Wicked Saints is a retelling of Joan of Arc set in Russia. Nadia is a woman who hears the gods speaking to her telling her that she must save the kingdom. I really wanted to love this. However, I did not like Nadya as a character. I could not really understand her actions. Many of her actions were appalling. I also did not like the love story for it was very rushed. The world-building was very confusing. Still, the writing is splendid and filled with vivid imagery. Overall, I recommend this for fans of Shadow and Bone, Blood Heir, and Truthwitch.

I'm a really big fan of the world building in this book. The blending of politics and religion and religion and magic was interesting. I enjoyed the way Nadya interacted with multiple gods. It was a great way to reveal different facets of her personality, and a vehicle for demonstrating how her thinking changed as she evolved and became more confident in her own abilities.

The story moved well and I became attached to both Nadya and Malachiasz, but I found the ending very confusing and I'm still not sure exactly what happened, I'm hoping the next book will clear things up a bit!

If you like character driven stories full of magic, esoteric religious icons, and dark, broody (maybe?) love, you should pick up Wicked Saints, regardless of age.

I was provided with an ARC by Wednesday Books, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Before I start this review, I need to tell you that I've been in a reading slump for the last several weeks. No fantasy book has been able to catch my attention, let alone keep it. So you can imagine my excitement when I started Wicked Saints and it was fast-paced from the get-go. Before the first chapter was over, the plot (and action) had started, without any preamble. My attention was caught, and with the well-paced plot and mystery, it held throughout the book. The only problem is that now I have to find a book as good as this one.

 The characters were interesting. I liked Nadya from the start. She could be a bit slow sometimes, but she was interesting to read about and I liked seeing her character growth. And while I wasn't too keen on Serefin at first, he grew on me. Like Nadya, he went through a lot of character development. But what made the characters interesting was that they were all layered. No one was perfect, but no one was entirely bad, either (with one exception). But they all had flaws, they had their good and bad parts, which made them interesting to read about.  

The plot was well-paced. It was fast-paced throughout, a lot of things going on, and every page counted. It was exactly what I needed at the time; something to catch my attention right away, and fast-paced enough to keep me interested the whole time. It was great.

 The world-building, the magic, was amazing. It was unlike anything I've seen before, and it was really interesting. It was intricately built, amd honestly I couldn't get enough. I can't wait to read more and learn more about this world and its' magic system.

 Wicked Saints was an amazing new fantasy. Duncan delivers exciting fantasy mixed with layered characters that all make for something you do not want to miss. And with the fast-paced plot, you won’t want to put it down.

This book definitely lived up to the hype. It had lots of emotional ups and downs. I loved it.

While I was reading it, I kept thinking of the Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. They both have a strong presence of saints in the world. There are monsters masquerading as humans in both worlds. Also, the main character has special powers that she is just learning how to use to the fullest.

I became so emotionally invested in the story by the end. Some characters were not who they appeared to be at first, so I didn’t know who to trust. I loved that both Nadya and Serefin had separate narratives, so two sides of the story were told.

The final scenes were some of the most intense scenes I’ve ever read. There was tons of action and there were revelations that I wasn’t expecting. I never could have guessed how the story ended!

I loved this book. I’m excited to see what happens in the rest of the series!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“We're all monsters Nadya, some of us just hide it better than others.”

If you have not heard of this book recently, you must have been somewhere without internet, like an island or deep in the woods, as I have seen this wonderfully gothic tale, Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan, everywhere! Including the NY Times Bestsellers list! (Congratz! 🎉) And you know why? Because this dark gothic is made for those of us with a black heart 🖤 and a love for morally grey characters. *swoon* Are they a villain? A hero? Maybe an anti-hero? But besides having a cast of swoon worthy characters, Wicked Saints has a plethora of magic and gorgeously gothic settings all within the lyrical writing of this book. There maybe some slow points towards the start, but persevere my friends. It picks up and in full force! Strong 4 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 stars!

Although Emily A. Duncan's debut has some pacing issues, this lush and clear fantasy world with Russian and Polish inspired worlds with a unique magic system is a strong start to a fantasy trilogy.

