I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN: 9781250195685
on April 2, 2019
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Epic
Pages: 400
Read it as: eARC
Source: Netgalley
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis
A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.
A prince in danger must decide who to trust.
A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.
Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.
In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.
“This book destroyed me and I adored it.”- Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of CaravalThis edition uses deckle edges; the uneven paper edge is intentional.
And I call it Villain love story because that’s 50% of what it is. As much as I love myself some romance, and I appreciated so much the two characters getting close, I just… by the end… it just didn’t click for me.
I finished this book about an hour ago (at the time of the writing of this post) and I spent all this time thinking about why when this story had finally started to spark so much interest in me, it suddenly fell flat in the end. And this is exciting, because sometimes I’m left wondering why a story just didn’t do it for me, but I think I know what the problem with this one was.
But let’s start at the beginning. Credit where it’s due!
The characters are powerful but vulnerable teenagers, and it shows
Well, at times they did sound older, but I kept getting reminded that they were all quite out of their depth, and that was… nice. I like having characters that are powerful and ready to save the world, but I appreciate those reminders that they’re people like us and they also get scared.
When facing immediate mortal danger, one of the characters thought about how they didn’t want to die. And it was so raw. I know anyone would think that, but sometimes in books we don’t get that feeling from characters. We get that they’re at least a bit afraid, but they’re usually oh so brave in the face of danger.
But, the story didn’t grab me immediately
Yes, it took me a while. It wasn’t that the beginning was slow, because the story does pack a punch. But looking at it analytically, maybe it’s just that it didn’t give me time to connect with Nadya at first, before all the nastiness of the conflict came at her. In your mind, you know she’s the MC, and of course you care about her, but… do you?
And then not long after, there are other characters that seem to join the adventure but… I haven’t even finished caring for Nadya yet!
The plot was confusing up until it wasn’t
I want to make it clear that at one point I began caring for Nadya, and for all the other characters. Now that I’d spent more time with them, and understood what was at stake better, I was hooked. Like 75% of the book late, but who’s keeping track?
That said, it’s weird because even though the main goal was to kill the king, there were other things going on the characters suspected. And of course we need more things to spice up the plot. But it didn’t only make me curious, it also got me frustrated because I felt like whatever was being withheld was also keeping me from understanding what this book was about, and that the longer the story kept it quiet, the longer it would take for the characters to begin taking action, and for the real story to start. If you get what I mean.
But then the time came when I was so there for the romance, for their plan, and for everything. I was there for it.
The ending was correct in all ways except one. Spoiler: the one that mattered
The story throws one last punch that while I didn’t like it, it made sense. I actually hated it, but okay. If that’s the path that must be taken, then so be it, book.
Technically, the last 10% got everything right, except one thing. Nadya… she didn’t really shine in the climax. She was there, but View Spoiler » it all happened so fast and in the end, I don’t think she changed at all.
All she discovered, all the truths about herself and the world, and her goals remain the same! This was what disappointed me the most and the true reason why the rating is missing two stars.
Malachiaz deserved his own POV
Looking back now, he was the most interesting of them all, and his POV should have replaced Nadya’s. I’m thinking the only reason why he didn’t get one was because of the big reveals, but boy would this book have been epic with his dash of righteous madness.
I’ll probably read the sequel but I hope Nadya will get some character development and some more time to be awesome and really showcase her power.
Hi Pamela, I so looked forward to the novel. First, because the title was awesome as was the cover. However, ten or so pages into the book, I was like…huh? The action began to soon. I needed more about Nadya’s personality and her history. I needed to care about her, and I tried, I really did. I’ve not finished it. I’ll try. BTW, you are not alone in your assessment. I’ve seen a snippet or two quite similar. Thanks for your honest review.
It’s a relief to know I’m not the only one! I have seen there ARE mixed reviews, but never really read them because I didn’t want to have any bias before I started reading.