the foreshadowing regarding their true natures is excellent. I was delighted once I realized what was actually happening and even more so when the characters themselves echoed some of my assumptions.

Different forms of hunger-for food, for knowledge, for purpose and for vengeance play a large role in The Starving Saints. The contrast between the desiccated subjects, listless and famished, to the revelry displayed at a feast, with garish descriptions of succulent meats and ravenous gorging is a stark one. Once the actual nature of the feast is revealed however, it renders further depictions of food more than slightly unpleasant.

Gory and yet beautiful, The Starving Saints is quite the unique novel and while its darker subject matter may not suit all readers, it will definitely remain in my mind for quite a while.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing access to this ebook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Something about religion and horror just is my cup of tea.

Here we have a castle under siege and one lady performed a miracle to clean the water but they are desperate for her to come up with another miracle to provide food for everyone. As she is trying to conjure another miracle some visitors appear in the castle.. are they an answer to her prayers??

This has three pov and at times I just wanted to go back to the previous pov but overall I just ate this UP.
I listened to the audio so the slow burn nature of this creepy ass book worked very well.

I’m a fan.

Thanks to netgalley and Harper audio for an alc

The Starving Saints is about a Castle during a war facing starvation and how the people of Aymar Castle cope and deal with that starvation when it looks like salvation is coming. Phosyne (the “mad woman” of the Aymar) has performed miracles before to fix their water supply, but when her solution to the food seems more harmful than helpful- her and two other women (Ser Voyne and Treila) do what they can to take their castle back. This is a dark medieval horror with sapphic ties.

At first, this was a slow start for me. I wasn’t sure where it was going so it took me a minute to get into it. Once the story plot was laid out and we started getting into the meat of the book (pun intended), I was hooked. I flew through the last 60% because I was captivated. There was body horror with more than just cannibalism that you expect. The author’s description made me feel as though I was experiencing their pain, hunger, confusion, and more.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is into books that feel like a fever dream.

This book was so good! The themes of hunger and religious ideas of what makes something a deity and what makes something holy we're so intriguing I didn't want the book to end! I need more mysterious litfic horror in my life, this has changed how I view horror forever.

actual rating: 3.5

this is the type of book you want to take your time with to avoid fatigue but time away might also cause further confusion in this already maddening world.
what was this??? lol
medieval sapphic down bad at the worst time, under siege, starving, dying. can one madwoman create a miracle to save them all? or will outsiders need to step in with honey and bees?
this book was slow, the characters were compelling, the body horror was as gross as the madwoman herself. there were surprises and nothing made sense but was exhausting yet enjoyable??? i’m really a mix of emotions with this one. readers will either love it 35% in or give up on it. honestly, it wasn’t until 45% where I felt truly invested.

This book was amazing from start to finish. I'd already had it on my wishlist for the year as an anticipated read and was so happy when I was approved by Netgalley for the arc. I was immediately pulled in by the worldbuilding via the three main characters and how they interact separately with their environments. I loved the triple perspectives kept up throughout the book and getting to piece together what each of them know and how they move through the world given their own circumstances. I also enjoyed how each of them came together to deal with the bigger issue towards the middle/end of the book, I was very excited for the horror element to come into play with this book, also, and I was NOT disappointed in the slightest! All in all I was very impressed with this book and I will definitely be recommending it to the people I know who would also enjoy a book like this!

Wow, what a creepy and dreamy story. The Starving Saints is a horror/medieval fantasy about 3 women who come together to free the people of Aymar Castle from madness. I loved the themes of power, salvation, revenge, and faith. I enjoyed the cannibalism in the story and all the gory details.

The writing was difficult to understand at times. I had to re-read certain parts twice to fully understand and read through the fluff, but overall enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

The cover is stunning, grabs your attention right away, and was the reason I requested this ARC.

If you’re looking for creepy medieval castle vibes with a little bit of dark alchemy then this is for you. The setting is to die for, literally, with all the old fashion gore you would expect from this timeframe. Knights, saints, starving citizens, and a few shadow pets add some extra flair. Overall a good read though it was a little slower paced than I personally usually like. That being said, it does fit the story and slow burn readers will be beyond happy after the wait.

This was a wild disgusting fever dream of a book. I honestly loved it. I cannot resist a good cannibalism story and this book has such an intense sense of dread throughout that captivated me.

Listen. I crush easy, I fall in love easy, I fall out of crush easy, I fall out of love easy. It keeps life interesting.

So I very often exclaim to people, 'I love this book/song/whatever most of all.' And it is true, in that moment.

But once in a while something sticks long term and you just know it when you experience it. This is going to remain a favorite book for the long haul. I knew it within the first few chapters.

It's queer af. It's slow burn af. It's creepy af.

I'm all for horror, and love a good monster or good jump scare. Especially lately as I've been knee deep in Splatterpunk books. But this book is a different kind of horror. It is a slow creeping horror that gets under your skin without ever overdoing it. It's horror of both the supernatural and human kind. There's cannibalism, there's secrets, lies and bargains and poor choices. Sometimes manmade, sometimes not. And bees, so many bees.

Plus the medieval-ness of it all? And the girl on witch on girl-knight action? I hit that point reading this book of, 'hmmm it's 5am do I stay up and just not sleep to keep reading or read the rest of this book tomorrow?'

I am dying for release day so I can immediately purchase the audiobook and listen to it, just to experience someone else reading it to me.

5 stars all around. But because these reviews are suppose to be complete honesty I will admit there was one part of this book that made me dance a little less. I noticed some reviews complained about the first half of the book and either only became interested the later half or DNF after the first half because they felt it was too slow. I think I was the opposite. I absolutely loved the first 80% of this book. The next 10% I really liked too. The last 10% I loved the characters and the plot but the setting went a little too... acid trip out of nowhere. I get why it happened in a way but we didn't get too much of that in the rest of the book (save for maybe the garden) so it was a little huh at points. But most of all I fear for what happened to the cute little slips of scaled pets past a certain bath scene.

Didn't change how much I loved this book though and will be highly pushing it on everyone I know. :)

Also, thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books/Harper Voyager for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling is the sapphic horror medieval fantasy of your wildest dreams—if you can handle cannibalism, religious imagery, cultish rituals, and an undercurrent of intense sapphic yearning. The story follows three compelling characters: Phosyne, an experimental alchemist; Treila, a fallen noble out for revenge; and Ser Voyne, a loyal knight bound to her king. Aymar Castle is under siege, its people starving as war looms on the horizon. Phosyne is tasked with performing a miracle when three mysterious Saints and The Constant Lady appear, promising salvation in the form of food. But as the characters grapple with the promises of these mysterious figures, they must ask themselves: What is the price of salvation? And how much will they have to sacrifice to escape the horror surrounding them?
This book is a chaotic, hedonistic ride through both ecstasy and terror. While there were moments when I found myself a bit disoriented by the narrative, I believe this disorientation was deliberate, mirroring the characters' own confusion and struggle to survive the horrors that surround them. The sense of gore and horror was so vividly portrayed that I couldn’t help but feel immersed in their nightmarish world. A word of caution: this book is not for the faint of heart, especially if you’re squeamish—there are plenty of spare limbs and grotesque imagery throughout. The pacing starts off slow, but once it picks up, the intricate details of the world and its characters had me in a chokehold—if you know, you know.
I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy on May 20th! Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the arc!

This book is an enjoyable fever dream. The writing is dreamy and the religious iconography is interesting. Some of the characters are intriguing. Some we don't get enough time. My main issue is the pacing. The story stops and starts and drags in other places. And then there are the names. I couldn't figure out how to pronounce a good chunk of them.