hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooly shit dog what a book to read as my second book of 2025. homoerotic relationships full of violence and yearning; cannibalism; "hey did anyone else notice the divine seems awfully fucked up?"; what if The Terror was more of a fever dream and was about women during a siege.

We follow a madwoman and heretic, a knight impossibly tangled in the leash of duty and loyalty, and a young woman with a bloody past and indomitable will to survive. There is a lot said about each of them, each character is fully constructed, clearly motivated, but Starling is an author who trusts the reader. So much is also left just unsaid, just out of sight, not in a frustrating way but in the way that you would say something to a loved one with a significant look and they'd understand exactly what you mean. The knight is never called a dog or a hound directly...Starling doesn't need to do that. The metaphors are enough.

Starling trusts readers to a degree that I found thrilling, though to talk about it in detail is a spoiler. Never once are the not-saints named as fae or fairy, even though that is clearly either what they are or a strong influence on the type of creature they are. It's not necessary. All the pieces are on the table for the reader to understand what's happening, and the characters are too busy living the story to stop and name anything, they've got to stay alive, after all. It's a marvelous bit of complete trust in both her ability as an author and readers' ability to comprehend what she's doing and I wish more authors would be so brave! Nothing at all is lost, in fact much is gained.

Having read this and The Death of Jane Lawrence by Starling as well, I can really see her craft improving (Jane Lawrence is a good book, this imo is a great book) and I'm excited to continue reading her books!

I wasn't sure about this book as I was reading it, but then once I decided to read it as an R rated Doctor Who episode without the Doctor coming to save the day I started liking it more. It was a definite fever nightmare with A24 vibes. Such a trip.

Where to start... this book was so interesting! It felt fresh, but only once finished. In the beginning, it was so slow. The writing style is not for me, and the situation being confusing and fantastical of course doesn't help. However, it is this plot that really saves it. Because once I was hooked (40%) I was HOOKED. The latter half of the story was so engaging and fast! The pacing with this one gave me a little whiplash but ultimately I am so glad I finished it!
The uniqueness of the setting and the characters really breathed life into this book. It was disturbing and thought provoking. I loved that and if you are not into horror or gore (cannibalism) this is not for you. As most other reviewers have stated it feels like a fever dream but that is what I think we are meant to feel. These characters are starving, they are stuck, and to them, life has turned into a fever dream where the impossible becomes possible.
I will say the lack of world building is something I really missed. However, like the characters, we are stuck inside this castle with them. They do not know what is going on in the outside world just as we do not. This does give an interesting dynamic to the story and that will be very much other readers thing, just not my preference.
Overall, I give this a 3/5 star review because it did engage me, shock me, and make me think. Definitely worth branching out to try this even if this story does not sound like it is in your usual wheelhouse.
Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyage for this advanced copy of The Starving Saints.

They say you cant tell a book by its cover but this one struck me in a way I knew I’d have to read it.
I took my time with this one, devouring each page like a sapphic taste of honey. The rare and magnificently done medieval fantasy horror, not simply a grimdark tale. Trifecta of feminine leads each character fully developed though not too closely leaning towards the knight the rouge the wizard. The story seemed to me a combination of Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre with Clive Barker’s Hellraiser crew. Mindbending, horrific psychedelic and beautiful. I loved it. Thank you Netgalley, Harper Voyager, and Caitlyn Starling! I will be preordering my hardcover copy right away

If you enjoy feeling like you’re stuck in a terrible nightmare plagued by bees and cannibals, boy do I have the book for you. This story contains the pov’s of 3 different women. The first, a knight, desperately tries to protect her people. The second, a madwoman, only wants to find a miracle. And the third, a glove making/rat killer, seeks out to get her long overdue revenge. These 3 alone must defeat the starving saints to save the castle. I found certain parts of the story to be a little confusing. It starts out a little slow, but quickly builds up momentum until everything is happening all at once. There’s quite a bit of body horror in this and absolutely revolting imagery. I loved the story, even though at times it could be a bit stomach-churning. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

It's really annoying to have already read one of my favorite if not my favorite horror of 2025 in January.

We follow:

Phosyne, an ex-nun who has fallen out with the church, but is still the king's special weirdo because she's given them the miracle of clean water. Now she must produce another miracle if she wants to continue living her ... comfortable life style.

Voyne is a gruff, grumpy, and oh so buff knight, the right hand woman to the king. She values honor above all else, and is begrudgingly tasked with ensuring Phosyne will produce a much needed miracle. If her hands must circle Phosyne's throat every once in a while, so be it...

Treila is an young, unassuming servant girl. At least in everyone else's eyes. Her internal monologue is sharp, cunning and she'll stop at nothing to get revenge on the knight that killed her father. Unfortunately she might need some help in the form of miracles.

