Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a raw and beautiful reflection on colonization, particularly as relates to Filipino culture.

Gabriella Buba did not shy away from harsh topics of race and religion, assimilation and shame.

It is clear that Lunurin, Catalina, and Inez are all representative of various facets of colonization and assimilation. Lunurin is full of rage and anger, tempered by self doubt and self loathing. After ten years in the convent, she is questioning if her ties to her culture are sinful or if they are simply a part of who she is. Catalina is convinced that Lunurin must give up all her ties to her magic and goddess in order to survive. She truly believes in the faith of the convent. Inez, Catalina’s sister, is a victim of the perversions the convent covers up. She is torn between loyalty to her sister and embracing the people who have helped her to survive.

All the major characters in the book are somewhat morally gray. That is, they all have the best of intentions, but very much different approaches. This keeps the plot active and the reader’s heart breaking the whole time.

Somewhere between the beginning and the middle I fell in love with this book. Faced with the fact that there could be no resolution without death and damage, I was terrified of what the next chapters would bring. Still, I couldn’t tear myself away.

This whole book is a win. It’s one that I know I’ll keep thinking about long after I read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance title of this book to read. The opinions in this review are my own.

4.75 stars
🌶🌶
An incredible debut that covers a wide range of difficult topics set in a Filipino-based fantasy world.

Lunurin is a stormcaller who has little control over her power. She is sent away after a particularly destructive incident and raised in a convent where she falls in love with deeply religious Catalina. But there is political unrest during which Lunurin and her friend Alon do what they can to help others. As tensions rise, they both find themselves torn between allegiances.

The story is so gorgeously written and deftly handles serious topics such as colonization, religious overpowerment, abuse, rage, and grief. The first few chapters are dense with world building, but the pace picks up quickly. I loved the bi representation and how gentle Alon was with Lunurin. Check content warnings before diving in!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

Thank you to Titan for my review copy

I found this book to be okay. There were parts I liked and parts I disliked.

This is definitely an adult book for some of the content mentioned and I do recommend looking at a list of content warnings before picking this up.

The plot was quite a slow one - I was about half way through and still trying to figure out where the plot was going. The slower pacing of the plot did mean that I felt like I was struggling around halfway to two thirds in.

It was clear that there has been a lot of careful research poured into this, with how developed the culture felt to me - especially in the way the main island and how different the cultures are between the Aynilan and Codicían influences on people. It was clear that Codicía was influenced by Spain and I did get heavy Spanish Catholicism vibes from the main Church in the book. However, there were some parts of the worldbuilding that I would have liked to get more development - namely the magic system.

I found the magic system to be lacking a concrete description of the differences between stormcallers, tide-touched, firetenders and how they interact with each other. It's mentioned that tide-touched and stormcallers can help each other with their abilities, but I would have liked more. We get a lot of development of stormcallers because the main character is one, but due to having a double life, it left me wanting more information about stormcallers and their powers and their goddess.

I wish the main relationships had a little bit more substance to them. It starts with an already established relationship between Lunurin and Cat, but I struggled to get any depth to that relationship. I did struggle to discern if they were just close friends or together for the first hundred pages or so. The other relationship we have is Lunurin and Alon. They have a marriage of convenience, but then Alon is also her male love interest.

Cat also felt a little flat to me. She can be distilled down to being jealous of Lunurin and Alon, and her faith in the Church.

There are explicit sex scenes in this book and I found one in particular to be a struggle to get through. The wording in this specific scene felt very clunky and it did fall into using some tropey euphemisms and I kept having to put the book down to give myself a breather as I was laughing so much (Apologies to my friends, who just got messages of the horror on my face at some of the lines.)

Despite all this the book did have promise and I know this is a debut. I will be keeping an eye out for what Buba writes next as this book did have promise and potential, even if the execution was messy at times.

This was a compelling read with a fascinating storyline, but I wish there was another round of edits to clean up some structural issues.

