This was such a fantastic read! The story sounded so good, and oh, it was intense, the horrid situation that these colonizers had created, I just wanted to rage at the unfairness! The whole set up and power structure, not to mention the killing of those that had power from their gods, yuck!

The relationships between Lunurin, Alon and Cat? Perfection, of Lunurin and Alon being a good example of a healthy relationship, and Lunurin and Cat as an unhealthy relationship. Cat, with her obsession with Codicians's religion, to the detriment of everything else. That she was hot and cold, and blamed everything on Lunurin basically, including the situation with Inez, yeah, that wasn't good. Whereas Alon, who had been in love with her, he was respectful and kind, he was just a ray of sunshine that she needed in her life.

Lunurin is angry, and justifiably. Her goddess used her, and then didn't care about the damage that it caused to her people. But the Codicians are treating her people like colonizers always treat those they colonize, and Lunarin has the power to fight back. But the cost to her people, keeps her from acting, but that becomes harder and harder to not do something as the harm keep rising.

There were moments of highs and lows, from the priests, to her having to marry Alon. That his father was pretty awful given his power, and his mom and her story, it all came together really well with a powerful ending, one that was so very satisfying!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait for the sequel, it sounds so interesting!

Thanks to Spotify Audiobooks for the gifted copy!

I absolutely love reading fantasy inspired by other cultures, so this Filipino-inspired debut was so up my alley! I was also obviously super intrigued by a stormcalling bisexual nun who controls the weather with her hair. What a super unique magic system! My favorite part of this book was learning the Filipino culture. The fantasy plot in general was a little slow for my liking. TBD on if I'll continue to book two, but I did appreciate reading this!

I loved having dual narration by Danice Cabanela and Dante Basco.

“If I stay, I die; if I go to Aynila, I’ll die.”

I discovered Saints of Storm and Sorrow through its audiobook version. What a ride it was!
It took me a little while to get used to the voices, and to some words (English isn’t my first language, and audio fantasy can sometimes be a challenge, in the best of ways), but it was more than worth it. Both narrators are wonderful and instil a lot of extra life in G. Buba’s characters, already very “fleshed”.
I usually say I don’t like love triangles, but this book made me reconsider that. Maria-Lunurin, Catalina and Allon Dakila are all wonderful characters, and the novel a truly bi-panic situation...
I absolutely loved to dive into this story inspired by the Filipino's mythology. Between a crushing society, fated role granted by a goddess, magic, religion and colonialism, Maria-Lunurin manages to be an empowered woman. She has to make difficult choices, sometimes gets wrong or takes questionable decisions, which makes her very human, and makes some space for her to grow, realizing her mistakes, accepting her role into society, but rebelling against injustice. The book is all that, with great writing as a jewelry box: a fantasy story, an ode to the author’s origins, but also a way to speak about a LOT of important subjects, in a metaphoric (and not so metaphoric) way.
I can’t wait for book two, and can’t help but hope for a character’s redemption arc (I won’t say much, or much about the other characters, because I don’t want to spoil the full-of-twists story).

Thank you NetGalley, Gabriella Buba and Spotify Audiobooks for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and on that note I have a few things to say:

I thought the narrators were captivating to listen to and they brought a lot of emotion and depth into their performances. I could listen to Dante Basco, of ATLA fame narrator anything to be honest.

This book started out slow for me, trying to understand the world. It reminded me of To Shape a Dragon's Breath but with more action and politics, living in a world that is heavily colonized with characters who are trying to find their identity in a world that shames them for half of their heritage.

There is a lot of pain and anger and sorrow in this book and I think the audio format really captured some of the range of emotions. There is a lot of heavy content in this book as colonization is central to the book so I think that knowing the content and trigger warnings is essential to your enjoyment of the book.