This book has everything I love and more. A messy sapphic throuple, cannabalism, and religious & rot horror

I'm enjoying this emergence of religious horror in today's fiction and I'm happy to recommend this title with the rest of the ever-growing genre !

Decadent, queer, dark, and very horny (complimentary). Horrific events transpire in a medieval setting featuring a pantheon of saints, heretical magical experiments, and beekeeping engineering nuns. Characters are complex and operate in morally grey spaces. Not for the faint of heart but very engrossing if you vibe with what it's doing.

I've never had a book put in me a grave, dig me up, and kiss me with a rotting lips before but CAITLIN STARLING DID THAT. Please go into this book blind, such a fantastic read.

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling was one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. At the same time, I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what was going to happen even if I was reading with one eye closed. The Starving Saints is definitely one of the most unique stories I have read and thought that the aesthetic of the book was unmatched. The storyline was interesting, and I thought the pacing worked for most of the story. There were parts were I felt like it dragged a little but I was able to get past it very quickly. Overall, a fantastic book but one that made me realize that medieval horror might not be for me.

Reading this book felt like a fever dream. From page 1 I had no idea wtf was going on, but I was happy to be along for this twisted (and sometimes confusing) ride! I'm usually not a fan of historical settings but I do love anything horror-esque and I was especially enticed by the sapphic undertones. Our 3 main characters were deliciously depraved and selfish and compelling. I love it when women are allowed to be themselves!!!

The pacing was decent in the first half, but I kind of got lost halfway through. My favorite thing about this book was not necessarily the actual plot, but the way it made me squirm in my seat. Overall a fun, strange, and surprisingly sexy read!

I really really liked this book from what I read! However, I also discovered that I cannot handle horror, so I do have to DNF this book. But, I feel like horror fans really will like this book! (5 Stars for what I did read and how it stuck with me)

ARC via Netgalley. A castle under siege is saved from starvation by dangerous figures in the form of the Lady and her Saints. This is one of the weirder books I've read in recent memory, and I love weird, but I'm not sure that this weird works. The world is stylized, and the developing plot and magic system lean in hard: medieval vibes, a knight and bee-keeping nuns and an apostate madwoman; monsters masquerading as divine and fey bargains. The cast is very Starling, prickly women negotiating codependent murder/love desires, featuring sexy choking and revenge-lust, what's not to like.

But, structurally... Weird, I say again, but here that means: a hot mess. The narration rotates between the three characters, and they rarely come together or stay long in one place. It's a lot of traveling from one end of the grounds to the other, passing connections and deferred confrontations, and the result is something more gestural than inhabited. I think I appreciate the attempt; I prefer a strange read to an easy one, and this strange is viscous and hungry. But it's also a borderline slog.

Set in a vaguely medieval but distinctly otherworldly setting, Aymar Castle is the centerpiece of a novel steeped in siege, starvation, and supernatural horror. The story alternates between three perspectives:

Phosyne, an exiled nun delving into forbidden knowledge to perform 'miracles' for the castle's starving residents.
Ser Voyne, a loyal knight torn between her duty to the king and saving those around her.
Treila, an absolute menace servant girl harboring dark secrets and a long-simmering revenge plot.

The eerie atmosphere escalates with the arrival of a mysterious group of "saints," bringing grotesque murders, otherworldly creatures, and a descent into darkness within the castle. The grotesque "feast" scenes are particularly chilling.

Now n0w...there IS something for everyone, however, the narrative falters with repetition—escape, hide, plan—and uneven relationships among the protagonists, with Treila and Ser Voyne's shared history standing out as the most compelling. The last quarter of the book was just...confusing? The 'climax' was not at all satisfying for how HORNY this book was. Sigh.

Medieval horror is COOL...let's do more of that!! Something here was just missing for me.

This was definitely a dark book. As a warning there are mentions of cannibalism, and extremely tight spaces are described. The writing is so descriptive the tightness made me feel uneasy. However the story was fast paced and exciting. I’m very thankful to NetGalley and Avon Books for the opportunity to read this prior to release as it is certainly outside my normal choices. I’m glad it helped widen my horizons and I believe I would pick up a book from this author again

