What on earth did I just read?! 5 stars hands down. It felt like a fever dream, I'm not too sure what was happening but I was along for the ride. I think I've found a new favorite niche with medieval horror?!

A love song to the dark, the gothic, the sapphic and strange, THE STARVING SAINTS is another banger from Caitlin Starling, an author with a particular talent for making the grotesque and the eerie quite beautiful and a joy to read. So thrilled to see more work from Starling in the world.

While I found the premise and themes (religious, medieval horror; cannibalism) enticing, this fell a bit flat for me. It took me a while to get through, and I found myself confused at times because I felt the storytelling was disjointed. This was a highly anticipated read, but just didn't really work for me, sadly.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the eARC!

Starling has a way with creating unique and palpable atmosphere. This book absolutely seethes with creepiness.

A very creative book.

The story focuses on three characters in the castle of aymar, a nun, a knight and a servant , the castle is at war and phosyne has to perform a miracle to feed the entire castle , the story caught me from the first chapter , it is a very peculiar novel, with characters that I loved , This story is explosive, with a good pace, escalating towards a denouement that I would have liked to be more explosive, the end was what did not convince me at all but overall the experience was unique, its mix between medieval fantasy and canivalism is undoubtedly its strong point, I hope to read more of the author in the future.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

2.5 stars

Aymar Castle has been under seige for months, and its residents are hungry, desperate, and afraid. But then their salvation arrives - in the form of the saints they worship, bringing them gifts they so desperately need. But have they traded their troubles for an even worse fate?

This was an incredibly unique and well written horror - bone chilling (pun intended)! There's the mystery of the saints - of course - but also the unimaginable suffering brought on by war and starvation. What are we capable of when we are pushed to our limits? When we are so incredibly desperate?

Although I enjoyed this book, I found it quite hard to follow sometimes - I found myself losing the thread of the story on occasion. Perhaps too much was happening at once, or the book itself needed to be longer. The journeys of Voyne, Treila, and Phosyne felt rushed, and the transitions between them often a bit jarring, as I was left wanting more.

The story follows three women trapped in in the sieged Aymar castle as it becomes clear that the food will soon run out, until four apparent saints arrive who bring nightmares instead of miracles.

It's a very gruesome horror novel, but I couldn't put it down. I liked the mixing of the religious elements, the medieval elements, the fantasy fae elements, and the horror elements and how they all worked together.

This is such a cool book, from the sick cover to the really wonderful premise and the writing itself. Unfortunately I am realizing I am not a historical fiction fan. I also very much need to be in a specific mood for historical fiction horror, apparently. That being said, if you aren’t a weird mood reader like me, you will likely inhale this one and love it. I am excited for its release because I need it on my bookshelf to enjoy when the perfect mood strikes, as I know it will. These are the times I wish I was not a mood reader. But I know that if I save this for that mood, and have the physical book in hand with some snacks, it will be an amazing experience.

From what I sampled, I heavily recommend this book and am excited to add it to my shelf in the future! This book has some serious gore in it which is what I LOVE in horror. I also can’t get over how cool the cover is.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this eARC! I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.

I would give this book a solid 3.5 which I’m rounding down. It was super engaging, I struggled to put it down at times. I also really liked the world it took place in, I liked their freaky religion and the premise was very captivating. Overall it kept me engaged the entire book and every time I put it down I couldn’t wait until I could sit back down to keep reading.

That being said, the characters in this book are absurdly horny for the situation they are in. Maybe it’s just me but I found it jarring when characters who are on their last legs, starving to death, are getting horny over being choked (in a threatening way). I also thought that at times the world got a little confusing and I struggled to understand what was happening a lot of the time, action scenes tended to move very fast and bend the rules of the books reality which made it a bit hard to follow.

Overall a fast paced, captivating, and thoroughly creepy book.

I unfortunately received this book in the middle of a reading slump. I didn't make it far I think 13%, what I did read I enjoyed just could get into it. No fault of the book just in a slump. Will be giving this book another try after it has came out.