I loved the Filipino culture explored in this, but because I'm not familiar with many Filipino terms I couldn't tell if my ignorance was due to it being a fantasy book term, or an actual Filipino cultural staple. In general, there was a lot of confusion in the first quarter of the book. I was trying to decipher how powers are distributed, what the mutya was, and why Lunurin was being sent away from her family. Most of this important background was glossed over to rush us into the present day. It was a critical need to understand that there are three goddesses, that 13 year olds dive for oysters and some are granted blessings from the goddesses and therefore have abilities. I also was initially confused on what the mutya had to do with using the abilities, and why Lunurin was an outcast.

It took far too much time to explore that Lunurin was unable to control her abilities and killed scores of people at the behest of her goddess. I had a vague idea, but no details. She's just suddenly sent off on a ship to another island where she meets Alon.

However, there was so much to love about this. I loved seeing Lunurin's internal struggle as she tried to reconcile her past as a stormcaller, and her present relative safety as a nun. Her pain trying to stifle her abilities in order to avoid the witch hunting catholics was so well written. On top of her being forced to essentially renounce her heritage, she is in love with another nun, Cat. They are everything to one another, but even that relationship is forbidden by the church. This relationship was incredibly interesting because of Cat's contradictory nature. She is truly devoted to God and her faith is her anchor, and because of this she shuns everything that makes Lunurin unique. Cat cannot accept that her lover would not denounce her abilities, she truly believes that Lunurin could stop having abilities if her faith was strong enough. It was a fantastic glance into the aftereffects of colonization, and the devastation that the Christian religion wreaked on many countries. Religious extremism is a strong theme throughout the book and it shows that religion and colonization go hand in hand to control native populations.

As evidenced by the above, Cat was unbearable. She claimed to love Lunurin, yet she betrayed her over and over again. She tried to make her change her basic nature, and constantly degraded her attempts to keep them all safe. She couldn't see past her own fear and the propoganda being fed to her by the church. It was incredibly difficult to watch Lunurin continue to be infatuated with her when Cat treated her like trash.

Alon was everything you could want in a MMC. He was always there for Lunurin, he never tried to overstep in her relationship with Cat, and he always believed that she could be more than destruction. That being said, there was an odd dynamic shift midway in the story where she became distrustful of Alon and his kindness even though they've been friends for 10 plus years. She has always known him to heal those who come to him, even though it endangers his position. He has water based powers and his people have been hunted down ruthlessly by the colonizers, so every risk he takes to help others is extreme. That being said, it was hard for me to believe that she didn't trust that he was helping her without strings attached. They've been healing and arranging escapes for gifted people on the DL for ages, but she can't trust him? Her anger at him for saving her life by cutting her hair was odd, as well as the anger for his father- she knew what she was getting into and he is nothing like his father?

In general Lunurin comes off as rather fickle. One moment she's incredibly proud of her gift, the next she's cursing the goddess for the destructive nature of it. Her anger comes out of nowhere, and she loses control. She's trying to hide from her goddess, then the next second she's calling a storm and nearly killing the Lakan. She's angry at Alon and others for a situation she created. All he has done is clean up every single one of his messes without complaining.

Overall, this was a fast paced and interesting concept, but I wish the execution was a bit better. I was left with questions for too long, and wanted more from Lunurin. I absolutely loved the dive into colonialism and religion; it was honestly the best part of the book! Such great looks into Christian guilt and corruption between the church and state. I think this will be a huge hit with lots of readers, and can't wait to see their thoughts. :)

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was such a great debut for this author! I loved the characters and the story was exciting and engaging.

Saints of Storm and Sorrow should be added to your TBR immediately!! This Filipino-inspired fantasy novel does an amazing job of interweaving themes of colonialism, faith + deconstruction, abuse, love, and LGBTQIAP+ issues. It puts queer characters at the forefront and includes positive disability representation. And despite this being a fictional story about gods and elemental magic, readers are sure to find their own life experiences reflected on the pages.