**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
This book starts right in the middle of the action. I have read other books who try to do this but are unsuccessful. This book does it quite well. You are dropped into the middle of a war. There are interesting characters from the beginning. Although, it is not clear exactly whose side you should be on.
The Prince, Serefin, is a cocky sot. He drinks too much and then complains incessantly about having a hangover. He has 2 really good friends who fight alongside him and assist him in both getting drunk and managing his hangovers. His kingdom has been at war for millennia and there is no end in sight. His highness is a blood mage and fights for a heretic king.
Nadya is a cleric in a place where they are supposed to have been eliminated. She has a string of prayer beads that give her access to Gods. They help her when they feel like it and her magic is godly and not heretically. She has been hidden away in a monastery and was supposed to run if the war came to her. The prince is now chasing her.
The vultures are a group of heretics who are particularly cruel. The king uses them to commit any and all atrocities deemed necessary by the crown. They are more bird than human and creep everyone the hell out.
Maliachiasz is a mysterious character who shows up while Nadya is on the run. He is murky and his motives are suspect but there is a spark with Nadya.
Nadya makes some really rash decisions but it is a time of war. There were a few times I could see that she was making a really bad choice but, of course, book characters never listen to me.
This book moves very quickly. It's well written and other than the difficult names, the story is an easy read. There are unknown machinations. Betrayal. Attraction. Family drama. Magic.. And so many other elements that are so interesting. I have a feeling that people Nadya believes to be dead are going to pop back up before this tale is done.
I do not think the romance was necessary and it felt rushed to me. I see how it furthers the plot but it felt like that was its only purpose. So much fantasy inserts unnecessary love interests in the middle of chaos and war. I have found some that worked for me, but this isn't one.
I look forward to the next book.

I started reading Wicked Saints on 4/4/2019 and finished it on 4/17/2019 at 1:05am. This book is a great read! It started out slow with difficult character names to remember with additional unrecognizable Gods. However, the story picked up when the alternating view starts. I like it more when Malachiasz, 18, is introduced. It seems all three characters are clever because they were noticed by each other and by someone else. Either way, I do like smart characters who can think for themselves and have their own suspicions. The supporting characters are well liked as well. I like Rashid, Pari, Kacper, and Ostyia.

This book is told in the third person point of view following Nadezhda (Nadya) Lapteva, 17, as she and her friend Konstantin (Kostya) are being punished to peeling potatoes in the cellar for their prank on Father Alexie’s washing bowl. The Tranavia just fired their cannon, blood magic at Kalyazin, a secluded monastery in the mountains, a home and all that Nadya knew of. During this attack, Nadya loses her friend and her home, but able to escape. Nadya has a necklace full of beads that brings different Gods to her rescue. They give her light and magic to defeat the enemy or at least save herself. The alternative point of view is Serefin Meleski, the High Prince of the enemy, Tranavia. Serefin uses spell books and his blood to create magic. Serefin has been sent to the war front at a young age, not just to keep the enemy at bay but keep the distance with the King. The war has gone on for a century and it needs to be stopped. Nadya is forced into something that she stands against her whole life but it’s the only way she can be strong to fight back.

Wicked Saints is well written and an interesting read. I like both views, more of Serefin than Nadya. She has issues with decision making. She’s never sure of the boy she likes. One moment she wants him and the next she thinks she made a mistake falling for him. I like the unexpected twists at the witch’s tower when they all ended up in the same place. I like the outcome of Zaneta’s fate, another twist I didn’t see coming, as well as Malachiasz’ true identity. This book is full of blood and razor cuts, yikes, but the story line is interesting and I do recommend everyone to read this book!

Pro: fast paced, magic, forbidden love, some twists

Con: slow start at first, difficult names and Gods,

I rate it 4 stars!

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for inviting me to host a blog tour. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for more details

Trigger Warning: Blood, self harm

Dark and twisted. I really enjoyed the magic system. It sets up for a great fantasy series full of blood and betrayals. I will d finely pick up the next one.

**I was given an e- arc through Netgalley. This in no way affects my rating or review.

This was a very unique read, in that I loved parts, but ultimately disliked the whole, but would still recommend it..?.It has a very grim, Gothic feel, and it's been compared to the Grishaverse series. There is a lot of blood, violence, abuse and self harm, so reader beware. It took me quite a while to get into it, and then I devoured it until the end. My initial reaction to finishing was one of obsessive glee (mostly because of the Kylo Ren-esque anti-hero), but as I sat and digested, I realized I had quite a few problems with the story.

The Story: For a century a holy war has raged between the countries of Kalyazin and Tranavia. Long ago Tranavia abandoned the worship of the gods, using heretical magic through the use of blood spells. Main character Nadya is a Kalyazin cleric, an orphan chosen by the gods to wield their magic. She is being hunted by Serefin, the High Prince of Tranavia as well as a powerful blood mage. Rounding out the mc’s is Malachiasz, a mysterious, deadly Tranavian with whom Nadya reluctantly teams up. There’s battles, political intrique, religious discourse, and a lot, and I mean A LOT, of blood.

