I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this book and thought it was a very unique addition to the horror genre. I will definitely be purchasing and recommending it to patrons at my library.

i genuinely went into this book with such high hopes — truly, i wanted to love it. the premise had so much potential, (i mean medieval horror, cannibalism, unhinged vibes? sign me up!!!) and the cover? absolutely stunning. but sadly, the reading experience fell completely flat for me.

from the very beginning, i found the narrative to be convoluted and confusing. i kept hoping things would start to make sense if i just pushed through a few more chapters, but that clarity never came. by the halfway mark, i was already tempted to DNF, but a part of me kept thinking, maybe the ending will tie everything together. unfortunately, even at 100%, i was still lost and honestly, i regretted not putting it down sooner.

the plot had potential, but the execution just didn’t land. it dragged on far too much, and i often found myself zoning out. the writing style didn’t resonate with me at all; instead of pulling me into the story, it left me more confused and frustrated. as for the characters, i couldn’t connect with them on any level and i didn’t find myself caring about their outcomes.

this was a disappointing read for me overall, especially because i wanted to enjoy it so badly. a beautiful cover, yes, but unfortunately, that’s where the praise ends for me. 😭

thanks to Netgalley, AvonBooks and HarperVoyagerUS for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Starving Saints is a weird, visceral novel. The main characters navigate a complicated web of dependency, regret, and control while dealing with the horror of Religious Icons come to life in the worst way possible. There were some expected horrors, but the way Caitlin Starling wove the narrative together was brilliantly weird and unsettling. This may be my favorite of her novels so far, which is saying something.

This was a tricky one for me to rate, because to me the flaws of the book and the things I liked about it are just about equal. On the one hand, we have things I love - fantastical horror, sapphic obsession, power struggle, interesting themes of power and hunger. On the other, the writing - while lyrically beautiful a lot of the time - manages to totally obscure what the book is trying to do. I love weird books and books that make no sense, but this is beyond nonsensical into a messy soup. Usually people use "fever dream" in a complimentary way (I think), but this is every bad sense of the word. I felt like I woke up from this book, unmoored, regretting the sleep I fell into that brought it about. Still, I long for the threads of promise this book contained. I wanted to love it, but I'm afraid I couldn't.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the e-ARC. This is my honest review.

This was a highly anticipated read for me and as much as I enjoyed the book I wasn’t in love with it. I enjoyed the gore and the horror of what occurs within a starved castles walls. But the way it was formatted just wasn’t for me and I think that could be why I didn’t love it.
This was a great story of how far one would go for fealty, hunger, and protection.


*I received a free ARC from NetGalley*

What a fun fever dream. This book hooked me in from the start. How Caitlin is able to world build so quickly and effortlessly is amazing. The story started quickly and didn’t let up until the end. Once the main characters came together, the story really took off. I can’t wait to read more of her works.

2025 seems to be the year of witchy, wicked religious women—Agustina Bazterrica's The Unworthy comes to mind—Starling's "The Starving Saints" stands out as a propulsive and necessary text that engages with modernity while still feeling uniquely singular.

I really wanted to enjoy The Starving Saints, but unfortunately, the writing style just didn’t work for me. I found it difficult to get into the story, and the way the characters were introduced and developed made it hard to connect with or follow them. It felt disjointed at times, and I often found myself confused about what was happening or who was speaking. Overall, it wasn’t an engaging read for me.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced Reader Copy!

This one was tough to get through. I requested this book on Netgalley because of three reasons.
1. The cover is breathtaking. I mean...what even is that? (in a good way)

2. I really enjoyed Caitlin Starling's other work The Death of Jane Lawrence, despite it having a really low rating on goodreads. I liked the atmosphere she created, and then recreated here.

3. Anything to do with nuns, I am intrigued by.

And this book was just ok. It's a fever dream, essentially. You are not supposed to know what's going on, things are left ambiguous on purpose, and then when things are explained, I was left unsatisfied.

I am not the kind of person who reads 'weird' books and then ends up enjoying the ride like others do. I knew that from about page 30 that this book was not going to be for me, but I pushed through hoping to be surprised. And...I was not.

This book is marketed as a Sapphic story about a siege with cannibals and I guess that's what was ultimately delivered. But there wasn't anything more really. This book is exactly what it says it is, and I was left feeling like I wasted my time a bit.

2 stars for the concept though, and I think Caitlin really makes you understand the desperation of a siege and how hunger can make you wacko.

