I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. (And Also managed to win a goodreads physical copy the same day I was approved for the Netgalley, so I got both digital & physical versions).

When we left the crew in Wicked Saints, Malachiasz had attempted to turn the world completely upside down by trying to become godlike. Nadya had attempted to stop him, but not destroy him, and, thus, the gods that had spoken to her, to guide her, had become silent. And Serefin was killed and then rose again with moths fluttering in his orbit and stars in his eyes. Malachiasz vanished and Serefin's father was killed, making him the new king of Travania.

As Ruthless Gods opens, Nadya is still pretending to be a royal from the backwaters of Travania while wandering around the palace, pining over Malachiasz. Serefin is attempting to hold his kingdom together as rumors of what happened to his father spreads amongst the people. The court demands the return of a royal's daughter, who was taken to the Salt Mines during the last book, which jumpstarts this sequel.

Wicked Saints was a slow-moving book, but I enjoyed it. It reminded me of questing in video games.

Ruthless Gods was slow to the point it was almost stagnant. Nadya and the crew hear of this place in Kalyazin--a place that is only spoken of in myths; a place where the gods live; where she can get the gods to speak to her and turn the tide back to helping her people. And, gods, it took forever to get that point.

There were lots of strange disjointed scenes in the book where a paragraph would abruptly jump in tone and it was very confusing. I'd read quite a bit of the book on my kindle and thought, perhaps, the eARC had downloaded strangely, but when I picked up the physical ARC, it was the same thing.

There also seemed to be very little character development for several key players for the book to be 500 pages long. However, I did enjoy getting more background of almost everyone in the party. And Serefin jumped up to being one of my favorites.

Duncan does know how to make things bloody and gory and give you a bit of goosebumps when the scene does come together right, but I'm not sure that's enough to save the book.

Overall, I think the first book was better.

I just read Wicked Saints this week, and I was HOOKED.
Ruthless Gods is another wild ride into darkness and madness, and I loved it. Who do I want to win? Who is good, and who is bad? Who is the real villain of the story? These questions and more popped into my head while reading this. The lies, the betrayals, and the bonds forged made this such a compelling story that I could not put down. I need more!

Ruthless Gods by Emily A Duncan is the second Something Dark and Lonely series. You have three main characters, a host of side characters, and Gods and Goddesses. An amazing world, an interesting conflict, and a fast pace plot. Sounds perfect but it was not. I could not care less about the characters. If one were to die it does not phase me, the relationships between couples is bland. The relationships between friends is more interesting but even so this book lacks that emotional connection to me. I'm giving three stars for this. It was actually a good book with a good pace but I need that connection to the characters to love a book. Hopefully if you read this you find that connection. Its a real fine line to flawed character that you still root for and in this book I never found that.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC. This is an honest review.

Every bit as perfect as the first one. The characters are tridimensional, the world-buolding is well thought, the descriptions are beautiful. Simply amazing.

"Darkness never works alone."

I am going to do my best to coherently review this book, but it may be hard. I enjoyed Wicked Saints, but Ruthless Gods absolutely blew my mind. It does not fall into the trap of being a slow second book at all. The story goes in so many new directions that I never would have predicted and the few new characters introduced are interesting without detracting from the ones who appeared in the first book. It amazed me in the first book how the author was able to pull some many strings and little things together in the end and this book does the same thing on a new level. It is truly going to be a painfully long wait until the next book! If you liked Wicked Saints I do not think you will be disappointed in this sequel and if you are on the fence about reading it, I would give it a chance!

A huge thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This sequel was even darker than Wicked Saints and the characters even more twisted and tortured. The beginning was a little slow to me and there were a few weird jumps in time/narration that had me confused as to how we got to where we were. But the ending had me incredibly irate due to not being able to immediately start the 3rd one. I was fortunate in that I had this one waiting for me when I finished Wicked Saints and that spoiled me.

Overall rating is a 4.25 and I cannot wait to read the next one!

