this was a wild, gross, disturbingly addictive read. Such a cool premise. Go in blind and enjoy the crazy ride

** Thank you so much to NetGalley/Avon and Harper Voyager for this eARC of The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling. Expected pub date is May 20, 2025.**

I recently read The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling and I absolutely loved that book! Naturally, I had to request her upcoming novel on NetGalley, and I was so excited when I was approved.
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On the surface, this novel has all the things my dark little heart enjoys in a story-but sadly, it just didn't work for me. I'm so, so bummed too! I love Dark Fantasy so much, but then to couple it with Horror- this should of been right up my alley.
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The story itself grabbed my attention within the first few chapters, but around 50% in things started to become repetitive and confusing. There is cannibalism in this book and honestly none of it was really that descriptive or gross. I mean, I wasn't expecting extreme horror/splatterpunk vibes, but I felt that the envelope could of been pushed a bit more.
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I'm not a reader that needs a lot of word fluff/descriptors- but it seemed like the author would push you to get interested in the scene/item/person/thing- then just abruptly leave everything to your imagination? This left me feeling intrigued but confused for the last half of the novel. I kept reading to the end in hopes of getting a more detailed idea of who/what the Saints were- but I feel like that question was never really answered.
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I think if there was a little bit more world building, I probably would of loved this novel. The story was a cool idea and Caitlin Starling is a phenomenal writer. The prose in the book is beautiful! I just wish I didn't feel so confused.

Gothic horror, dark fantasy, complex women, religion, cannibalism, The Starving Saints has all that and much more, and I devoured every bit of it. Yes, that pun was very much intended.

Caitlin Starling sets her tale in Aymar Castle, a medieval castle under siege, where too many people are packed in and food is quickly running out. The story is told from the perspective of three women trapped within the castle: Phosyne, a disgraced nun who may or may not be able to perform miracles, Trelia, a servant girl with a dark and tragic past, and Ser Voyne, a knight with a shadowy connection to one of the other women. The perspectives shift throughout the book between the three women, giving readers a fuller view of what's happening inside the castle walls and the women's minds.

The story takes a minute to get going, as Starling takes her time, building a fever dream of a world that takes readers inside the claustrophobic and terrifying castle. She allows an oppressive tension to grow as the madness inside the walls slowly unfolds, giving readers the nauseating feeling that they, too, are trapped along with every other living and unliving soul within Aymar Castle's foreboding walls.

By the time the "saints" of the title appear, I could not put this book down. The tension, horror, violence, and despair are thick, and I had to know what was coming next, even though I knew it couldn't be anything good for the people trapped within the castle. To say more would be to ruin the surprises of The Starving Saints, so I'll leave you with a line from the book that I think perfectly encompasses horror within: "If you stay,' he says, eyes shining in the evening light, 'it is eat or be eaten. But I promise I'll make it good." I highly suggest you stay because The Starving Saints isn't to be missed.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Avon and Harper Voyager for the arc.

This one has a bit of everything. Saints, sinners, cannibals. Starvation, gluttony, finger eating cracks in the rocks? It's a wild ride with LGBTQIA sexual tension, magic, demons, fairy/vampires, knights, nuns, and strange amounts of trypophobia.

This unfortunately didn't hit for me. I got about 50% and then I DNF'd simply because I couldn't stay engaged. I thought the writing was incredibly atmospheric and beautiful, but the story wasn't engaging enough for me. This is one I will probably pick up again at a later date, but for now, this just isn't for me.

4.5 stars rounded down. This book was SO GOOD.

The Starving Saint follows three very different women: Phosyne, a nun turned miracle working "mad-woman," Treila, a former noble woman plotting her revenge, and Ser Voyne, a knight. In the beseiged Aymar castle, the population is starving until mysterious strangers arrive inside the gates. What follows is a dark, twisted fever dream. Cannibals, bees, mysterious finger eating creatures, oh my!

I absolutely devoured this book and can't wait for its release. I will definitely be purchasing a copy for my shelf.

Highly recommend as a great delve into the horror genre for fantasy readers.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Voyager for the digital ARC.