The Starving Saints takes place in a medieval world ravaged by war in which a castle’s inhabitants are slowly starving to death. At their most desperate, a group of saints mysteriously appear within the castle walls offering ample stores of food, but what will they take in exchange?

We follow three main characters in this tale - Phosyne, Treila, and Ser Voyne - and switch between their POVs. This was an interesting tale! I went from being not interested at all to fully engrossed in the story. I liked all three of the main characters and found their arcs compelling to follow. I do think this novel went on a bit long but overall I had a good time. The imagery was fantastic and visceral.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for access to this work. All opinions are my own.

This is one that you start out trying to figure out just what is going on and how you feel about the characters and the setting and then you realize that there's just so /much/ going on that you can't put it down because it's so enthralling and all of the events have been so lyrically and enticingly woven. Almost like the spell of alluring salvation that the saints have put on the people besieged in Aymar. You end up so deep into everything that's going on that you can't quite stop until you've lessened some of the tension and found out just what is going on and who holds the power, except that revelation doesn't come until the climax, at which point there's no putting it down.

This is a glorious, toxic, festering jamjar of the thrall of knowledge, the power we let others hold over us, and how we can be shaken if we don't know who we are and what our core truths are. There are just so many things going on here - betrayal and loyalty, survival and salvation, sacrifice and consumption, freedom and enthrallment - not to mention just the absolutely perfect vibes of medieval blasphemy, cannibalism both under illusion and open-eyed, forbidden knowledge and mysterious magic, co-dependent relationships, and body horror. I /devoured/ this, which feels very fitting for the theme of the different types of hunger and how they affect all of the characters.

This was my first work by Starling, but it won't be my last for sure!

The Starving Saints
By Caitlin Starling

“A king is not so different from a madwoman.”

This was book was a wild ride. I have never read anything even close to it. I actually find the whole thing hard to review to do it justice and explain. It starts a bit of a slowish burn and then boom. (I mean that in the best way possible!)

- Medieval horror with some dark fantasy.
- Super atmospheric and gives fever dream vibes.
- Cannibalism done on point.
- A sapphic romance integrated.
- Bees. So many bees.
- Mind bending and incredible from cover to cover.

Will absolutely make a 2025 list for me. Whether in the top novel or most uniquely done story from the plot to the tropes mixed together. I feel like it might be a hit or miss with people but really hoping it’s a hit and I see this cover swarmed on my feed. 🐝

Book releases on May 20th but is available for preorder now.

*arc provided by NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: When I added this to my TBR I did so because I thought it would be something different and a book to challenge me. It was both. I think if you are a fan of Gideon in the Ninth you must pick this book up.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this. If you are going to read it, I would highly recommend the audio as there's a lot of names and places that are difficult to connect and for me, the audio helped with that. The synopsis alludes to this, but this is a very harsh book. There are so very difficult scenes to read and experience. The author did an excellent job of telling the story she set out to, it was just very difficult to stomach. If you are looking for something light and straight forward this book is not for you. I found it difficult to really understand what was going on, outside of large plot points and some disturbing scenes.

All in all this just simply was not a book for me but I do think there are people who will enjoy it. Other than being confusing (for me), it is written well, descriptive, atmospheric and most importantly, you get exactly what you expect. I was not shocked that I had a difficult time with this one. It's kind of a me problem but I hope I've described it well enough for those of you who may want to pick it up. Proceed with caution.

Caitlin Starling's "The Starving Saints" is a detailed exploration into a hyper-realized fever dream, and honestly, it was an exhilarating and thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish. This work of both fantasy and horror stands out as a dark, twisted, and at times, erotic exploration of encroaching insanity and paranoia, set against a stark medieval fantasy backdrop. Starling’s prose is intentionally non-lucid, a masterful choice that amplifies the building tension and purposeful disorientation as the narrative spirals deeper into madness.

The story throws the reader into the desperate confines of a besieged castle, where its inhabitants, including a core group of three central characters, are being systematically starved out by an enemy kingdom. While there are many characters in this story, the narrative focuses on these three key individuals as their world unravels. The true allure for the reader lies in experiencing the escalating mystery and horror as it unfolds for the characters themselves. The arrival of unexpected visitors amidst the siege acts as a terrifying catalyst, pushing the characters and the foundations of their reality towards unexpected ends.