This book was both raw and refreshing. I often found myself pausing to reflect on the heaviness of the characters’ experiences and how they mirror those of people in my life. And because I related personally to some of the themes explored, while the FMC moved through feelings of grief, growth, and healing, in a way it felt like part of me was healing alongside her.

This is a book that sticks with you. I cannot wait to see what the author writes next!!

- Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! -

3,5 ⭐

"Saints of Storm and Sorrow" is an adult fantasy written by Gabriella Buba, here at her debut. A novel with a very fascinating premise, which unfortunately did not fully convince me in the development. First of all, I loved the author's evocative, lyrical and compelling prose, as well as the Filipino-inspired world building. It is a vast, articulate and powerful setting, described with great care and dedication. I admit I had difficulty understanding the magic system, but nevertheless I enjoyed it very much. The story proceeds at a fast pace, alternating between fighting, subterfuge, lies, secrets, alliances and power plays. An excellent mixture, capable of keeping me glued to the pages from beginning to end, pushed by the need to know. Too bad for the characters, who unfortunately did not capture me. And I'm sorry, because on paper they had all the potential to win me over! I mean we are talking about morally gray, tormented characters, forced to face extremely difficult situations. All elements that I basically adore! The problem is that in "Saints of Storm and Sorrow" these characters seemed rather shallow, dull, in stark contrast to the beautiful setting and engaging plot. I was unable to bond with them and this cooled my overall reading experience. In the end it still remains a good book, but in my opinion it could have given so much more!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

Where to start with such a dazzling debut? Maybe the story of growth through abuse and shame? Maybe the disability representation so eloquently added with power behind it? Maybe the soft romance and revelation of what true love means? Or the strong characters who pull at your heartstrings over and over again?

From the very start this book will pull you into Lunurin's story and her journey to discover herself in so many ways. From her identity within her culture to her identity as someone who is worthy of genuine love, she has so much to learn, and it is all so beautifully crafted. She is covered by shame and guilt but watching her throw those things off in light of understanding her worth is stunning to witness.

I loved the romance of this book and the way that the dichotomy of love and how toxic it can be is so powerful. It makes you want to hug everyone so tight and protect them at all costs.

There is so much power even through the pain in this story, and I can only hope that people appreciate it for every word of healing and growth. It was such a joy to read and kept me hooked from start to finish. I can't wait to see where Buba's writing career goes!

This is a debut? I can't believe it! This book is amazing. The writing, the characters, the themes and how they are handled is breath taking. I love the morally gray bisexual representation. This book was amazing and the world was so carefully constructed and had so much thought behind it that I loved every second of it. I can't wait to see what else comes from this author

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy. I thought this was a decent read, although be warned it does deal with very heavy topics. I did enjoy the Filipino inspired setting although I will say that the magic system was somewhat confusing at times. I also felt that many of the characters were one dimensional, certain parts of the plot felt rather unbelievable and the pacing was a little choppy.

YES YES YES YES YES YES i am obsessed
my favorite fantasy ever maybe?? like morally grey BISEXUAL with FIlpino inspired lore, it is a must read.

This beautiful book about queerness, culture, and the harm of colonialism was captivating. I really loved the world building. Vibed less with the main love interests. The growth of the MC was stunted by them. I have feelings about the queer sex being closed door and the man woman sex open door. Alon has the personality of a wet cloth so I could do without most of his chapters. But that were the only things I didn't love. The impact of religious trauma and internalised anti queer sentiment were worked out really well. Recommend.

DNF @ 33%

I'm pretty sure this was a situation of "it was me, not you". I could see a lot of the merits of this book, including its searing critique of colonialism, and how religion/missionary work is a form of cultural violence used by colonizing forces to justify their actions.

