Ben Barnes narrating part of this audiobook was unexpected, and welcomed. I enjoyed hearing the stories of the Saints. The book itself is delightful, and is a great addition to the Grishaverse, giving the world much more depth and lore. Also, the last story being about Leigh Bardugo herself, was so cute and I loved it.

The lives of saints is a nice addition to the Grishaverse novels.

This novel is a collection of short stories based on the saints from the grishaverse. It gives a background on how each person became a Saint.

I liked how there was two separate narrators for the stories. It added more life to the stories. And the stories themselves kept you interested. They were a nice length for short stories.

The only down side to the audiobook over the printed editions is missing out on the beautiful artwork.

I’ve had this book since release day but never found the time to read it. When I was scrolling social media I discovered that Ben Barnes was doing the male narration and I adore him! He’s going to be The Darkling in the Netflix show, Shadow and Bone! Of course, he’s Prince Caspian to many, but The Darkling!! Eep! The female narrator was one of the characters in the Six of Crows duology so I knew she’s be fabulous.

The narration was soothing and I’m so happy they chose these two to read it. I found myself just sitting and staring off in the distance as I listened. I didn’t wanna miss a moment.

The Lives of Saints is a short but very intriguing addition to the Grishaverse. I was swept away by the stories of miracles and saints. It made me like the Grishaverse even more now.

And I’ll admit I teared up on the last one.

If you get the opportunity to listen instead of read this, you should definitely take that opportunity.

I both read and listened to this collection of stories from the Grishaverse. If you just listen to it, you will miss out on the gorgeous illustrations, but the audiobook was fantastic. The narrators do a great job telling the stories of the saints. Their rich voices gave this cadence to the stories that both made me enchanted and slightly horrified by these darker tales.

While this book isn't necessary to read, fans of the Grishaverse will certainly enjoy the stories as it gives a bit more scope to the world Bardugo has created and makes connections with some of the finer details of the other books.

Overall, the audiobook is a great way to experience this story, but I definitely recommend listening to it while following along with the text and illustrations.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. I actually haven't read Bardugo's books yet, though of course I have heard about them. So, I went in completely blind, and I absolutely loved this collection. Listen to this incredible narration while sitting back with some tea or hot chocolate. I felt transported to a fantastic fantasy world. I loved all the legends, of the many that stood out to me, I loved the Patron Saint of Unwed Women for it's incredible resolution, and Saint Nicolau for its fresh take on a familiar story. As an introduction to Bardugo's world, this is a great place to become intrigued and want more. For fans that are already into these stories, I imagine this would be a fantastic supplement to enrich the world they are set in.

I received an audioARC in exchange for an honest review.

Intriguing, well written, and with two amazing narrators. Ben Barnes can come to my house and whisper random numbers to me while I chill on my bed. That'd be a great life to have.

The stories of the saints were really interesting. I kept trying to guess which saint that character was going to be based on what was happening but I never guessed right. I was distracted and captivated by the voices narrating this beautiful little book.

I highly recommend this audiobook!!

I voluntarily listened to an advanced copy of this audiobook. Everyone Leigh Bardugo has done it again. Her writing style is fabulous. The world building is on point. The setting and the pacing is great. The characters are described well. You guys are the characters it is a great listening experience. I highly highly recommend listening to this audiobook to anyone and everyone. This audiobook is in stores now for A$13.99 (AUD).

Nice collection of background tales to fill in the Grishaverse" in which Bardugo has set many of her novels. The stories are very short, many of them only a few minutes, but each is complete in itself. Many are quite dark, as they illustrate martyrs. With the NetFlix series based on the Grisha books coming in March, 2021, there should be growing demand for all of her work, and this is useful as a reference as much as an interesting listen. While Ben Barnes and Laura Fortgang deliver fine performances, the print version is lavishly illustrated--Bardugo fans may wish to invest in both formats!

Leigh Bardugo is an incredible writer. This story collection is similar to her fairy tale anthology, The Language of Thorns, which I also enjoyed. Each mystical tale can stand on its own, but the connections to the other books in the Grishaverse add extra meaning. These stories are rich and intricately detailed. Some are darker than others.

I listened to the audiobook of this title, and it was so well done! The narration was wonderful. The entire book clocks in at a little over 2 hours on regular narration speed.

Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for this audiobook.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced audiobook copy of “The Lives of Saints” by Leigh Bardugo. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

The narrators for this were fantastic! Despite this being such a short book, it wasn’t one to rush through. Much like Bardugo’s “The Language of Thorns,” this collection of stories contains eerie fairytales except since the stories are about Saints, most don’t have happy endings. Because of this, it was a bit much to listen to several stories in a row. There are a lot of triggers for death and violence.

I believe the physical copy of the book is illustrated. It would have been nice to read a physical copy of the book alongside with the audiobook. I’ll have to check out the physical book at some point. It’s been a bit since I read the Grishaverse series so it would be neat to compare the Saints stories in here to where they appear throughout the series.