One of the key strengths of "The Starving Saints" is its immersive and hallucinatory quality, which, while demanding, is incredibly effective. The purposefully disjointed narrative, which mirrors the character’s fracturing perceptions, meant it took me a bit longer to read than some other books. However, this is not a flaw but a testament to Starling's skill; it forces the reader to inhabit the characters' deteriorating mental states, making the experience profoundly visceral. We are not merely observers but participants in their descent, feeling their confusion and dread firsthand. The challenging nature of the prose, while a strength, also requires a degree of reader commitment to navigate its complexities.

The book delves into graphic territory, with descriptively detailed depictions of horror and body horror that can be quite intense. If this type of content is not something you are normally comfortable reading, this is a fair warning before picking this one up.

In conclusion, "The Starving Saints" was a uniquely compelling and deeply memorable read, and unlike anything I have read before. Its bold narrative choices and exploration of psychological horror, seamlessly blended with dark fantasy elements, make it a standout. I will definitely be looking into Caitlin Starling's previous works, based on how much I enjoyed this one. I highly recommend this book to readers who appreciate a challenging, atmospheric, and genuinely terrifying journey into darkness.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for providing me with this advanced reader copy to read and give my honest opinion on.

I honestly have a hard time rating this!! It has a LOT of potential and some parts are really brilliant, but it falls through at so many points, especially the end, it feels very rushed.

This book is running on vibes, and what vibes they are. Bacchanals, cannibalism, hubris, blasphemy, nuns, knights, the slow pressing heat of summer. This book really leans into both psychological and body horror, and it kept managing to raise stakes once I thought they couldn’t get any higher.

This also really shines in its three delightfully messy narrators, none of whom really qualify as a “protagonist” per se so mush as the three most sane people in the depths of a truly wretched situation trying desperately to keep each other afloat more out of self-preservation than any real affection for the others. All of the pairs and the trio as a whole have fantastic and unique dynamics, and they all reflect three very different kinds of disaster women. Four, if we could our non-narrating antagonist!

However. As much as I love the vibes of this book, I do personally want more than just vibes to fuel an entire novel. I really think this story would’ve shone as a novella, where the aesthetic and broad strokes can do more of the heavy lifting. But 320 pages of that energy struggles to hold itself up. I found myself frequently checking how much of the book was left because I constantly felt like “oh this must be the final act” only to have another 50 pages or so. I also feel like novellas have a bit more wiggle room with running on vibes rather than digging in and explaining how the world works, and I felt like this book was trying to get away with novella-depth explanations when it probably needed more concrete world building to earn that length.

I did find myself more interested in watching the chaos rather than worried about if any characters would make it through the experience. So make of that what you will I suppose.

All in all, 3.5/5 stars from me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

2.5* stars

this book just couldn't hold my attention, it took me so long to read. I was only interested in the last 20% of the book. otherwise I forgot that I was even reading it. I kept confusing the characters since none of them felt like they had their own separate personalities. and I know this type of story is meant to feel like a fever dream, but I really understood nothing. it was a cool concept though, so it could be good to other people who enjoy this type of horror, but I just couldn't keep track or care about anything going on.

I loved this book! It read more like fantasy mixed with horror, and I was fully immersed in the setting. The eerie castle, the mysterious visitors, and the constant sense of unease gave this such a strong atmosphere. I was especially into the yearning and complicated sapphic relationships. Also, the novel explored hunger in its different forms as motivation for multiple characters, which was super interesting. The narrative doesn’t follow a straight line and the book doesn’t explain everything, but that actually worked for me in this book. It also helped that it wrapped up in a satisfying way.

A horrific, gory, nightmarish phantasmagoria of a story. Expect body horror, forbidden yearning (in pretty much every way you could imagine), some truly messed up saints, the temptation of forbidden knowledge, and so much more. I was constantly surprised by the depths the narrative took me to, equally delighted and repulsed by what was going on in the pages, and am now eagerly awaiting the publication date so that I can watch in real time the entire social media ecosystem rightfully lose its mind over this book.

A must have for any collection. Great horror, interesting worldbuilding, and a very distinctive style makes this stand out.

So… 3.75 rounded up lol. I’m not quite sure how to rate this. It’s weird in a way that I sometimes loved and sometimes got a little tired of. I liked the vibes. Sapphic medieval canibalistc fever dream! Almost felt like for me this would have been better as a novella since I did get fever dream fatigued!

Thanks to net galley for a e-arc of this book for an honest review.