One of the first things I had trouble with was the magical system. It was quite hard to become familiar with how it worked, and the rules seemed to keep changing. It also seemed awkward to have literal battles where one side has to stop, find the right prayer bead, say a prayer, wait for the magical spell, and then cast it. On the other side, the blood mages have pre-written spells in a book, and they have to rifle through to find the one they need, cut themselves, then tear out the page and bleed all over it to cast. the spell. Its hard to picture it in a way that isn't clunky and fumbling and ridiculous.

The plot was also hard to follow at times. Characters would be having cryptic conversations, where they knew what they were talking about, but the reader has no idea. Then once the reader knows the back story (sometimes quite a few chapters down the road), they have to go back and re-read the conversations to finally figure out what any of it meant. There's withholding plot information on purpose, and then there's having a messy plot that's hard to stay on top of. This book was routinely the latter.

“The future was magic, it was power, it was mankind stepping out of the shadows and finding out the world had been kept in the dark by these gods.”

There’s a large focus on religion, by itself and its place in politics. As one of the only remaining clerics, Nadya has spent her whole life training in the service of the gods. She’s supposed to be our heroine, but by today’s standards, she is absolutely a dangerous fanatic.

“How dare you speak of a greater good, like your kind has any right to pretend you are anything bu heretics and abominations revolting against the gods.”

That’s some powerful rhetoric. As a religious person, I often felt uncomfortable with the portrayal of a) religion, and b) religious followers. Maybe the author wasn’t trying to make such distinct comparisons, but at the same time, it’s hard to like Nadya when she’s so bigoted against foreigners who have chosen not to follow the gods. There’s clues later on that maybe the gods aren’t what they appear to be, and maybe Nadya will question her allegiance, but boy is her perspective pretty yucky at times.

And then there’s the romance. I was really into it. There was chemistry, there was conflict. But then it started to shift, and I started to question Nadya’s intelligence and agency as she kept following him, even while learning his increasingly horrible secrets.

“For all his lies and plots and the danger he brought into the shoddy plan they had, she held this over him, she realized. This monstrous king could be undone by the touch of her lips”.

Except not really. It’s more the other way around. Nadya knows how terrible he is, that she can’t trust him, but in the end it is she who is undone by her attraction to Malachiasz. He remains devoted to his purpose, which he accomplishes, because Nadya cannot bring herself to take one of the hundred chances she has to stop him. Is there feminism in that? Is there equality in that? Is her love for the villain a weakness-that-secretly-is-a-strength? Because it really doesn’t look good. How can she take on monster boy when she’s constantly going weak at the knees by his charm and appeal? And guys, I say this as someone who roots for the hot villain EVERY TIME. But there was a severe power imbalance in this relationship.

I'm giving this book 3 stars, because even though I had lots of issues, I do still recommend people try it out. It is a testament to the author’s ability to intrigue me with a bombshell ending, because I’m still very much hooked enough to anxiously await the sequel. But I sincerely hope it includes a heroine who is, like the cover states, actually worthy of fear.

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.

Emily A. Duncan’s Wicked Saints has been taking the internet by storm since well before its release date last week, but I decided to request an ARC pretty late in the game (hence my review being about a week after the book’s release). This seems to be a pretty polarizing read. I’ve seen so many book reviewers say they adored it, and I’ve seen just as many rant about it. Honestly, I fell somewhere in the middle on this one.

The gothic aesthetic of this book is one aspect that the author does a really good job with, and I don’t feel like she wavered from it much—even during scenes that didn’t necessarily give off that sort of vibe (though, there are very few).

The magic is also something that intrigued me about this book, though I’ll admit to wanting to learn more about it. It sort of felt like the reader was in the dark when it came to the limits and rules surrounding blood magic, and given the huge role it plays in the story, I would have liked to get more of an explanation of how it works. We do get plenty of background about the gods and clerics’ magic, which is nice, but I still want to know more about the past clerics and witches. (Granted, it’s probably safe to assume we will get more insight into that in the later books.)