4/5 stars

Absolutely loved this! It was a wonderful companion to the main grishaverse books, and the narrators were amazing.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I loved the utilization of both a male and female narrator for the various male or female Saints. I think it added a bit of depth seeing as how this book is much like a history book, and oftentimes those can get a bit stodgy feeling. But the idea of these Lives or their mythology really works well with the audiobook medium in adding that extra layer of oral history to everything which, taking this context as real, you would assume would be the way these Saints' lives/stories would be passed along.

I applaud Leigh Bardugo, although really no one should be surprised, that she's able to pack so much into each snippet of each Saint's life. You get a couple dozen, plus, short stories that are very fully realized. I think it's just awesome how expanded this world Leigh Bardugo has created has become, yet I don't feel overwhelmed by the ever-growing Grishaverse. Instead, I want to marvel in it and keep soaking it all in.

It's a quick read/listen which I appreciate to break up the larger tomes that I often find myself engaged in reading. I believe that the physical book contains illustrations which I'm also eager to check out, and I like that there are so many options for these stories whether it's through audio, or physical book, or illustration or even through reference from the various full-length books/series set in this world.

A great short stories of how the Saints received their name. I enjoyed listening to this book. I learned a lot on the Saints.

The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. This is a lovely companion piece to Bardugo's other novels in the Grishaverse. Excellent narration from Ben Barnes; Lauren Fortgang. Clear with great presence.

Ben Barnes narrating is the only reason I decided to spend time on this book.

It...wasn't bad. It was fine. The stories were honestly entertaining, just not original, and the themes portrayed in each of the stories were, in my opinion, nothing extraordinary or special. It was the same old cautionary tales and messaging that is common in fairy tales. I did like Leigh Bardugo's writing, I think there were some really beautiful lines in here, but maybe I just thought they were beautiful because Ben Barnes was saying them.

The narration was very good. Both Barnes and the other narrator did a fantastic job with all the stories they read, and it made the experience a lot more immersive.

I feel like it started off with the weakest stories. I have no idea why they would do that, it set my expectations very low, and the best stories were the ones in the middle. Also, the stories about Sankta Alina and the Starless Saint, which I'm sure most people were excited for, were a let down.

I think that the names of Saints who were mentioned in the other Grishaverse books were sprinkled thorughout to keep fans interested. Some of these stories are so clearly fillers. I feel like Leigh Bardugo wanted to tell a few specific stories for some Saints, but didn't meet the page count to have it be a full book so she had to come up with more.

Do I think that this book could stand on its own? No. Absolutely not. This is entirely for fans of the Grishaverse, I don't think anyone else would care to read it. That's not bad or anything, just something I noticed.

This was a fun and quick addition to the greishaverse. I appreciated that it was read by the same narrators as the others. Helps me get more immersed into the world once again. There are tons of people that can't wait to get more out of Bardugo and they will not be disappointed. With the Netflix show coming it will only gain more fans!

Allow me to be honest: I could have hated this book and still give it 5 stars because of Ben Barnes's narration, but of course, like everything else in the Grishaverse, I loved it. The Lives of Saints is a collection of short stories describing the lives of the Saints held in reverence by the people of Ravka. Each story is vividly brought to life by Barnes and his fellow Narrator Lauren Fortgang in a way that is engaging and entertaining. As always with Bardugo's writing, the world of the Grishaverse was vivid and immersive, and I really enjoyed being back in it. And again, I could listen to Ben Barnes talk all day everyday. So as far as Audiobooks go, this was enjoyable. I also liked that it wasn't too long. It took me two days to get through. So if you love the Grishaverse and are eagerly waiting for Shadow & Bone to premier in April, The Lives of Saints is a good audiobook to hold you over.

As a fan of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse novels, this little book is such a treat!!!! Each chapter is an origin story for various Saints in the Grisha-universe. The settings and names are familiar and fun to revisit. There are some wonderful Easter eggs like one related to Sankta Alina from Shadow and Bone trilogy.

It's such a treat and not common enough for authors to create a lush and addictive world with multiple series/books and even off shoot novellas like this. It's like Bardugo giving a high five to her fans and giving us more, more, more by which to know her world. Some of these stories were emotional, some were funny, some were inspiring. As short as this is, she wrote with her typical lush world building and clear action.

The audio-version is great! It's narrated by a man and a woman depending on the main character of each story. They are both very easy to listen to, and whatever the science of sound is, they had a similar enough pitch or whatever that I could read at the same speed and volume. Am I the only one who hears differences with different narrators like that, some need to be slowed down because they aren't as easy to understand or need to be at a higher volume? At any rate, they're great. This was a very quick and delightful binge listen.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! I recommend this to all Grisha fans.

There is nothing quite like Bardugo’s short stories. How she fits world building in such minuscule stories is beyond me! The stories, although short, have character development and history, but none of it feels like info dump.

Ben Barnes was one of the narrators which I discovered after I received this on NetGalley and I’ve decided I could listen to his voice forever and always. ❤️

Delightful, quick reads, and a listen... fans of Bardugo won’t be disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book as an expansion of the Grishaverse world. Learning about the history of the saints was fascinating, if frequently tragic. The chapter about Alina was super interesting to imagine how Alina is continuing to help children in Ravka, and the chapter about the Darkling gave context to why some might view him as a saint despite the harm he did.

I really enjoyed both narrators. They did a wonderful job giving life to the stories of the saints.