Oh boy, what a sequel! I really enjoyed the first book in this series but this one just knocked it out of the park! I love the characters, the world, the plot - it's all so intriguing and fun to read about!!

Note: Review posted to Goodreads and will be posted on retail sites (Barnes & Noble, Amazon) upon publication date, April 7, 2020.

This eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ruthless Gods will lure you into the darkness and rip your heart out in the process. With each page, you are further submerged into this world of gothic horrors and divine magic. This book is completely maddening and unpredictable, and I loved every minute of it.

The latest entry by Emily A. Duncan in the Something Dark and Holy series transports readers back to the war-torn nations of Tranavia and Kalyazin, where our morally ambiguous cast of characters are reeling from the cataclysmic events that transpired in Wicked Saints. Although the majority of this book is narrated by Nadya and Serefin, Duncan further builds your connection to all of the players in this deific journey by including several interlude chapters from the perspective of characters such as Malachiasz, Kacper, and Parijahan. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that Ruthless Gods brings even more chaos and twists than its predecessor as it takes our ensemble down a path that will leave them forever changed.

Hands down, my favorite element of this book was Duncan’s use of imagery to bring this Slavic-inspired world to life. Ruthless Gods’ nightmarish settings and creations truly jumped off the page and refused to let you go. The best chapters were easily those set in the Salt Mines, where Duncan’s descriptions were particularly bone-chilling and memorable. Be forewarned, this book is not for the faint of heart, with each page blood-drenched and gorier than the last. Ruthless Gods is easily the darkest book I have ever read, which only makes it stand out more in the YA fantasy genre.

In addition, it was an absolute delight to see how the different relationships, both romantic and platonic, unfolded throughout the course of Ruthless Gods. Some of my favorite scenes were those centered upon Nadya and Malachiasz, where sparks would fly from their every interaction. The vulnerabilities and flaws of these characters only make them more relatable, even as they continue to make mistakes along the way. Duncan has written characters that you cannot help but root for, despite their grey morals and downright ruthlessness in their quests to do what they believe is right. Ultimately, these characters are what drives Ruthless Gods to be so captivating and impossible to put down.

There are endless possibilities as to where Duncan can take this gothic tale of gods and monsters in Something Dark and Holy #3. I, for one, cannot wait to find out.

I have SO much to say about this story. To start off, I REALLY enjoyed the first book in the series, Wicked Saints! The story held my attention the ENTIRE time. It took a few chapters for the pace to realign with my expectations, but I still loved every moment I read the book. The character development was there in the prose. The imagery came off very vivid in my mind. Also, the cover is amazing. I can't wait for the next book!!!!!

Ruthless Gods takes everything that was glorious about Wicked Saints, amps it up to 11 and goes running. Unlike the first book where there was this slow build to what was going on, it takes about 20% to build up and then everything starts to slide inexorably sideways.

Emily Duncan made each character more vivid and understandable without sacrificing any of the weird, dark, craziness that made me love the first book.

All three of these disaster kids are getting deeper into it with each page, choice and breath they take and I am **here for it**. Nadya and her search for the truth about magic and her powers, and what the gods really are. Serefin who is falling into deeper and deeper trouble as he's touched by gods who never wanted him. Malachiasz who is as hot mess as it gets and becomes more of a cosmic horror with each word. They're all delightful and disturbing in equal measure and it's fantastic.

Ruthless Gods took about 20% to really set up what was going on, but after we get to that point it starts to run and never stops. There is so much in this book I would love to delve deeper into, and honestly, I have no clue how I'm supposed to wait for next year for book 3 because RG has done a NUMBER on me in the best of ways.

It's a romance which is dark and twisty with a silhouette at the edges. It's cosmic horror with a monster boy and a blood mage and a girl who is god touched but doesn't know why. There is intrigue, there is death, and there is kissing on an altar of bones. I'm not sure it can get much better than that.

It isn't just about Nadya and Malachiasz either. I mean yes, light+dark and monster and cleric are all there in there bantering glory. But that isn't all of it. We also get Ostyia flirting with a hilarious new character, and Serefin realizing that Kacper has been in love with him all along. There are new intrigues, clues about the past, and just so much to love.

