It's not Emily Duncan's fault that hers is at least the third book this year that I've read with the same general premise and structure: a world torn apart, warring factions - magic vs non magic or different systems of magic, a boy, a girl, one or both of whom is powerful, one from each side, alternating points of view. To Duncan's credit, hers is by far the best I've read, even as I wish for slightly less of a "cooky cutter" narrative.

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. There was the afore-mentioned basic similarity to a lot of other books. It also had a bit of a "Final Fantasy" feel to the magic system (mages carrying round spell books, ripping out pages to cast them). But I was won over by the characters; not just the main characters (and I commend a wise decision by the author in terms of how much of themselves she allows us to know), but the relationships between them and others. I don't want to say too much more, because spoilers. But the plot was exciting; although there's a certain amount of blood and thunder, the violence didn't feel gratuitous, and there's a really interesting moral ambiguity that feels earned rather than arbitrary. Towards the end, I couldn't put it down, and I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series.

Review based on a digital ARC provided via Netgalley.

Nadya is a girl who can speak with the gods and channel their powers. As such, she is the great hope for her country of Kalyazin, which is at constant war with its neighbor. When the war comes to her doorstep and she is forced to flee, things get real really fast! As other reviewers have mentioned, there is blood – lots of blood – but there are also some great characters. None of the characters are perfect, they are all flawed in their own way, grappling with what it means to be powerful, what it means to hold the fate of your country in your hands, what it means to be loyal…Enter two dark young men, mysterious and deadly, with great powers to rival those of Nadya. One is the prince of Tranavia, and Nadya’s sworn enemy. The other is potentially much more dangerous – and compelling. As the story moves along at a fairly fast pace, we begin to see that things are more than they might seem. Will Nadya achieve her goal and save her kingdom – or will something get in the way, something she never could have predicted?

This story is dark and twisted, bloody and romantic. It ended with much promise for its sequels. I can’t wait.

A dark, thrilling novel with magic, gods, love, and war. Three seemingly enemies come together to end the endless war between the kingdoms of Kalyazin and Tranavia. They have the same goal but have different underlying motives. Told from alternating viewpoints from two of the main characters, Nadezhda and Serefin, we find that some characters who are evil may not be so evil after all.. Nadezhda is a cleric in Kalyazin who can speak to the Kalyazin gods and is fighting to restore their power in the enemy kingdom Tranavia. Serefin is the High Prince of the Tranavia who is fighting the idea of gods championing magic over faith. He is also involved in a personal battle against his father,the king. Malachiasz is a dark, powerful character affiliated with dangerous political faction in Tranavia fighting a battle against himself and the kingdom. Many plot twists and turns keep readers interested while character insights show that the bad guys may not be so bad at all.

Duncan's character's are thriving off the page and are all so uniquely different and interesting that I just want to know them more. This story is about three different characters that I would never be able to do justice to describe. There's a drunken prince, an amazing and powerful female cleric and a really troubled bad boy. The three of them live in a world of blood magic and chaos. There is sabotage, war and betrayal! It's amazing! Reader's won't be able to put this book down.

WICKED SAINTS by EMILY A. DUNCAN is an immersive bloodthirsty fantasy that will have you squirming in your seat and desperately turning the page to see what happens next. Though I can see why some have compared this book to the GRISHAVERSE series (which is a series that truly holds a special place in my heart), I truly think WICKED SAINTS is amazing enough to stand on its own without comparison.

A holy war driving countries to do unholy things, a cleric that can speak to a pantheon of gods, disgustingly delightful blood magic, mad kings, and gang of lovable misfits who will commit murder quicker than you can blink an eye. This book isn't all black and white. It operates in varying shades of grey and toys with your moral compass every which way.

I give this 4 out of 5 stars. Why?

1. The prose was engrossing.
2. The world-building was drool-worthy.
3. The characters practically leaped off the page.
4. The ending made me want more.

However, I was not fond of the pacing. The start of the book began with such a bang that even though I was intrigued to know what happened next, the middle slowed the pacing up until towards the end.

I wish I had known it was not a standalone. Interesting, descriptive, magical. I really enjoyed the dual narrators.