As far as our two perspective characters go, I really enjoyed reading from both Serefin’s and Nadya’s perspective. Duncan did a great job of mirroring the conflicts between the two, playing off the fact that they both are supposed to be on opposing sides but also want the same things. I think I enjoyed Serefin’s chapters a tad more, just because I found him to be more flawed and relatable. The side characters were also amazing, and I hope we get to see more of the friendships in the next two books. Serefin’s relationships with Ostyia and Kacper were refreshing to read, and I’m crossing my fingers for an amazing female friendship forming between Nadya and Parijahan.

The pacing of Wicked Saints is one thing that disappointed me. I feel like the beginning is comprised mostly of setup, but it also goes by so quickly without much conflict happening. I remember looking to see how far into the e-ARCI was and being shocked to discover that I was already 50% of the way through the book. It felt like a lot had happened, but not a lot that held major significance. I don’t know, it just felt off. Also, a lot of the obstacles introduced were overcome so quickly and easily.

It also doesn’t help that Nadya’s relationship with Malachiasz develops so fast. (Sorry, this one paragraph might get a tad spoilery.) The insta-love feeling between the two of them was another thing I struggled with, especially given that she’s so reluctant to trust him, but we don’t actually see that. She keeps telling us that he’s a monster and she’s supposed to hate him, but Nadya doesn’t really seem like she’s trying to fight whatever’s between them. Also, she’s so quick to trust him, and it doesn’t really add up when you consider how she was raised. Truthfully, I could see myself eventually shipping her with Serefin way more.

Without saying too much about the ending, I was pretty conflicted. I liked the twists that occurred, and honestly, I would have been disappointed if Malachiasz’s character went in any other direction. That said, I wasn’t really sure what was happening or what the motivation behind certain actions was.

I gave Wicked Saints a 3.5-star rating. I did really enjoy it, and I feel like the story has so much potential, but I did have a few qualms with it. I will definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out, though, because I have way too many questions not to.

Given that Wicked Saints is at the top of everyone’s TBR and was being spoken highly of by those with ARCs they had already read, I definitely went into reading it with high hopes. Before we dive into the review, I did note a few TW/CWs so let’s get them out of the way.

- Blood
- Torture
- Death
- Attempted rape
- Psychological abuse
- Self harm (recurring, but not linked to MI)

The characters, especially the point-of-view characters, were developed so-so. I feel like this book is partially about secrets and that spilled over into the character development just a little, but I feel like I could have a conversation with most of them even if I couldn’t occupy their headspace. I especially loved Nadya because she is flawed and she knows it and she’s just trying to do her best. She’s so incredibly HUMAN it’s perfect. I need more characters who are like that.

The world the characters and story inhabit is built up rather nicely. It was a bit confusing at first because it’s based around a magic system I haven’t seen before but it made better sense as the story progressed and developed the rules of the world naturally. I will say that I probably might have avoided the book had I realized self harm would be so central to the world building, but I can also understand why it works well in this particular setting.

The story itself is complex and beautifully told. It is slow-going a bit at the beginning but by about 1/3 in, I had trouble putting the novel down. There’s one problem after another that keeps you on the edge of your seat and biting your fingernails, needing to know what comes next. And how was I rewarded for all my sleepless nights and work break chapter stealing? The plot twist to end all plot twists. Wow, I did not see that one coming! I should have because COME ON but… sigh. I did not and it was glorious and I may have screeched when I read it, scaring several coworkers.

The ending (post plot twist recovery, of course) was great. It gave me some of the closure I needed from this story while also lining up a few loose ends (some much larger than others) to be covered in the next two books of the trilogy. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like a cliffhanger at all, likely because the biggest threads were tied off by the end. Emily A. Duncan has definitely got my attention.

Going into this read, I was promised blood and monsters and a forbidden romance. And I’m happy to say that Wicked Saints definitely delivered! But before I get to more about that, I wanted to point something out about the writing. My personal experience with the writing in this book was that it took me a bit of getting used to for the first few chapters. Duncan has a unique style of writing, and it just took my brain a bit of time to adjust to that particular style. This does not mean that I found the writing poor or “bad” in any way.

I just wanted to point this out in case any of you pick this book up and feel the urge to put it back down because of the writing. I encourage you to keep going! It was worth it for me because I really got into Wicked Saints after those first chapters. This book was definitely a dark read, and I was very happy with the amounts of blood and dark magic (and the slow burn forbidden love plot) within its page.

I also want to point out how effectively the cover captures the mood of Wicked Saints! The artist really knew what they were doing. The atmosphere was definitely dark and gothic, and I love all of the Slavic folklore influences. While I’m not personally from Slavic descent (I’m Romanian), I definitely grew up with some very dark fairytales that were similar to, or even influenced, by some of the folklore that inspired this book. (And while said fairytales scared me a little when I was a child, looking back now…I find that they have definitely shaped me as a person and have definitely affected some of my tastes in literature.)