Essentially what I'm saying is that if you loved Wicked Saints, strap in because it's only gotten bigger, better and weirder. 10/10, 5/5, I'll be reading this again...and again...and again.

this book reminds me of Leigh Bardugo's style of writing. Definitely better than the first one. This book was so cruel and dark and simply wonderful.

Review to post soon at https://www.burtonbookreview.com/2020/02/wicked-saints-and-ruthless-gods-by.html




Wicked Saints published April 2019





Ruthless Gods published April 2020





Something Dark and Holy series, books 1 & 2 by Emily Duncan.





Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the eGalley to review Ruthless Gods, the sequel to Wicked Saints.




I had read Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan last November as this short summary was quite intriguing:

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..


The story is about magical gods, stranger customs to evoke magical powers through blood and one girl's journey of gruesome survival as she struggles to understand who or what she is while trying to save her country. Definitely a fantasy with a bit of incredulity involved but a great premise. While the action in the story was drawn out it was the characters that kept me reading as they were the most intriguing element of Wicked Saints as the shifting plot line bounced out of grasp as to who we were rooting for.



"Ruthless Gods opens the door to a world of fallen gods and eldritch horrors... Gruesome, grotesque, and so, so glorious." - Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows.

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who--and what--he’s become.


As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. Their paths are being orchestrated by someone…or something.


The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

In her dramatic follow-up to Wicked Saints, the first book in her Something Dark and Holy trilogy, Emily A. Duncan paints a Gothic, icy world where shadows whisper, and no one is who they seem, with a shocking ending that will leave you breathless.





Book two of Something Dark and Holy is Ruthless Gods and yet I am not quite seeing where the Ruthless Gods were in the whole story as yet again that was out of grasp as well. Serefin and Malachiasz are proven to be more connected than we first imagine which made for a neat twist but the whole Serefin is gay thing was out of place in the story which seems to be a thing thrown in to newer YA reads just to pander to the audience and I think it is offensive at times to those who identify as such in the first place but that's another topic for another day. Speaking of offensive the author also warns her readers of several trigger warnings such as self-harm and "body horror/eye horror".



The main heroine in the series is Nadya and she is supposed to be super magical and 'holy' but apparently she needs to have special beads and has to talk to gods to by special so this time she fell flat for me as the gods were not listening since Malachiasz is still alive. It was 432 pages of this journey where they characters are at separate stages of their journeys and at 21% I wrote "So they're on this forgettable journey to get Zaneta from the Salt Mines (not that I know what that means) & "Something is stirring. Something is hungry." & if Something Doesn't Happen Soon I AM SLITTING MY WRISTS"

There was a lot of foreshadowing and build up to action again as the author really likes to develop the characters thoroughly. I am writing this review a few weeks after I actually finished it and yet it feels like it has been much longer than that. The saving grace for this story are those characters and yet I still don't feel like these characters' goals were explained properly; the narrative was a lot of musing. Not that I could do better, I do think there was so much potential .. but I kinda think this series would have been better off whittled down from a trilogy down to a good chunky book if some of the repetitiveness was edited out.



I am undecided as to whether or not I would like to read book three, it would depend on the description and the length of it. If the description doesn't tell me exactly what the actual goal is, then I don't want to embark on their journey of weird magic for no particular reason/just to see people interact with each other.



But yet-- if the story would really let something develop and focus on Nadya and Malachiasz saving the world without all the other hangers on, you might rope me into it if St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books is willing to take another chance with me. They certainly do not need to attempt it as these books have quite a following already on Goodreads and I am one of the few that did not give this one five stars.



.

Rating: 3/5

Thanks NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I think it's time to admit this book series is just not for me ):

I had read the first book, and even thought I didn't think it was great, I thought it showed a lot of potential, so I decided to continue with the series in the hope I would enjoy it more, but unfortunately it didn't happen.