It did feel like a stand alone, although it is listed as a saga so I'm unsure where the story will go from here.

thank you to netgalley for the ALC of this book. I first want to say that i post DNF reviews because that sometimes convinces people to read it.
this book had so much potential to be a fave: strong FMC who is a bisexual disaster, hiding her powers, has a gift from a sea god all things that i typically love. however, the execution fell a little flat for me a long the way. i think there was way too much telling and not showing which didnt work for me and a lot of and then this happened. i wanted to give the book more of a shot but the characters fell a little flat for me and i was not invested.

I wanted to like this book. but there was just a disconnect for me. It was a personal thing. Its probably why it took me so long to write a review as well, I hate leaving low reviews.

Ugh. This story should come with trigger warnings for sexual violence and sex abuse of minors. Even the "loving" sex scenes contain an uncomfortable level of violence. I loved the cover, and the concept, but the 'allegory' is too on the nose and the story just feels like a lot of ugliness. I understand that colonization is ugly, but that's not the story that I thought I would be getting from this cover and description.

I wanted to love this book so much but I had to DNF at 40%, I get triggered really easily if anything bad happens to children in books. I'm still going to give it 4 stars because the narration and concept of the story was great, thanks!

What a wonderful debut from Buba!

The worldbuilding for Saints of Storm and Sorrow is lush, much of the description is simply gorgeous, the characterization is fantastic! The anti-colonialist story set in historical Philippines is engaging and I was whole-heartedly wrapped into the love story.

My only complaint is that I never did understand Catalina. She was extremely self-contradictory and I really never understand why Lunurin loved her. At the end, Alon comments on Cat's beauty in ways that were the only glimpse I had of why Lunurin might feel as she did, but it also made Lunurin much more shallow than the rest of the book showed. I hear there might be a sequel and maybe we'll get to learn more about Catalina in it. Or maybe the story leaves her behind, which is fine, too.

The book is chonky, as a fantasy of this type should be! Anybody who likes historical fantasy, romantasy, non-Western and/or specifically Asian-based mythology, and goddesses that rain their fury upon everyone will enjoy this book.

The voice acting in the audiobook is well-done and enjoyable.

Thank you to Spotify Books, Ms. Buba, and NetGalley for my ARC of the audiobook.

I'm so sorry but I didn't enjoy this and honestly don't really know what it was going for.

Aside from a fake marriage of convenience (that is also, confusingly, a real marriage that they're both invested in???), nothing really happens in the first half of the book. It's pretty thoroughly an allegory for Spanish conquest of the Philippines, they use the term "empire" a few times, and there's some shitty clergymen who take advantage of the authority of their position to sexually assault teen and pre-teen girls in their care.

The main character is their only stormcaller, which has to do with how her hair is positioned and sometimes she accidentally makes it rain because she's washing her hair. (Though also this appears to be something she's managed to keep as a secret for decades while being a nun, and I have no idea how.) Her girlfriend/wife seems to be a native but doesn't understand the native magic system and goddesses and maybe is buying into the conquerors' religion? I didn't see enough of their relationship to find it believable or view it as anything other than antagonistic/as a foil to the relationship she forms in her straight marriage.

There's both not a lot going on (plot) and too much going on (messy and complicated relationships) and if I hadn't already decided to use this book as a Reddit bingo prompt for 2024, I would've DNF'd early.

This was a really difficult read, especially in the beginning. I hadn’t expected some of the content and it was challenging to get through. However, it was necessary to show the terrible conditions that they were living in and how women and girls were being victimized.

I did enjoy the story much more as it progressed and ended up happy that I had read it. The narrators did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. It was so powerful and one that I won’t soon forget.

Thank you so much to Spotify and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this quite a lot. As a bi person myself, I especially loved the romance(s). I'll be on the lookout for whatever is next from this author.