I just felt like I couldn't get into the book, and picking it up felt like a chore just to move through the ARC rather than enjoying and engaging with this world. The worldbuilding was a tad confusing (with too much thrown at the reader at once), but other than that I don't know why I bounced off this book. The main characters are engaging and the world was brimming with possibilities. Maybe it was because the plot was moving too slow and I couldn't get a sense of what the larger narrative arc was going to be? Maybe there were too many characters at once? Maybe it was just a case of "wrong book, wrong time".

Every book has its readers, and looking at the other reviews warms my heart that this book is starting to find them - because I can see the overwhelming merits to this book and that it deserves to be read and loved. I feel so unfortunate that it kept me at arm's length.

Let me start by saying that Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a masterpiece! Hands down one of the best debut books I’ve ever read Gabriella Buba does an amazing job writing a world with interesting characters, magic, and how colonization affects the native inhabitants. This book really made me emotionally invested in the journey Lunurin takes to not only accept who she is but also help her people break the chains of the Codicíans suppression. The magic system is interesting as to there are the tide-touched, fire tenders, and storm callers each having their own goddess that helps protect their people. What I found really interesting is that with each type of magic, there is a physical aspect that helps them draw their powers.

Throughout the book, there was one character that I slowly started to despise and that was Cat, at first I wanted to root for Lunurin and Cat but while reading I saw how toxic Cat became and I wanted her GONE. Seeing the relationship of Alon and Lunurin was sweet and they were end game for me once I saw just how much Alon loved her even after he realized she was using him for her own gain. One thing that shocked me and surprised me the most was that neither Lunurin nor Alon died in the end, there were close calls and I honestly thought that one of them was going to die by the end of the book but I was pleasantly surprised that was not the case.

While Saints of Storm and Sorrow ended well (with no big cliffhangers) there’s a small hope that another book be part of the series. The note that Alon’s dad left him opens that option up to what might happen in the future, but this book is amazing by itself and I loved every part of it.

I want to thank NetGalley, Gabriella Buba, and Titan Books for providing me with this amazing ARC.

I saw the words “bisexual Filipino nun” and got extremely excited and I was not disappointed! This book was thoroughly researched and intricate. As someone who is Filipino and deeply into our folklore and our histories, I feel as though the author put a lot of love and care into this. The magic system was initially hard to understand and my knowledge of Tagalog helped me a lot. I wonder if readers who do not know any Tagalog or Filipino folklore would be able to understand this as easily and I feel as though annotations or a comprehensive glossary may help a lot. I am very fond of the main character, Lunurin. I feel like she’s a really complex and wonderful character and her rage and power is so well-written. The romance was a bit underwhelming at first, but it got interesting and I usually hate love triangles but this was good. The writing is absolutely magical and the imagery is vivid. What a beautiful homage to Filipino culture in fantasy. Younger me dreamed of days like this.

I applaud the author for doing the research and writing a story that feels really authentic. The author's note at the end is definitely a must-read if you're interested in religious syncretism and colonization's effects on Indigenous beliefs.

Within the first few chapters, you can feel yourself immersed in Aynila's lush tropical island setting while also feeling constricted by the Codicían's oppressive society. I was really impressed with how the world felt lived-in, with its cast of characters from different backgrounds and their respective positions within this colonized society.

There's definitely a wide gulf between the Indigenous Aynilans on their side of the island vs. the Codicían colonizers in their Palisade, but I think the author did well with showing how the Aynilans have been forced to live with the Codicíans and adhere to their beliefs and way of life.

Praise aside, I really wish this had been a more engaging read for me. I would've rated this much higher if it hadn't read so melodramatic and even YA at certain parts. There were some odd phrasings here and there. And some aspects made zero sense to me.

I honestly didn't understand the magic system.

"[...] a tide-touched needed their tongue to pull waves, and a firetender their hands to calm a volcano or shape flame."

Okay, makes sense.

"'I'm a stormcaller!" Lunurin exclaimed in frustration. 'Unless you keep my hair shaved, I will call storms with it!'"

But it turns out that Lunurin, a stormcaller, uses her hair to create storms??? And letting even one strand lose meant that a breeze will blow, while letting her entire hair down meant a thunderstorm???