I cannot exactly pinpoint what makes me not enjoy it as much as I should, since the writing is good, the worldbuilding is well done and there are some very original concepts - at least in the fantasy genre.

Maybe the biggest problems are the characters, since I feel no connection with them. I try to root for them, but it just doesn't work and the romance... It should be SO good, since it has all the Darklina vibes, but since book 1, it felt very flat to me and I was hoping with more development, things would change in book 2, but I felt the same.

I still recommend it though, if you like dark and twisted fantasy book, it might work for you :)

And the amazing trio is back! After Malachaisz messed everything up the Tranavia is in turnmoil. Serefin is barely hanging on to his thronw that is trying to be ripped away from him and Nadya hasn't heard from the Gods since the king was killed. When Nadya and Serefin leave the capital to find Malachiasz all three start heading to a final destination each of them thinking their using the others to get what they want. An exciting and adventurous continuation!

Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan is the second installment in the Something Dark and Holy series. You absolutely must read book one, Wicked Saints, before diving into the sequel. These are not standalone stories. You have been forewarned, this is a planned series. Therefore, the books end on cliffhangers. I have no issues with them, but I know they are touchy subjects. These are NOT standalone stories, so you have to read the series.

With that being said, wow! What an incredible, fast-paced ride. This book was so emotional for me, and it got DARK. The writing is fantastic, the descriptions are crazy gory at times, but the world-building is stellar. I had such high hopes for this book, and the author did not disappoint.

There are SO MANY themes in these books, from love to betrayal to revenge. This book was absolutely emotional torture, and I imagine the author was writing with manic laughter through most of this book. The first installment, Wicked Saints, was so well done and absolutely torment (but in a good way), and I am still stunned by the sequel, which was so much worse but so much better at the same time. (Those who have read the books and enjoyed them will definitely understand.) I absolutely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good story.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest, unbiased opinion.

3.5 stars

Wow. This book was a Godsdamned JOURNEY. The ending. Oh my gods THAT ENDING. There were times when I wasn’t sure we’d make it there, time would drag and then it would speed up and go by in a blink. If Malachiasz is chaos then this book is like living in his mind. It is chaotic and pointed at the same time. Those points are sharp though and they will exact their pound of flesh. I feel like I could read this book thousands of times and still not fully grasp everything, which can be maddening at times, but is weirdly quite fitting for this story.

This was probably even more dark and gritty and twisty than I expected. I honestly have no clue how all of this will end but I’m dying to see what happens next! I definitely need to follow this one up with something light and fluffy. Give me comfort because I’m shook.

In this sequel to Wicked Saints the cleric, Black Vulture and the King are tangled in a web of their own creation as the battle over each others beliefs and use of magic. However, something new has entered the fight, something older, darker and much scarier! Can they save themselves, their countries and the beliefs they cling to in the face of all this? Told in beautiful and dark language the bonds between these young people are clear and the book reminds us not to fall so far into our own beliefs that we can't see, appreciate or understand what others believe. This series is completely unique in its content and several of my students read and loved Wicked Saints and anxiously await the sequel.

Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. I tried very hard to read it, but I had to DNF it.

I don't feel like I can accurately review this book as I did not finish it. So I kept this as neutral as I could. And rated it 3 stars.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to read it.

This was every bit as deliciously dark and full of blood, guts, gore, and death as the first book and while I did love every single page of it and all it's dark magic madness, this second book somehow felt different from the first.

Yes, it is different, of course it is. Things have changed. Everyone is more desperate, things are getting real up in here and yet, at times the writing felt disjointed. It took me a few paragraphs sometimes to figure out what had just happened, where we were in the story and what had changed. Was it because this was an ARC? possibly. Either way it sort of through me at times and took me a moment to settle back into the story. But, once again Duncan takes us on a wild ride filled with danger, mystery and so much darkness. One filled with murder and revenge and madness, so much madness.

Really a wonderfully told story that only promises to get better with the next book, disjointed starts and stops and all.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a pretty good series. I enjoyed the writing style, characters, and Fantasy elements. Full review to come soon.