I found it difficult to track all the strands running through this story. I am still trying to decipher the reason Tranavia rejected the gods the exact role the gods play in magic and why they want to return to Tranavia. At times the story was purely about magic & what I assume was the battle between good and evil and then bam, there was a romance angle thrown in. I can see students enjoying this book and would recommend it to fans of fantasy and dystopian fiction, but personally it is not a book I would have completed if I had not volunteered to read it on Net Galley.

This book is so original and pulls you in from the very beginning. This seemingly Russian-inspired world is fully realized, including a fully develop religion (I loved the text excerpts included at the beginning of each chapter. All of the characters are multi-faceted and go through some kind of growth arc throughout the novel. The romance is believable and will have readers clamoring for the next installment. I absolutely loved this title and can't wait to see what the author comes up with next.

This was super dark and super magical but also I was highly confused during the ending. I'm grateful to Wednesday Books for granting me an early copy of this book. I do think that the comparisons to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo were fair and I will be recommending this to people who say they like that series. I also like the different setting (Polish and Russia inspired fantasy) because it's not often something I've found in the genre.

I'll be recommending this to people in the future!

Ha ha ha ha..... I have been destroyed by a book. It's happened, I'm done.

So anyway,

IT WAS AMAZING. Gods, saints, magic, theological debates, sexual tension, adventure, war............ Like, a YA version of the Iliad, but Slavic. Ya girl is Slavic, so, you know, I LOOOOOOVE the representation. Can we talk about the plot? Ok, we can't, because I'll have to spoiler, so let's just say, one place is being attacked by another place, when the main girl Nadya (In this house we love and respect her bc she is a great YA heroine who is real and has feelings. AKA my fave type. Similar to Jude from The Cruel Prince, but less angry...ish) goes on the run, and shacks up with three other randoms. Two are from an Arabian/Indian style place, and the third is sex god, and yeah. They decide to go and infiltrate and enact a mission in the place at war with them, and shit goes Downnnnnnnnnnn. Read it. That's all I'm saying.

Wicked Saints is an epic new experience that's brutal and heartbreaking as much as it is divine and swoonworthy. (You will come to know the name Malachiasz on a spiritual level. Before too long that name will just roll off the tongue. Trust.) Packed with intrigue, religion, magic, gut punches, revelations, and an epilogue that will break and make you - if you're into that sort of thing (yes, please!). Do what needs to be done to prepare now because Y'ALL - welcome to your newest obsession!

Lately I've seen a lot of religious centric conflucts played out in fantasy - understandable since SFF reflects the time it's written in - but generally I'm not a fan because most authors only really give you one side. Wicked Saints is different with it's magic system and Byzanyine type churches, and where the MCs evocation of the gods leads to her character growing and adapting. Tjis was a dark, gritty and enjoable fantasy. My one complaint is that the paced sagged a bit in the middle. Otherwise I highly reccommend it.

3 1/2 stars - I did round up. After some debate, I settled mostly on this rating because while I loved some parts of this book, I felt that the pacing was rather slow at the start. Nadya is a Kalyazi cleric, who is gifted with the ability to communicate and channel the powers of ancient gods, including the fearsome and vicious Marzenya. However her homeland and the ordering country, Tranavia, are in the throes of a bloodthirsty war; that partly stems from differences in religion. The Tranavians have forsaken the gods and wield blood magic against the Kalyazi people. At the forefront is Prince Serefin, who is tasked with tracking Nadya, and is known to be a gifted blood mage.

At the start of the novel, Nadya is forced to flee the monastery when Serefin attacks and she suddenly finds herself in the company of a mysterious man named Malachiasz. He convinces her to assist in assassinating the Tranavian king and helping to end the war. Lead by her god-given talents, Nadya accepts and embarks on a journey into the heart of the Tranavian kingdom, where she encounters the prince and the savage Vultures, a cult of blood mages, who are nothing more than monsters, and answers to no one but their own king. As she ventures deeper and deeper into Tranavia, Nadya soon learns that cannot trust anyone and that some monsters pretend to be allies.

Now, I really loved the atmosphere that Duncan created with her byzantine-like churches, a war fueled by religious differences, and Nadya's doubt in her own gods. Religion was integral to the story and not a fancy superfluous detail. Instead, it took on a life of its own and I liked how Nadya's faith played a role in the story. At first, I did not like the interactions between Nadya and her various gods, but eventually, it served an important role in developing Nadya as a character, as well as, her own power. Furthermore, Duncan raises some important questions about the gods in her universe, and how these beings may not be what culture has made them out to be. She hints that these being's intentions may be rather nefarious with the introduction of Velyos and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next sequel. So overall, I really loved these details and felt that it was rather unique to the young adult genre.