There was a scene between Lunurin and Alon, her male love interest, where he washed her hair. And it started to rain because... her hair was down?? Lord, I was so lost.

Points for creativity, I guess.

There was a scene where Lunurin asked Alon to safeguard her mutya, a mother-of-pearl comb and hairstick that she uses to put up her hair to... lessen the effects of her magic(?) (I think?) or maybe control her magic(?) idek.

Anyway. So, because she didn't have her mutya, the goddess, Anitun Tabu, goes out of control and... possesses her???

If she grew up with this magic power, then shouldn't she have known that that would happen??? Sure, that entire scene/plot arc was a lot **SPOILERS** (view spoiler), but giving up the one thing that would control her powers/put her goddess on mute made absolutely NO sense to me.

And another thing...

I was under the assumption that the marriage of convenience trope applied to Lunurin and Alon. But there was a point where Lunurin was unhappy that Alon was busy governing his community and wanted him to spend more time with her. Before that entire scene where she complained that he left her alone for an entire week, I didn't get the vibe that she actually wanted this marriage.

And Lunurin kept implying that she was still in love with Cat, but she also wanted to take this marriage of convenience with Alon seriously.

And this wasn't a poly situation either. It was all so messy and I was so lost.

This is why I'm aromantic. I hate this stuff. Truly.

And lastly, the queer rep...

Cat was the only other fully fleshed out queer character, and for her character arc to go the way that it did felt really... off to me. Idk. I'm waiting to see what other reviewers will say.

Anyway...

If you've made it this far, here are a couple of things that confused me and made me chuckle (and not in a good way...):

"She bit back every hiss and grunt of discomfort as Catalina tried to devour her, a memory, a sacrifice, one final time to lie together in sin. The freshly knit edges of Lunurin’s skin, where metal bars had gouged her flesh, gave. She bled sluggishly onto the pallet, but at last, Cat lay over her, drenched with sweat, panting, and smiling as she only did when she’d finally sated her appetite."

There was no lead up to this random rough sex scene, so I was left feeling confused more than anything. Did Cat eat Lunurin? What in the world...

And this one:

"Goddess but he was so much, like wet silk wrapped around a furnace."

What in the Harlequin mass market paperback romance novel

Anyway.

If you like melodrama and stories about oppressed peoples with magic, then this is definitely for you. I just wish it was less melodramatic and more cohesive. It was all over the place and at times, it felt like it was trying to take on way too much all at once.

Thank you to Titan Books for this arc.

Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a story that I did not realize I had been waiting for my whole life. I am Filipino and after reading the description of this story, I knew that I needed to read it no matter what. Gabriella Buba has created a beautiful debut fantasy that has complex and diverse characters. The topics of church and colonialism was not avoided, which I was happy to read about as it is so ingrained in the Filipino identity. The magic system was so well developed but easy to follow and I found myself wanting to learn more about the patron deities.

This book held my attention from end to end and I could not put it down until I found myself reading the last page. I cannot wait for this to find it's place on so many people's shelves and will definitely be looking forward to more stories from this author. Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC!

I was lucky to get an ARC through netgalley and it paid off massively. Everything I want from a Philippine epic and more. As a Filipino-American, the intertwined mythology and history hits just right. The characters are nuanced, the themes are gorgeous, and the worldbuilding is spot on. I just wish my Grandma were alive to read it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6446530946

I don't think this book was meant for me, and that's okay! The romance wasn't my favorite, the world felt overwhelming and not necessarily in a good way, and the plot itself felt flimsier than I might have liked. Not every book is going to be for everyone, and I'm just happy that a book like this gets to be published and celebrated so widely!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Saints of Storm and Sorrow' by Gabriella Buba.

This book is great for people who adored 'The Poppy War' with morally gray characters and a detailed world build. I did have some issues with the novel but that's purely preference, I didn't really enjoy Buba's writing style and I felt myself drifting further and further away from the story in vital scenes.