Caitlin Starling's The Starving Saints is a haunting medieval horror novel that delves into the depths of human desperation and the seductive allure of salvation. Set within the besieged walls of Aymar Castle, the story follows three complex women—Ser Voyne, a war hero; Phosyne, a paranoid nun-turned-sorceress; and Treila, a vengeful serving girl—as they navigate a world unraveling into madness. When mysterious figures known as the Constant Lady and her Saints arrive, offering miraculous sustenance and healing, the castle's inhabitants are drawn into a web of devotion and dread. Starling masterfully crafts an atmosphere of claustrophobic tension, exploring themes of faith, power, and the human psyche under siege. While the novel's pacing may challenge some readers, its rich prose and unsettling narrative offer a unique and immersive experience. The Starving Saints is a compelling addition to the horror genre, leaving readers to ponder the true cost of deliverance.

I really enjoyed this. I loved the story, I liked the worlds and I also really enjoyed the characters. I was sucked in from the start and I had a hard time looking away. This is definitely worth the read.

One of the books I have been most looking forward to reading this year and it did not disappoint. I love cannibalism I love mess I love fantasy and horror and insanity and the grotesque. Every book Starling puts out manages to improve on the last (I'm terrified for her autumn release, The Graceview Patient). Enjoyed all three perspectives here - the madwoman, the devoted knight, and the girl seeking vengeance all converge in such fascinating ways and I savored seeing them almost all swap on and off the team with ease as they pursue other desires but eventually fall back together. I love obsession so much; everyone here is starving in the literal sense but also metaphorically. A novel about bacchanalian frenzy and indulgence and a religion based on bees. Cannot endorse this enough. (4.5 stars)

Thank you to NetGalley, Starling, and Harper Voyager Avon for an e-ARC of this book!

Starling’s “The Starving Saints” is an insane, atmospheric descent into human depravity. I was immediately sucked in and couldn’t seem to look away from all of the horror laid out in front of me. Phosyne, Voyne, and Treila were all intriguing characters, and I appreciated that none of them were 100% likeable. I love when an author is unafraid to write about hungry, depraved, desperate, selfish, messed up women, and this story had that in spades. I loved the toxicity between the three of them, the inherent eroticism in their violent interactions, and despite said toxicity I really believed that they all cared about each other. This definitely wasn’t a sweet romance, so if you’re looking for that look elsewhere, but it was sapphic and intoxifying.
The imagery of the monsters, both the saints and the creepy voice in the wall, were so unsettling, and the descriptions of the meat were not for the weak. If you have a weak stomach, do not read this. I may not eat meat again for a while. But it was effective horror, and I was consumed (pun intended) by the dark, feverish vibes. I actually had a fever while reading this (unrelated to the book, probably), and I’m not sure if I recommend the experience lol. I thought the saints were gonna get me.
I do have a few things to complain about, though. For one, the ending was confusing, and far too abrupt. I feel like it didn’t satisfyingly wrap up the story (and that the solution was too neat for such a messed up tale), and honestly, I didn’t understand it. Obviously this could be user error, but I found a good amount of the plot confusing and not well explained. For the vast majority of the book I loved the confusing vibe, because I’m sure it was intentional. We’re confused right along with the characters, but by the end things should have been better explained, and I don’t think I’ll be alone in my confusion and frustration.
Despite this, I still heavily recommend the experience (because it is an experience more than a story), specifically to lovers of dark horror, toxic lesbians, and hungry women.

In the castle, the sapphics are STARVING. Boxed in, under siege, and running low on food stores, the unwilling residents of Aymar Castle await their death...until the mysterious Saints arrive with promises of salvation.

Weaving together three perspectives—Phosyne, sorceress under pressure to "magic" more rations, Ser Voyne, the king's righthand knight, and Trelia, a servant waiting for the moment to take revenge—The Starving Saints brings together a beautiful combination of gothic atmosphere, gore, magic, and, of course, cannibalism.

My advice? Give this book some patience as it gets going. It devolves in the best way possible.

