Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy, #1)

by Emily A Duncan

Natasha Soudek (Narrator) and Tristan Morris (Narrator)

When Nadya prays to the gods, they listen, and magic flows through her veins. For nearly a century the Kalyazi have been locked in a deadly holy war with Tranavian heretics, and her power is the only thing that is a match for the enemy's blood magic. But when the Travanian High Prince, and his army invade the monastery she is hiding in, instead of saving her people, Nadya is forced to flee the only home she's ever known, leaving it in flames behind her, and vengeance in her heart.

As night falls, she chooses to defy her gods and forge a dangerous alliance with a pair of refugees and their Tranavian blood mage leader, a beautiful, broken boy who deserted his homeland after witnessing his blood cult commit unthinkable monstrosities. The plan? Assassinate the king and stop the war.

But when they discover a nefarious conspiracy that goes beyond their two countries, everything Nadya believes is thrown into question, including her budding feelings for her new partner. Someone has been harvesting blood mages for a dark purpose, experimenting with combining Tranavian blood magic with the Kalyazi's divine one. In order to save her people, Nadya must now decide whether to trust the High Prince - her country's enemy - or the beautiful boy with powers that may ignite something far worse than the war they're trying to end.

• ISBN10: 1250221196
• ISBN13: 9781250221193
• Publish Date: 2 April 2019
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 June 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 10 hours and 55 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[A Darker Shade of Rosie]

Thank you NetGalley for lending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review!

DISLIKED:
- It took me a month to read, and I wasn't invested in the story until lat least 50% through. I was also just SO conflicted on my feelings about this book.
- I wasn’t completely on board with the writing style, and all of the pronouns were super hard to pronounce (I had no idea there was a pronunciation guide, so this might've been helpful to have in the eARC).

LIKED:
- Something that I can appreciate is how super fast we were thrown into action in the first chapter. No games were played!! No bushes were beaten around!! Nadya was just minding her own business with her pal Kostya, begrudgingly peeling potatoes, and then BAM! Under attack!
- Sometimes alternating perspectives can be tedious and complicated (for me), but this was actually well done, and I applauded it from the start. Dual perspectives of Nadya the cleric from Kalyazin, and Serefin the High Prince and powerful blood mage of Tranavia. I liked both sides.
- Serefin, who has been in the heart of the battle between kingdoms for maybe as half as long as he’s been living, is kind of a drunk, but he’s just about the best damn blood mage there is, much to his father’s chagrin. I liked him.
- I enjoyed Nadya as a character, because even though all of her truths were being tested, she still hesitated at every turn since her gods were all she knew. She didn't up and leave every moral on a whim, because that would have made me lose all respect for her.
- Malachiasz was a beautiful monster, and I need more of him in my life.

[blog & instagram & twitter]

[bookishzelda]

I really loved Wicked Saints it’s so dark and enthralling I just couldn’t stop reading.

I just have to put this out there first though. In order for blood mages to use their magic they need to cut themselves. They do this sometimes by using razor blades in their sleeves. There are points in the book that this made me feel uncomfortable, more so the mention of a particular characters marks. My brother has used cutting as a release for emotional pain and so it might have impacted me differently. I’m not sure how someone with first hand experience would feel.

So back to this amazing, dark and enthralling book. There are so many things I loved about this story, how it so cleverly toes the line between what is a good and what is evil. The characters are rich with personality. You are not only invested in the main POVs but I feel like almost everyone that you come in contact with.

The world building in the book is phenomenal. I truly felt transported into the story. Also the magic system is very interesting. From the use of blood in order for the Blood Mages to cast to the Vultures who are at inhuman level of magic user. Which the crypts are a scary place. Also the fact that on the opposite side we have clerics like Nadya who have been wiped out. I thought the way she interacts with the Saints themselves is very interesting. She can call on a Saint and ask for them to grant her power. Each Saint is different in their abilities and temperament. The best thing about the book is how things are shown in a way that you can see how each person feels they are in the right. That they are actually going to be the one to save the world. Also we are dealing with the two war torn countries of Kalyazi and Tranavia. I felt like the affects the war had on them was well portrayed.

