The third novel in the fantastic Greatcoats fantasy series.
Sebastien de Castell's series continues to entertain. If you're a fan of the first two books, then you'll know what to expect from here: great characters; a great, well-paced plot; a dash of well-placed humour; and some great action.

SAINT'S BLOOD moves the story forward nicely, and sets things up for a highly-anticipated finale. Very highly recommended, I can't recommend this series highly enough.

What if told you that you will be armed with a rapier, equipped with wisecracks, and dropped in the middle of a bloodthirsty city that is chasing a little girl who is under your protection? A hero's premise one would say and a familiar one at that too! However, what makes this story absolutely enjoyable is the execution of the plot and the series. Sebastian DeCastell, using the backdrop of the three musketeers classic, wields a story filled with action, heart, and character! The dialogue is simultaneously rich with humor and poignancy that I was smiling and tearing up at the same time. Saint’s Blood is a fantastic sequel and definitely the best entry in the series so far, especially when I thought that there was no way DeCastell could outdo himself! On to Tyrant's Throne!

A strong follow up to the previous two books in the series. If anything Sebastien de Castell continues to get better and better the further we go.

Overall impressions, definitely worth reading and absolutely looking forward to reading the conclusion of the series. This is a title I would recommend to friends.

Review provided by my co-blogger, Petrik Leo.

Saint’s Blood is the best entry in the series so far. It’s a worthy entry for a penultimate book and it exceeded my expectations of the series. It's not without its flaws but there’s no doubt that I enjoyed reading it cover to cover immensely, right down to the last page, literally. If you’re like me who always read every single word in a book, starting from the publication details (it’s normal right?) up to the acknowledgement, do know that there’s a bonus scene that Sebastien prepared for you at the last page after the acknowledgement section, don’t miss it!

The plot started 4 months after the end of Knight’s Shadow and it began quickly with a great duel fight and the dying of a Saint. Each entry in the Greatcoats series have an overarching arc and although the stories always continue with the same characters but the main enemies they faced in each entry are always different and this time, the Greatcoats will have to solve the mystery behind the Saint’s deaths and deal with the worse adversary they ever faced so far. The new enemies, the God’s Needles are disturbing, bloody, and diabolical, although there probably won’t be a scene as powerful as 'The Greatcoats Lament' from book 2, every battle in Saint’s Blood is so much more exhilarating and breathtaking which more than made up for it.

Not only the book contained a plethora of intricate duel scenes, the pacing of this book is also very fast paced. Addictive plot aside, this is probably due to the fact that chapters are shorter this time compared to previous books, where Knight’s Shadow have 48 chapter with more pages, Saint’s Blood has almost 80 chapters with less amount of pages. The pacing is only slow in the first 100 pages but after that, almost every chapter ended with a cliffhanger that pushed me into continuing, the one more chapter syndrome is very evident here. With so much tension, Saint’s Blood showed exactly just how evil Tristia, the country of sorrow is with its injustice, tyranny and self-righteous people, Saint’s Blood dive into the topic of how far people will go for power wonderfully that it made me wonder if the country is even worth saving at all.

During my time of reading this book, I can’t help but feel that the plot is an allusion to our real world situation since this time, the major theme of the book focused a lot on religion, consecration, and desecration, specifically conflict because of religion. I’m not here to do a lecture on religion, I’m not the most well-versed individual on this topic but we all know from the shit we see every day how people used religion as an excuse for war, terrorism or self-gain. Kids who have never experience graduation or adulthood died for no reason because some people claimed that it is “God’s Will” to do so, which is insanely unfair.

However, as usual, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how far it is. The only way to reach that light is to do something that we always knew but most of the time forgot, stand up against injustice, starting from ourselves, together with your closest ones and this book made a perfect example of these situations and solutions wonderfully.

This book is a fantastic balance between character-driven and plot driven book, despite the book being fast paced and done in 1st person view, Falcio, Brasti (my personal favorite), Kest, Valiana, you know what? I’m just going to say everyone (even the villain), have a stunning development in their character’s growth and relationship. The banter and interactions between our main trios are the best so far, their endless bickering, hilarious dialogues (funniest entry so far) and banter entertained me immensely. I’m delighted to see how much detail Sebastien put into the trios deepening friendship through their endless challenges, especially for Falcio, this guy must have the highest amount of both bad luck and good luck but it’s only because of this that we were able to see how much the trio care so much towards each other. Gimme some more of that bromance!

Lastly, the prose and world-building do receive significant improvement, with the story centered on the Saints, we finally get to know more about them, the Gods, their creation and their power. Unlike the previous two book, a lot of magic are in the book now and with Sebastien’s improved prose in guiding the story, everything worked great for me.

Saint’s Blood is a fantastic sequel and definitely the best entry in the series so far. It was too enjoyable to read and so hard for me to put down, sleeping hours were sacrificed, I can hear the book begged me to read every time I took a break it was crazy. I highly recommend this series for any lover of adult fantasy.

This was a did not finish. I started it, put it down, tried again, put it down, tried a third time and that was the end. I loved the series so do not know why this one did not appeal.

If you are reading this book, it means that you already know Falcio, Kest & Brasti.
Hence, I'm sure you don't need me to explain how much this book is superb: gripping, action-packed, humorous and epic at the same time. In a word, it is fantasy at its finest.
The point is, some books don't need to be praised, but simply deserve to.

I could not help but loving every single page, and now I'm just looking forward to reading the next chapter of the Greatcoats saga.

I could go on and on about the ingenious plot, the way it twists and moves, more an alive being than words on a page. Or I could gush for hours on end about each of its characters, the way enemies form temporary allies, and the way we feel sparks of empathy even in the most unlikely places. Do not even begin talking about how many times this book moved me, the struggle of the characters wetting my face or turning my gut. How many times I thought, me too, felt the weariness in my bones, and finding the courage to make my stand, to live my truth. This book was my favorite because while I loved Falcio in the other books, in this one I could understand him, it was him at his most human.

Sebastien de Castell does a wonderful job in description and imagery. I could see everything that was being said. I never felt lost with the flow of the story when Castell used references to the other two books. The passion and emotions between the characters was immense and brought the characters to life. The action scenes had me at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. The explanations of the type of weapons that the characters used were interesting since I have no knowledge of the different types of knives.