What a twisted delight! I ate the Starving Saints up (yikes!) and didn’t want the odd little tale to end. The story starts normally enough - people trapped in a castle unders seige, one woman tasked with the impossible, a guard begrudgingly assigned to watch her, and a revenge-hungry girl watching the guard…And then in the course of one chapter everything is flipped on its head. I loved that I had no idea whether certain events were really happening or whether our characters were hallucinating. Time and space warps leaving the entire reading experience a little discombobulating but I loved it. I would have loved to learn more about the saints themselves but I think the mystery is part of the reason why this book will live in my head for quite some time. Thank you!

Until like 60% in, I thought this might be a 5-star book. Even considering my final rating, please note that I’m notoriously nitpicky and this book is still one hell of a vibe, so if the synopsis intrigues you, don’t let me scare you off.

Maybe it’s all the hours I spent playing Sunless Sea or the Catholic masses I’ve attended, but I have an insatiable appetite (heh) for creepy castles, whispering basements, and blood-soaked cannibalistic religious cults. Very specific, I know, but we don’t pick our kinks, literary or otherwise; these pages kept turning of their own accord and I was just along for the ride.

Every aesthetic choice made in the worldbuilding, especially the religion and its debased manifestation, had me by the throat. More of this medieval gothic hunger horror, please! I will drink it up without shame or remorse.

Now on to the plot and characters, which is where the cracks in the execution show themselves. I felt like Phosyne never got enough development for me to really believe the later events of the book. While the other two major players were more fleshed out, I still felt like they were being moved around by the author instead of making logical choices based on what we knew about them.

And although I know the lesbian drama is like catnip to reviewers, it wasn’t believable to me at all. There was very little buildup for one of the pairings, and for the other, it was incongruous with everything else we knew about the characters. The horny scenes just seemed like they were thrown in to make things messier, rather than being truly earned or important to the story. I often say this about romantic subplots so maybe it’s just me, but there was no chemistry and I wanted the real action to continue. There was also a bit of hetero seduction that I thought worked better, mostly because it wasn’t intended to be romantic. The author is fine at writing horniness but needs to work on writing relationships.

Similarly, the magic system was too soft for me. Some of the magical goings-on got an explanation, but some seemed to break established rules, and others were totally handwaved. I don’t mind soft magic generally, but this one actively confused me with its inconsistency at times. Even when I had ideas about what to do about the situation, the protagonists didn’t, and I thought the last 40% ish dragged as they ran around trying to figure out how to magically deus ex machina their way out of their predicament. A lot of the running around could have been cut in general, especially because these people are allegedly starving.

Anyway, this review is way longer than intended because the idea was fantastic and I wanted it to stay perfect, and I needed to autopsy my disappointment. Even though the execution ultimately wasn’t what I was hoping for, I commend the author for writing something incredibly unique and atmospheric, and I will definitely consider checking out more of her work.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not sure if I was the target audience for this book. I finished it but if I’m honest it was because I wanted to see what was going to happen. I was confused more than I thought I would be. That probably was what made the book a bit hard for me to finish. Religion horror probably isn’t for me.

Well...I finished it. But only out of pure stubbornness. I was really excited about this book. The cover was awesome and the promise of creepy, cannibalistic saints had me intrigued. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. I found the book to be incredibly slow and confusing. I constantly felt like I missed something. I'm not sure if it was because it kept jumping from different characters (although that doesn't usually bother me) or if things actually were just glanced over but I kept saying "what is happening?" and not in a good way. Things weren't really explained.

I also found all the characters to be super one dimensional and they blended together for me, even though they were supposed to be quite different. I didn't really care about any of them.

I also felt like half of the book was them running around the castle without doing much of anything. And I'm not sure I'd classify this as horror.

2 stars for the cool cover and some decent cannibalistic scenes.

This book was a complete fever dream to me. I loved the blend of a medieval setting with horror. It was well done and so fun to read.

I think If I had to read this book again, I would but while listening to the Dance Fever album by Florence and the machine. The direction this book went was rather interesting to me. I have so many questions about some of the things that have happened but I think maybe keeping the mystery about it just makes it so much more appealing.