Like I mentioned I felt invested in every character, from main to side. I also loved loved how they all walk this line between good and evil. Really though what makes someone evil, doing everything in their power to save their people. Is there a point where that goes to far? What if you think what you are doing is the right thing or the best thing? Maybe you truly believe it’s the only option. Each character is complex in their own way. Although we see a lot of spotlight on Nadya, Serefin and Malachiasz. There are many other kick ass characters, especially some of the ladies like Parj, Ostyia and the witch in the tower. I really don’t want to give anything away about their personalities and intentions because I think first impressions versus later impressions in the book are important and I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone.

I also want to mention the headers of each chapter is a wonderful addition and helps you to understand some of the history. Both of the Saints and the war of the two countries.

The book is really captivating, dark and magical. I was in an absolute coma after reading it, turning things over and over in my head. I really love a book that can show two sides of a story and make you really think. I both desperately want book 2 and I’m also very afraid.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Disclaimer: 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.

If you’re looking for a deeply dark fantasy world, littered with monsters, then Wicked Saints is for you. It’s gruesome and gritty and filled with an excellent amount of magic and uncertainty.

Our protagonist, Nadya, is the last Cleric. She has been chosen by the gods to deliver Kalyazin from the endless war with Tranavia and bring the gods back into perspective. While Nadya is backed by the goddess of death, she is able to commune with all the gods. This is historically unheard of. Driven by rage and piety and hopes of revenge, Nadya follows the mysterious Malachiasz into the heart of Tranavia with a plot to kill the king and end the war.

There’s a couple of things I want to point out from the start, one of which is that HOLY CRAP THIS STORY FOLLOWS A CLERIC. If you’re familiar with the D&D universe at all, then you know there are loads of stories that follow various character tropes – paladins are the favorite, but also sorcerers, barbarians, and magical creatures like the Drow… how often do we come across a book where the main character is a cleric? In my experience, this trope appears often as a friend or sidekick, but rarely as the protagonist, so enjoy this one ducklings.

Wicked Saints has the potential to to be this incredible overarching epic fantasy, but Emily A. Duncan’s pacing is too quick for that. I feel like this book just raced by. On her Goodreads review of Wicked Saints, Emily points out that this is a planned trilogy, so the pacing will likely make more sense as we continue forward, but dang. This one was really fast.

I actually do want to draw attention to Emily’s Goodreads review of her own book, because she uses this space for a few behind-the-scenes explanations and for trigger warnings, which I think is really important. Before delving into the novel, do check out her review.

I think the greatest strength of this novel was the world building itself. The landscape was dark and gritty, filled with danger even if left to its own accord. The two magical systems Emily A. Duncan built have enough detail to be utterly fascinating, but are vague enough that you’re not bored by mechanics. There is some traveling with Nadya and her merry band, but this is largest skipped in the second POV, High Prince Serefin of Tranavia. You can imagine the ravages of the snowy wasteland without all the walking and flowery language. Then, when you’re following Serefin’s POV, you get to see some of the ins and outs of court life and the politics of Tranavia. Since the two POVs are carefully spliced together, there’s just a tease of information. I personally am a sucker for epic fantasies and I wanted SO MUCH MORE description in this world. I wanted to really absorb it, but Emily doesn’t slow down for that, and I understand her choice. Wicked Saints is aimed at a YA audience. The YA genre appreciates fast paced fantasies – if you’re looking for something slow and steady a la Tolkien, it’s to the adult fantasy shelf you go. C’est la vie.

I didn’t really find myself getting attached to the characters until near the end, when things got CRAZY. I will tell y’all this now: the ending really makes the book. It’s twisty and brilliant and very… Neil Gaiman, I guess? The Cathedral scene felt like something in his universe, akin to American Gods and Coraline in its right-wrongness. I liked it. The character transformations are all at once enraging and delightful. If you even find yourself struggling between chapters, remember this and thank me later.

Wicked Saints is definitely just a taste – this trilogy has a lot more to come, I’m sure, and I’m on board for the sequel.

