This is a difficult book for me to review. The author's incredibly problematic history is not something you can divorce from this book. I find it hard to be "objective" about the merits of this book when the very premise of the blood magic within is based on an incredibly antisemitic trope. The ways in which this insidious conspiracy theory under-girds the very premise of the mythology in this novel is impossible to divorce from the author's own history. I urge anyone interested in this book to read up on the author's controversies and make an educated decision for themselves whether or not this is someone they would like to support.

DNF 55%

I discovered many bad things about this book, and now I really question how I could have liked it.
We don't tolerate bullying and anti-sematic.

Duncan's final books in her "Something Dark and Holy" series has given us an ending for our poor little traumatised adventurers. I will admit that the gap between books made this book a bit hard to get into. I remembered the big things that had happened, but so many of the smaller plots had disappeared from my head. (don't know what that says about the overall story). However, the gothic vibes that Duncan so beautifully writes had me coming back for more. I knew that everything wouldn't end perfectly for our motley crew, but without spoiling endings for anyone, I think the "happily ever after" each character received was fitting to their journey.

Honestly, as much as I loved this series, I can't bring myself to finish or support the author anymore. Thank you so much for the opportunity though.

I am leaving my review up, but things have come to light about this author and I am no longer comfortable supporting this series. I do not condone bullying in any form, especially when a white author uses their popularity to bully and be hateful to the BIPOC community.

I love how the author ended this series, but I couldn’t get over the repetition of words at points. I’m hoping the final copy has the word “entropy” at least a dozen less times.

Other than that, I loved it. These kids never listen to anyone and they’re disastrous and I had such fun with them! It was a wonderful end to a trilogy have had enjoyed so much.

This is a case of it’s not you, it’s me. I just couldn’t finish this series no matter how many times I tried. I don’t think I’m in the right frame of mind to do so.

I’ll definitely try again later.

This series as a whole had a wonderful premise, but I think the author may have based it on something controversial or is controversial herself. Either way, I'm sure folks who enjoy fantasy and the savior-monster type trope will enjoy this.

WICKED SAINTS was a four-star read for me. RUTHLESS GODS was a two-star read for me. Did the finale of this trilogy do better than its predecessor? The answer is no. No, it didn’t. BLESSED MONSTERS was a hot cursed mess. WICKED SAINTS is and will always be the strongest installment of this book series. As mentioned in my review of RUTHLESS GODS, Duncan tried to follow the path Leigh Bardugo took with the Grisha series but failed terribly. It does not have the structure and cohesiveness that the Grisha series has. Gore, self-loathing monster-boys, brooding characters, and Hot Topic vibes isn’t enough to justify needing three books.

Look, I love fanfiction. Grew up on it. Wrote it myself.

But that doesn’t mean I’m OK with paying $19 + tax for a hardcover copy of a thinly disguised Reylo/Darklina fanfiction.

1 out of 5 stars

Duncan has done it again! Loved this book. Will Recommend always. Loved the writing, world building ang character development. However, Malachaisz is the worst and Nadya deserves better. Loved it though!

I apologize, but I am unable to read and review this book at this time due to what has come to light about the author.

This was kind of painful to get through…did not find it as enjoyable as the first two in the series. A bit of a let down.

While I will purchase this title since it is the conclusion of the trilogy, I was not impressed by the the ending. The plot itself was fine, but the pacing was off with the beginning of the story being very heavy and I found myself skimming through chunks and the end felt very rushed.

The final installment in the Something Dark and Holy series - a dark and twisty ride that is thrilling, romantic, fierce and fun. A richly imaginative YA fantasy that weaves a complex storytline.

*posted 9/30/21

This was not an easy book to review. As a huge fan of the series, it was hard finding out what kind of person the writer was. There was a lot of negative things said about this author and series, and I really struggled with whether or not to post my review. I had already received the ARC long before I became aware of the issues with this series/author. I knew I was going to read it regardless but I wasn't sure if I should post my review.

After a lot of thought, I decided yes. First, because I wanted to uphold my end of things as a reviewer who requested the book. Second, because I wanted to be able to put out a more fair review of the book for those looking for an honest opinion of it. I saw a lot of reviews trash the book simply because they didn't like the author as a person or praise the book initially only to edit their review to a completely negative review after the facts came out. Neither of those seemed really fair and I couldn't blame them for pulling their support from the author after what she did, but I still wanted to be honest about my review and judge the book based solely on her writing.