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing and eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Starving Saints delves into themes of desperation, power, and all the different forms of hunger while featuring masterful prose. It definitely hits the creepy, gory, and shocking aspects of the horror genre, but it’s not thrilling which is something I personally really like in my horror. There are amazing creepy elements introduced as the plot unfolds, and I think if there was more suspense and that “edge of you seat” feeling, it would’ve had a bigger impact. The book felt long and dragging at time, and I don’t think it’s because it was a slow book, but rather it was more medium paced when I really think the whole experience would’ve been elevated if the story was quick and concise. The gore sneaks up on you, and the descriptions are so well done that there were times I physically cringed (and I’m not squeamish). I loved the parts that were written in a way that you didn’t immediately get what was going on because the structure of the writing was fully immersing you in the experience or emotion it was describing — such masterful showing-not-telling writing. It’s a fever dream of an experience in that it’s so strange and unhinged, but I liked that you got most of your questions answered and weren’t left completely hanging. Towards the end, however, I found myself reading sections over and over trying to piece together some of these answers because some of the fever dream aspects of the book started to get messy and disorganized to follow. I felt completely immersed in the strange world this book creates thanks to the clever writing. There wasn’t any dense exposition to introduce the world, just indirect descriptions of the environment from the characters. Overall, I’m blown away by this book, it was a great way to end my reading year, and I can’t wait to see what else Caitlin Sterling writes.

In the castle food is running dangerously low. Phosyne is approached once again by the kings men for a miracle; months prior she managed to clean the fetid water in the cisterns, now she’s being asked to create food from nothing. While in the middle of her experiments, as the palace officials are proclaiming eating their dead as the next course of action, the saints arrive bringing boundless food. Their magic though is not what it seems. A former nun, the right hand of the king, and a spurned noblewoman must work together to save the castle from itself.

I’m iffy on this. It was definitely a unique read, but I don’t think it was ultimately for me. There didn’t seem to be any character who knew what was going on at all, which to me was especially frustrating because even the king is in the dark. There was no mention of why they were fighting this enemy, and very ethereal descriptions of the magic that the magic character herself actually said she didn’t know how it worked.

3.5 stars.

The Starving Saints had a compelling premise and fantastic atmosphere, but the actual substance of the book was lacking a little for me. The arrival of the Constant Lady and Her saints to Aymar castle is exactly what I wanted from this book on the surface: ethereal, decadent, and vaguely unsettling. After their arrival, though, the plot kept going in circles—and not in the fun and twisty way I wanted from something described with the words “bacchanalian madness.” A few plot contrivances kept the main cast from actually interacting with one another until surprisingly late in the book, stunting relationships that I really wanted to see be built upon.

The book is at its best when it fully leans into the insanity. The dark, wild, blood-and-honey-drenched magic at the heart of the novel is the perfect blend of aesthetic and horror, and there were several visually striking scenes that will stick with me. The Starving Saints only becomes more of a fever dream as it goes on, so don’t expect rational decisions or clear explanations, though the story did wrap up neatly enough (if a little quickly).

Overall, I wanted a bit more out of this book than I got. Some issues with plot and character development left the story feeling like it was missing something, though the lovely and unsettling horror elements of the book still made for a worthwhile experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

Conceptually, The Starving Saints is lush ground. Trapped in a siege against a medieval keep, three women—a nun-turned-sorceress, a lady knight, and a fallen noblewoman with a vendetta for revenge—battle against false saints, cannibalism, and bacchanalian madness. This story has so many things I like: The horror, when it’s good, is excellent, and the plot is led by three distinct women who each have various forms of romantic entanglement or enmity with each other. It’s medieval horror, specifically, with lots of the token weirdness that comes with the genre. What’s not to love about sapphic lady knights and mad sorceresses and creepy, feylike saints?

I’ve been trying to articulate why a book that, on paper, appeals directly to me didn’t land for me as I was hoping. I think when you confine a story to a setting like a trapped castle, you run the risk of confining your plot, and while The Starving Saints struggles admirably against those constraints, it never quite escapes the repetition or aimlessness of a bottle episode. The stakes fade in and out throughout the book—while the castle is at first besieged by an enemy army, it disappears about halfway through the novel as the evil saints take the antagonistic spotlight, which left me confused—and the plot formula eventually becomes the same as we cycle through the three alternating POVs and a funhouse of various horrors.

While in theory, the three main characters are interesting, I never felt particularly connected with any of them; or I should say, I felt they lacked some dimension of depth that made them feel truly real. This is a niche, personal nitpick, but with historical fiction and especially medieval fiction, I want to feel believably immersed in the time period and setting—which other medieval lit like Between Two Fires and Matrix pulls off more or less believably—but the dialogue in The Starving Saints felt too modern and colloquial to really achieve that effect I was hoping for.

Overall, if the novel’s unique aesthetic, setting, and themes appeal to you, you should give it a go, because it might work much better for you than it did for me.

THIS. WAS. EVERYTHING! Such a fantastically unhinged read. It was so entrancing I simultaneously couldn’t put it down but also couldn’t turn the page. It’s gory and it’s strange, but in all the ways that make sense.