I also loved all of the main characters, the magic system, as well as the world-building in Wicked Saints. I’m nursing one of the worst book hangovers right now. As I said, there was blood. There were also monsters that I wish I could read more about. And there was also certainly a forbidden romance that turned out being so much better than I had hoped for! The chemistry… Gah! But I’ll say no more about that. I definitely recommend this one to those who like their dark YA fantasies.

I start off by saying that I am not a big fantasy person, but I really enjoyed this. The magic system was really good and I liked all 3 of the main characters. Sometimes when there are so many I tend to people up, but that didn’t happen in this story.
I was given an early copy of this thanks to NetGalley and I’m very happy for that. This book was on my most anticipated of the year list and it didn’t disappoint. It may not have been my favorite work, but I definitely plan to read the next one (I think this will be a series?) In the end I would/already have recommended this to people.
4/5

Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan turned out to be a huge and unexpected surprise. I had a hard time following the first few chapters because the reader is plopped down in the middle of the action from the first page. This isn’t a bad thing, but it did make it hard to remember the different characters for awhile. Once I had them all sorted in my head, though, the action was a positive thing. There were plenty of twists and turns and I LOVED the way the ending perfectly for the next in the series.

This book was beautiful! Not only was there magic involved but there was a plot that kept me interested. It is dark and suspenseful. I loved all of the three main characters for many reasons and the supporting characters were just a good! I recommend this to anyone who likes gritty fantasy and isn't afraid to have book withdrawal at the end!

What I liked…
This book is brimming with voice. The characters have a fun rapport and the dialogue sounds natural. Having just finished a book with bland characters, the characters in Wicked Saints were revitalizing-- all likable with different flaws, and struggles. Duncan definitely has a vision for these characters and the ending has left me in

I knew from the blurb that religion would be a major element of Wicked Saints, having a main character who speaks with gods necessitates that, but I did not expect Duncan so deftly to weave in the role of faith in conflict and identity. Fantasy sometimes has a tendency to think of religion as window dressing: it's something you add to the character's to make them fuller, but all of the tangled feelings that come with it aren't considered in the text. Religion and its relationship with conflict (whether internal or external) is a central theme of the book and the ending promises further exploration. She's hinted the next book is darker, weirder, more cerebral which makes me excited to see how she'll elevate the themes.

This is such a small thing but I loved the small excerpts from religious and historical text she put at the top of every chapter. It was a neat little way to convey relevant information about the world she was building-- it added color and sometimes served as relevant exposition to the chapter we would be reading.


What could have been improved (based on my personal reading tastes)…
As a character driven reader, I actually wouldn't have minded if we learned more about the characters. Duncan kept a lot of elements of their past mysterious, only briefly touching upon motivations for all but Nadya. I wanted more backstory. I also would have loved it if some of the secondary characters had more impact on the plot of the story, or were more present. One character, who appears in the beginning, is hardly mentioned in the last 3/4ths of the book. I assume these plot threads she's left mostly untouched will be woven in to book two, and I'm hopeful we'll get more character development for the secondary characters then, too.

I'm torn on this next point. Nadya is, to an extent, a passive character in the story. I don't mean she doesn't have agency. She has her reasons for creating an uneasy alliance to assassinate the king. I mean that she doesn't have a large part in the formulation of the plan, and there are even some moments in the execution where she stumbles. More frustrating with the execution of the plan is how little they struggled for some of it-- one could argue the reason has to do with what we learn in the end, and Nadya did not suspect because she was sheltered and too focused on her internal conflict, but it did remove some of the tension for me while it was happening. The emphasis the first quarter of the book placed on how dangerous what they were planning was also heightened my expectations in terms of what the severity and type of consequences they would face which turned out to be overplayed.

This last point is extremely based on my personal preference, and I understand why she wrote the attraction between the two main characters the way she did, but I would have preferred more slow burn. Duncan argues that the relationship between two of the characters is just attraction and pure teenage messy feelings, and I can see that perspective but I just wanted it to be even slower and more filled with doubt.

If I'm being completely honest, some of these plot and pacing problems could have been fixed a bit by how Malachiasz and Nadya were written. Still, I really enjoyed this book overall and will most definitely be picking up the next book.