[Stephanie]

WELL. THEN.

[nightingalereads]

**I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

4 stars

This was one of my most-anticipated reads of 2019 and it did not disappoint in the slightest. Wicked Saints is full of everything I love - monsters, magic, and dangerous clerics. Though dark, the story is also surprisingly humorous at times and I immediately latched onto each of our protagonists. In summation: Malachiasz made me scream in frustration, Serefin made me cry, and Nadya became my new favorite girl with a knife. One of the elements I loved in this story was the found-family that starts to develop between the main characters. Put that trope into any fantasy book and I'm sold.

My only tiny complaint is that at certain points I was so eager to find out what happened next that I literally read too fast, and had to revisit some paragraphs to figure out what I'd missed. But that's it. Overall, this was an engrossing fast-paced read, and I can't wait for the sequel!

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

I haven't decided yet whether I'm rating this 2 or 3 stars. This was my most anticipated 2019 release, so :/

//UPDATE: Full review//

Wicked Saints was by far my most anticipated debut of 2019! I was SO excited when I managed to get an early copy that I immediately dived in and was sucked right into the fast paced world. Of course, there wasn't even a synopsis for this book when I started reading it, I just knew that it sounded deliciously dark and a few people said I'd love it since I ship the Darkling and Alina. Well, now that it's over I have a lot of feelings, so buckle up.

Nadya is the MC of this story and she's a cleric and can speak to the gods. Unlike most clerics though, Nadya can speak to ALL of the gods. You might say she's not like other girls... The story begins with Nadya's monastery under attack by Prince Serefin, a blood mage from a neighboring country. She goes on the run and bumps into Malachiasz and his group of rebels. From there it's the Malachiasz show.

Malachiasz is the dark, mysterious monster boy who you've definitely heard about if you follow Emily A. Duncan on Twitter. He has secrets and is super dangerous, but of course Nadya chooses to trust him and he becomes her love interest. Despite what you might think there is no love triangle, at least not in this book. Malachiasz is the true main character of this book, with Nadya being relegated to his love interest. That isn't to say their romance isn't interesting because it is. It just wasn't what I'd hoped for. Instead of being strong and powerful, Nadya becomes pretty useless as long as she's around him. She was fine, he was fine. They just weren't as amazing as I wanted them to be.

The world of Wicked Saints has great potential and it's definitely heavy on the atmosphere, but I just wanted more. Even after reading the entire book I never felt like I was in a magic filled Russian-inspired world. I honestly couldn't tell you anything about this world other than there are some gods, some crumbling cathedrals, and snow. The magic system also had the potential to be amazing. I definitely found the blood magic to be an interesting take and I really liked the exploration between the ties between religion and Nadya's magic. I just wish it had all been a bit better explained.

The story, while fascinating, was very oddly paced. The beginning jumped right into the action, which I loved, and the ending was really fast-paced (to the point of being confusing), but the bulk of this book dragged. There were some twists and turns, but much of the plot is sacrificed to make way for the romantic subplot. One thing I did love about Wicked Saints were the darker elements of the story. Although Malachiasz is clearly modeled after a certain other popular dark character, I did enjoy the uniqueness the author brought to the story with his particular dark secret. Honestly, if I continue the series it will be for this alone.

But now let's dive into my real issue with this book. It has been described again and again as being similar to the Grisha Trilogy, but I would go a step further and call it Grisha-inspired. It almost reads like fanfiction by someone who wanted Alina and the Darkling to end up together and decided to write their own book to make it happen. But this is not the Darkling and Nadya is definitely not Alina (although there is a sun saint named Alena in Wicked Saints). It is so blatant that it was honestly difficult to read this without comparing the two.

I wanted to love this book SO MUCH! Going in I expected dark fantasy and it was, but there just wasn't enough there. Wicked Saints does have some unique elements that interested me, but I didn't like the way so much of the plot was pushed aside in favor of the forbidden romance. I might continue with book two just to see what happens with Malachiasz, but I really don't know at this point.

Actual rating: 2.5 stars