So here's my verdict: this book definitely has to be my least favorite in the series and it really felt like an awkward end to the series for a lot of reasons.

Of course, I loved the characters overall. I'd grown to love a lot of them and always enjoyed their banter. That was pretty much the same in this book and probably one of the few elements I liked.

And if we're talking about the characters, we definitely need to talk about their relationships together. As I said, I enjoyed the banter among the group and the different friendships that had formed throughout the trilogy, but I think what it always came back to for me was the romance between Nadya and Malachiasz. I liked their complicated relationship and how awkward they could be at times, but I felt like at the same time their relationship never really changed. They still didn't fully trust one another and it felt static when I looked at the relationship overall. It wasn't terrible, there just wasn't a lot of growth.

My main issues with the last book, however, were the pacing, plot, and ending. The overall pacing in the series is kind of slow. It's one of those series where I have to be in the right mindset to read (like The Winternight Trilogy). But even though the books are generally slow, this last one felt extra slow. Things were dragged out. The characters had a clear direction they were supposed to go in but even though they knew what to do they spent most of the book doing other things. It didn't feel like they were actively moving toward it until the very end which made the ending itself feel rushed.

So, all in all, this last book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't the author's best work. And that's without adding in the anti semitic themes that have been pointed out about the series. The ending, especially in terms of Malachiasz's character, left me a little disappointed. It left it open and kind of hinted at the possibility of him relapsing in the future. It felt like he didn't really change at all and I wish we had seen a bigger change in him.

I hope this review serves as a more clear picture of what this book was like without adding all the weight of the author's negative image. That being said, there are anti semitic themes to be aware of so if you haven't started the series already it may be best to skip this one.

When I started this series, I really enjoyed it. The first book was, in my opinion, fantastic. The concept of the story was very interesting. I had not heard of any book with this concept/plot before. However, as the series continued, I grew to unlike the series. Blessed Monsters is not my favorite book in the series. I felt like the author rushed things & didn't really build the plot really well. The main characters were not it for me, especially the female lead. The more I read, the more agitated I was with the plot & characters. I felt so bad because I really enjoyed the series to begin with. But I did not like this book, no matter how many tries I gave it.

I really wanted to like this book. Sadly it is very poorly written the plot is more holey than swiss cheese, the character development jumps around and they neither grow nor give you a full sense of who they are. Then of course there is the fact the author willingly wrote in anti semetic themes, bullied and abused other authors and people of color on line and then when she was found out she ran away to "improve herself." I'm going to hope that whoever edited this book didn't have access to a sensitivity reader. Sadly this book is just bad vaguely racist Grisha fan fiction.

I don't know if it's my fault, but I really couldn't get into this one. The last book left me with too many questions. I'm having a hard time understanding the universe and the characters motives. I sadly could not enjoy my reading since I simply did not understand big parts of it. Had the world been more clearly explained/fleshed out it would have helped a lot. Also, the beautiful metaphorical writing needs to be balanced with a more direct writing from times to times to ground us better

Nonetheless, I liked the really dark and bloody side of this series. It really wasn't afraid to go "there" on so many levels. The characters were interesting and loveable and you genuinely wanted to spend time with them.

I would get behind reading more from this world, if I could just understand it better.

A big thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

Just wasnt for me. I loved the first two books but something about the final one didnt do it for me at all. It just didnt seem to flow like the first 2.

Blessed Monsters is the third and final book of the Something Dark and Holy trilogy, and it picks up pretty much where we dropped Nadya and Serafin--having just killed Malachiasz and some gods, while eliminating magic as they knew it and releasing some older gods.

Turns out Malachiasz isn't dead, but he he is also, notably, not really alive like a human. Unfamiliar gods are talking to all three, and much of the book is spent on "woe is me" and the blame game while they wander around in the forests seemingly aimlessly.

Side characters like Kacper, Ostyia, Katya, Parj, and Rashid finally get some much-appreciated dimension in Blessed Monsters; unfortunately, while mumbling and bumbling their way toward repairing the damage that they've done, the three main characters lose their way as well as my interest.

Blessed Monsters was a bit of a slow burn at the beginning but definitely picked up by the end. I enjoyed seeing the characters and plot develop as the story progressed. I liked the atmospheric setting, the gothic world and the magic.
As a conclusion to the trilogy, I thought it did a good job of wrapping everything up and giving the readers closure.