You'll like it if:
• You like villain ships
• You're interested in books that explore faith and conflict
• You like books with eastern European influences

You won't like it if:
• You like conclusive endings, books in series that can function as standalones.
• You don't like it when secondary characters are explored on a surface level. Some story lines of other primary or supporting characters were hardly explored at all and I had hoped for some more answers there. One of them disappears for a long period of time and never really does anything, not even in the end. I assume she'll come back in the second book.
You prefer the main character be the mastermind or the cause of action. A lot of things happen to Nadya, but she doesn't necessarily drive the plot. She reacts to it.

Wicked Saints was unlike anything I have read before. Emily Duncan did a fantastic job at keeping her characters in the gray area, instead of the constant black and white, villain and hero.

Wicked Saints is the first book in an all new YA Fantasy trilogy called, Something Dark and Holy. An more apt name for a trilogy has NEVER existed. This is so dark, so damn holy. ((clutches pearls))

This is a debut novel for this author and guys, WOW. If this is Duncan’s debut, she is definitely an author to watch.

The tone of this is very grimdark and we all know, I live for that. Basically, in this world, there is a holy war that has been raging for centuries between two kingdoms: Kalyazin and Tranavia. We follow three main characters: Nadya, Serefin and Malachiasz.

The world is vast and complex, yet feels like nothing to learn. Last week I reviewed another YA Fantasy book, I won’t name here, but I mentioned how I felt like I needed to be taking notes as the town the characters lived in was being explained.

That shook me out of the story and made it hard for me to connect. With this book, even though this is a vastly more complex world, I never felt that. Whilst reading Wicked Saints, I feel like I am living these events along with the characters and have never felt like I didn’t understand what was going on or how the world worked.

This, to me, is a sign of a great fantasy construct; well thought out and balanced. Even though this story takes place in a world that is being created from scratch, although clearly based on Russian/Eastern European lore, culture, etc., it never feels overwhelming and in my opinion, does not suffer at all from the dreaded ‘first book in a series’ syndrome.

Nadya, the main female protagonist, is the most fascinating to me. She was raised in a monastery in the mountains of Kalyazin where the clerics and others can commune with their pantheon of gods. Nadya is very special as she is able to commune with all the gods and she can gain magical powers from them.

Even more interesting is the fact that the gods talk back! She wears a necklace around her neck with a different bead representing each of the different gods. Depending on the situation, and what powers she may need, she holds that bead and asks that god for help. The gods are all developed with their own personality and they can offer up guidance, a friendly chat or just be silent.

I love this aspect! It makes me think of the Disney animated movie, Hercules, all the different gods you meet in that and their personalities; so much fun. It is a very unique element. I have never read anything quite like this in a YA Fantasy before.

So, due to circumstances I won’t get into here, Nadya is forced to flee the monastery, fearing for her life, and once on the road bumps into a traveling trio that includes another of our main characters, Malachiasz.

Now, Malachiasz is a complex character and one that would be a little difficult to explain without going into too much of the story. Let’s just say he was once part of a very dangerous and secretive order of powerful blood mages in the kingdom of Tranavia called the Vultures.

Yep. The Vultures are hella creepy masked guys and gals with the most murderous of intentions. They are so scary and powerful that they are referred to as ‘monsters’ by people outside the sect. Malachiasz is a defector from the sect. The only person known to have done so. He confesses this to Nadya and tells her he is essentially on the wrong side of the law in Tranavia.

Our final main character is Serefin, the crown Prince of Tranavia. He has been leading armies for the past few years in the never-ending war with Kalyazin but has recently been summoned home by his father, the King. Serefin is convinced his father has one goal in mind, to take him out. Is he just paranoid or does his father really want to kill him? It is clear the King isn’t playing with a full deck and he is quite volatile and secretive; whispering around with the Vultures.

When Nadya, Malachiasz and their traveling companions arrive in the capital city, set on stopping the war, whatever the cost, they come into contact with Serefin and begin to wonder, exactly whose side is he on?

The writing in this is so delicious. Dark and gothic from the very start! If you love that kind of story, set in a harsh and unforgiving world, you need to pick this book up.

I enjoyed this so much, I am already planning a reread — no joke. Most of all I am looking forward to discussing this with other readers. This is so compelling, I just know there is going to be a huge fandom for this story, this world, these characters and this author!

I am so excited to see where Duncan is going to go with this story. I just can’t even imagine what ultimately is going to happen. There are so many ways it could go, all of them bloody and brutal.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity and will definitely be buying a finished copy for my collection!