RIYL: Medieval horror, cannibalism as metaphor for (queer) desire, knights

Let’s get this out of the way first: The Starving Saints is sick as hell. It’s one of my favorite reads of the year so far, blending a mythic surreal horror with a messy and compelling triangle of flawed women trying to survive in their own ways. If medieval horror, cannibalism as metaphor for queer desire, and knights are up your alley, I think you’ll love this one.

Everyone in the Starving Saints is hungry from the beginning. The castle of Aymar - from which we only briefly emerge - is besieged on all sides by their hated enemy and its denizens are already down to meager subsistence. The fact that they’ve survived this long is only due to the mechanical inventions of their beekeeping religious order, and the bizarre miracle of water purification stumbled into by one of the order’s apostates, the resident madwoman Phosyne. The Order worships clear and rigorous science alongside the veneration of five holy Saints, putting them at odds with Phosyne, whose occasional bursts of magic come from metaphor, from synecdoche, from agreements and promises. This is how what some call magic has usually been practiced throughout human societies; we are pattern-seeking creatures of narrative, and our sense of magic flows in the opposite direction as our scientific methods. But magic in fantasy stories rarely works that way anymore, especially given the prediction of the rationalized magic systems of Dungeons & Dragons and the works of Brandon Sanderson, making it all the more strange and compelling here.

Phosyne has been tasked with working another miracle; this time, to provide food for the dying castle, ordered directly by the king. To push her along in this process, he assigns his personal guard and renowned general Voyne to keep watch over Phosyne. Voyne is the classical knight; a warrior of great skill and brutality eager for the simple purpose of obedience, to swing her sword at whoever the person with her leash commands. And rounding out the trio is a young noblewoman-turned-anonymous-scullery-maid named Treila, the proverbial rat in the cellars, desperate to survive at all costs and fixated on enacting vengeance for the execution of her father at the blade of Voyne herself. I really loved each of these characters; I especially appreciated how each pairing drew different parts of their personalities out, confronted them with different questions and desires. Each one feels like an archetype fighting to free herself from the bounds of our expectations.

Early on in the book, something truly uncanny enters the castle, seemingly to aid its dying people. But not all miracles are good. Most of The Starving Saints descends into a madhouse of horror and wonder as Phosyne, Voyne, and Treila struggle to keep control of their own souls in the face of reality-shattering hungry void. But their hunger isn’t only physical; each desires something about the other, whether it is purpose or transcendence or will. The brilliance of The Starving Saints lies in how adeptly it navigates the line between desire and fear, sexy and scary, between classic fantasy adventure and bewildering horror. Too many fantasy stories feel clean and defined, too able to be neatly divided up into wikis and understood - or else too surreal and dreamlike. Starling serves up my favorite kind of fantasy - one that understands the balance between rationality and irrationality that makes the genre so endless versatile and thrilling.

The irrational nature of its magic may rub some readers the wrong way, and even I was a little confused at times while trying to track why each act worked or didn’t in the mythic logic of this plot. Maybe it’s all tied together a bit too neatly in the end. But as a person who reads a lot of contemporary SFF, I’m always hungry for something with real meat on the bones, something I can return to gnaw on again and again, something that sticks to me and that I’ll remember years down the line. It’s too early to tell, but I think The Starving Saints is such a worthwhile meal.

Rating: *****

The Starving Saints is set to publish on May 20, 2025.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

This book is absolutely disgusting, and I loved every second of it. The Starving Saints follows the lives of three women trapped under siege at Aymar Castle. Food shortages are dire, and the entire castle faces starvation if aid does not come. But they have sent messengers, many. Aid is not coming. That is until Our Constant Lady and her saints appear within the barred castle gates one day, promising salvation. What begins as holy intervention quickly devolves into carnal bacchanal. Only Phosyne - a heretic and madwoman in living at Aymar - and Treila - a lowly glovemaker and rat-catcher with her own tragic past - seem to keep their sense of self. They use this to rescue Ser Voyne, a knight who has felt leashed by her king in recent times, and enlist her help in saving the castle, or escaping the horrors consuming its inhabitants. Along the way the reader is confronted with the concepts of holiness and worship: is anything holy unless it is worshipped? Can the act of devotion alone make anything, good or evil, holy? A delight of esoteric thought and stomach-churning horror. I expected to be unable to finish this, chicken that I am, but I could not put it down at all.

*Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the e-ARC! All opinions are my own.*

I've unfortunately decided to DNF this one, despite it being a highly anticipated read for me this year. After making it about 30% of the way through, I found myself becoming very lost in the (dual?) timeline of events and was also having a hard time keeping the different characters' names all straight. This is likely entirely my bad. I'm not someone who likes to juggle when it comes to my plots and I was finding myself having to do that here, so it became a bit of a slog for me, unfortunately. Still giving it an average rating of 3 for the writing as the prose itself was well-done and I'd definitely try Caitlin Starling again!

This was insane in all the best ways.
I’ve never read anything like this before. I picked this up on a whim because of a raving review from someone I trust and this didn’t disappoint.
I finished this book like three hours ago and I’m still in shock. This was so eerie yet everything about it was intoxicating.
I can’t wait to start this authors backlog cause wow.
Oh! And Ser Voyne? call me!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc for my honest review!

Thank you HarperCollins and NetGalley for an E-ARC of The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling in exchange for an honest review.

This book introduced me to another author whose previous works I will be reading because I was stunned. I felt as if I was under siege alongside the townsfolk, growing hungry and desperate for salvation. That was due to the writing allowing me enough space to freely interpret the details left out, unlike what is written in typical high fantasy.

The novel centers on three different characters that are fighting against starvation, cannibalistic saints, dominion, and even one another. The magic system was a complaint from several readers stating it was left undone or underdeveloped. Instead, I found it to be refreshingly simple and accurate to its core when our characters used their elements to fight back. In addition, other readers found it insulting when other characters weren’t fully developed even though it was expected that they’d be torn apart—literally. I think it was enough characters to feel part of a castle.

The three main characters—Phosyne, Ser Voyne, and Treila—each serve a different reason for serving the Aymar castle and find themselves defending it until their last breath. One is loyal, one seeks revenge, and one is forced. Reading about how they frame their plan to save the people that are bewitched by the new guests is worth the read. I enjoyed this worldbuilding and this is not our characters’ first encounter with monsters, and it left me to ponder what other creature lie in the dark.

This one is part medieval fantasy part horror and really trippy. I think I had a hard time getting into it, it was quite complicated to follow and all over the place

I really wish this had clicked more with me. There’s a lot about it I love: the setting, the horror, the way it’s not a traditional romance and more a story of sapphic eroticism between three women with differing power balances which made their interactions incredibly loaded and interesting.

But for all the good, it just did not resonate with me in any way. It’s lacking something grounding, I think— things just seemed to happen and I would just shrug my shoulders like, sure, this seems just as likely as anything else. Oddly I feel like it may have benefited from being longer; the push-and-pull of the Treila/Voyne relationship was one of the most compelling elements of the book to me and even after reading this for two weeks I felt it was resolved too quickly.

I think that this will really work for the people it is for… unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔖𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔰
3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

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After reading The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling, I was excited to hop into this, but what a slow start for me. If I didn't know that it picked up from so many reviews, I would've set this bad boy down about 25% in. Even after that, I felt lost. Like so many have said, it's like a wild, chaotic fever dream. It definitely delivered on the medieval horror and absolute weird, f*cked up vibes though, which is what I was most excited for.

Aymar Castle is under siege. There's no food left, people are starving, and tension is high. Out of the blue, when it seems like there is no hope left, the Constant Lady and her saints appear out of thin air - nothing short of a miracle - promising feasts and everything they could ever need. We follow three main characters: a knight and war hero, a sorceress, and a servant girl who was formerly a noble. They don't trust the saints - nor each other - but must be dependent on each other to survive.

Idk, something about this just felt all over the place for me, and it took a lot of motivation to finish this. 100% though, if you are in the mood for a medieval, unhinged, cannibalistic adventure that will have you questioning things....please pick this up.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars.

“𝑨 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓.“

My love for this book was a war long fought and hard won. I think it starts off a little slowly, but the tension just builds and weaves itself into one of the most beautifully grim stories I’ve ever read.

The Starving Saints is a bizarre fever dream of a tale, and I can say I’ve never read anything quite like it. Our story starts with a castle under siege, the people trapped inside suffering and slowly starving to death. Haunting, to be sure, but rest assured… Things can always get worse. And they undoubtedly do.