(There are spoilers up ahead!) However, I would like to talk a little bit about why I chose to give the book only 3 1/2 stars. The book starts off with a bang quite literally since Serefin breaks into the monastery and attempts to take Nadya. For me, the book started off at an action-packed pace and then slowed down until Nadya and Malachiasz went to the Tranavian court. I loved this section detailing the Rawalyk and I am a little sad that we didn't see more of it. Additionally, we finally saw Serefin and Nadya interact, which was more interesting than Nadya's interest in Malachiasz in my opinion. We know from the perspectives presented and even the cultural differences between the two, that Serefin and Nadya are the most important characters. Therefore, I felt that Nadya running around in the woods with Malachiasz was mostly filler. It was also tedious because I am exasperated with storylines where the female character constantly thinks about how she can't be attracted to the dubious male character and honestly, Nadya is better than that.

I did raise my rating to the half point because there is a lot of interesting dynamics and environments created within this book. I am also keen to see where the narrative goes especially with the ending and Serefin's newfound friends: the moths, as well as, the relationship that will continue to develop between Nadya and Serefin in the next book. Therefore, I think this series is worth the read because it is filled with important questions about religion and creates characters, who will set out on their own paths, and find these difficult answers.

I don't usually read fantasy but I really enjoyed this and the way it was written. I don't think it's something I would look to read everyday, or even again, but it was readable enough that even though it's not my preferred genre it didn't feel heavy.

Just what I needed! Duncan has built a world that I need more of. Shades of Bardugo, Wicked Saints blends the mystical elements of fractured religions, countries at war, and the unlikely companions that must unite to survive. I will need merch, fan sites, and hopefully the promise of more books set in this world!

Wow..oh wow! Wicked Saints definatly lives up to it's title. It is a dark, gritty, fantasy novel that will take you into a magical world of Gods and monsters. It is the author's debut and she rocks this book! I am a huge fan of Holly Black and this series it right up there with her amazing writing. Emily A. Duncan has a darkly, delicious young adult novel that will appeal to adults as well. It is hard to put down and now I have to wait for the next one!

This is a fast paced novel set in a well crafted strange, dark, goth magic universe.
While I had some initial misgivings they were quickly (very quickly) swept away and I found myself heavily invested in the beautifully dark world Emily A. Duncan has created. I will note straight up that there are themes and scenes that need a trigger warning, most notably those of self harm. The book is told through the differing perspectives of Nadya and Serefin and I found that while I liked spending time with Serefin I enjoyed Nadya's chapters much more.
The relationship between Nadya and Malachaisz had me feeling both annoyed at the cliche 'good' girl, shitty bad boy thing but also falling for him and shipping them hard (I guess they are cliche for a reason!).
The fast pace, unique world/magic combined with likeable characters (even the shitty ones have some redeeming or charismatic quality) will make this an instant hit........in fact I can already see the movie adaptation.
Now if only I didn't have to wait so long for the sequel!

This book was incredible! I read it in one sitting, the story is amazing. I loved that this could have been a stand alone but is part of a series. It's great to see so many plots tied up in book one, it gives the rest of the series room to breathe and grow.

I've been anticipating this one for such a long time and I'm so happy it didn't disappoint in the slightest. It's dark and full of banter, theological discussion, and (mostly/probably) bad decisions. It made me laugh, made me scream, and made me hold it to my chest multiple times. I loved the characters and their complicated relationships. There are MULTIPLE "are they gonna kill each other or kiss" moments, which every book should always have, in my opinion. I've yelled about this to so many people already and I'm gonna keep yelling til I get the sequels (which is gonna be a while; I read this way too soon) and long after. There's a lot of action so the plot is super interesting, but it's the characters that really make this a favorite. I definitely recommend for fans of the Grishaverse.

TW: self harm, LOTS of blood, body horror, and parental abuse.

GUYS. GUYS. This is so good, oh man. I can’t wait to see the finished cover and preorder like 10 copies because it’s such an enthralling, dark, and gritty fantasy. I LOVED IT.