I loved all of the characters, but Ser Voyne was my favorite. An obsession with lady knights has recently risen within me, and I cannot get enough. Once a shining hero, bathed in the blood of those who would threaten those she has sworn to protect, Ser Voyne is nothing more than a glorified lap dog. She now strains against the confines of duty to her king’s orders, for a leash is still a leash, no matter how golden.

While Ser Voyne was my favorite, each character brought their own distinctive voice and complexities to this story, weaving themselves inextricably together.

As gory and unsettling as it is, The Starving Saints is fantastic example of feminine rage and retribution, but it also showcases three women sacrificing themselves upon the altar of the greater good.

These women were absolutely beautiful in their imperfection, fighting battles within themselves just as much as they battle the growing darkness within their castle hellscape.

If you love sapphic romance, body horror, descriptions of gore and food together, and the heavy slow burn of terror and dread, this very well may be the book for you.

Also, bees. So. Many. Bees.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @harpervoyagerus for providing me with a digital advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Always so grateful! 🖤🫶🏻

I love this book. I think it's so dark and beautifully written and so engaging and I can't stop thinking about it even when I'm not reading it. I read this book slower than I usually read (I've had a lot going on lately and haven't had much time to read) but I've actually enjoying being forced to read it slowly. If it were up to me, I would have devoured it in just a few days, but I've enjoyed savoring it. I feel like reading it slower has made the direness of the situation that much more terrifying and I felt like I could feel the tension radiating off these pages. Absolutely gorgeous book! Can't wait to purchase!

I’ve never read anything quite like this - a Clive Barker-esque medieval bacchanal that disgusts and delights in equal measure. Starling’s language is divine - she knows when to tease and when to reveal, and I’m so grateful that this unfolds the way it does, without too much being spelled out for the reader. It’s very literary, to be sure, but a gnarled page-turner, all the same. One must sink into this, and if they do, I think they’ll be rewarded.

This book was a fever dream that starts fairly normal and transforms into an acid trip. There's a siege at Aymar's castle and they've been holding out for months but everyone knows that food is starting to run out and soon they will have to resort to extremes. What they need is a miracle, which suddenly appears as their worshipped saints show up inside the castle full of food to provide for them. Only things don't feel quite right to some people and some wonder if the saints have ulterior motives.

The three main characters are so different from each other and very interesting to read. I specially love Ser Voyne who is such a great image of a knight. Treila is also wild and lovely, and Phosyne is clever and strange.

The horrors feel feverish and the other characters are so intriguing. I do think at the end of the book it got confusing with what was happening, and it could have used a little bit more explanation of how everything works. Overall loved this book and will be reading another Caitlin Starling book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I am going to DNF this at 70% in. The premise sounded very interesting. Unfortunately, it was just not executed how I thought it would be. The plot dragged considerably and didn't really pick up until about 18 chapters in, by then I was just so uninterested I couldn't care. I wanted there to be more creepy scenes, especially when it came to the cannibalism. I want to be grossed out, and it just seemed dulled down. The book was atmospheric though and you could get into the medieval feel, I just wish that authors would not take so long in books to build a plot because it really could have kept my attention more if so.

The Starving Saints is a haunting, fever-dream of a novel that lingers long after the final page. Set in a besieged medieval castle, the story follows three women: Phosyne, a former nun turned sorceress; Ser Voyne, a knight clinging to duty; and Treila, a servant with secrets, as they navigate the arrival of mysterious, godlike visitors offering salvation at a steep cost. As the castle descends into madness, these women must confront their own desires and the dark forces at play.

Starling's prose is lush and evocative, drawing readers into a world where the line between salvation and damnation blurs. The narrative unfolds through the perspectives of the three protagonists, each voice distinct and compelling. The slow-burn horror builds with tension, exploring themes of hunger, both literal and metaphorical, and the corrupting power of devotion. While the novel delves into dark and disturbing territory, it does so with a deft hand, crafting a story that is as thought-provoking as it is unsettling.

This is a book that defies easy categorization, blending elements of horror, fantasy, and psychological drama into a singular experience. It's not a tale for the faint of heart, but for those who dare to delve into its depths, The Starving Saints offers a rich and unforgettable journey.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.