Though a work of fiction and in a fantasy setting, unfortunately the premise of colonization and it’s consequences is terribly real. Our FMC is bi, and her lover, Catalina, struggles with her loyalty to herself or the church. Though her love for our FMC, Lunurin, goes against her beliefs, it’s about the only thing she’ll break on, leaving a lot of her other decisions to be antagonistic. Lunurin is pulled into a marriage of convenience with her lifelong friend, Alon, who deeply loves her but knows that Cat comes first in her heart. Regardless, he sticks by her, which Lunurin ends up needing as she fights many foe forces, including the goddess power that lives inside her.
The narrators did a phenomenal job at making me feel like I was in the story! Thank you Spotify and Storygram for the copy!

This was a well-written slow burn based in an alternate history that is well-constructed and believable. Maria Lunurin and Alon are engaging protagonists, especially so in Maria's case. Unfortunately I thought the least-interesting aspect of the story was the romance between both Maria and Catalina and between Maria and Alon. Other than that, it was a great experience.

I absolutely loved this book! I won't lie I bought this purely because it was sapphic and the cover was gorgeous but this book was so good I couldn't put it down. Books about female rage are one of my absolutely favorite things and this one was great. The magic system was really cool and I really liked the goddesses. I also don't usually care for fake marriage but I really liked the mcs in this book and set up felt very authentic for them. I am just rambling but that's because I really enjoyed this and I want to get across how good it was without spoiling it. Just read it! Trust me its amazing!

There is a strong religious culture in this (as expected from the Filipino culture) so if religion is not for you (in the form of power hungry, controlling priests), then this may not be for you.

I loved the Filipino representation here and how prominently religion plays into their culture. As a Filipina myself, this is very very true - we value tradition so much that sometimes its a detriment to us, as illustrated in this story. This story was brutal to read because I kept getting very angry with the men in power and how assertive they were in maintaining control in everything and how they allowed the faith of these young girls to believe anything they wanted. What happens with poor Inez is a very true thing that happens in reality and this pissed me off the most BUT I'm glad the author chose to include this as an example of how this religion can actually be labeled a cult and that more people shouldn't allow such blind faith from happening.

The magic system was pretty interesting but a bit delayed in the plot. I wish things happened much sooner but I struggled to get through the first half of this as much of it was our FMC hiding her magical abilities due to the church labeling them as witches. I felt this really made her a weak MC for me especially as her meekness also showed in her poly-romance.

DNF @ 21%

Sister Maria Lunurin lives her life under the thumb of the colonial empire that has taken over her country. Her people have ben stripped of their magic and culture, and are now forced to convert to the religious beliefs of those they now serve. Lunurin plays the role of the dutiful nun, but behind closed doors, she is a powerful Stormcaller - hiding, not only from the colonizers’ witch hunts, but also from her own vengeful goddess.

I am so sad to be DNFing this book right now, since I’ve really been looking forward to this release, but I need to put my mental health first. Sadly, this book contains triggering content that is worsening my anxiety (like religious trauma and the sexual assault of a minor).

From the 100 pages that I have read, I do think this will be a book that many people can enjoy. It is well written (from what I can tell), and deals with interesting real-world topics like colonization, discrimination, and religion. I’m DNFing this book due to personal reasons, but I could definitely see myself recommending this to someone in the future.

I’ll maybe give this book another try when I’m feeling better mentally, but until then…

Me parece maravillosa la tendencia actual en la fantasía de explorar mitologías y escenarios distintos a los habituales, como ha hecho Gabriella Buba con Saints of Storm and Sorrow, con referentes filipinos de los que nunca había oído hablar y que traen una nueva corriente oceánica al género.


Las Filipinas son un archipiélago y es por tanto totalmente lógico que su magia esté íntimamente relacionada con el mar y el agua salada, algo que Buba tiene muy en cuenta en el desarrollo de la narración. Pero también tiene en cuenta el pasado colonizador de los españoles, sin llamarlos nunca por su nombre pero siendo evidente en su crítica tanto a las actitudes de superioridad de sus prelados, a sus instintos depredadores y la imposición de una religión que choca frontalmente con las creencias de los naturales de las islas.


En toda la novela cobra especial importancia el mestizaje y la sensación de no pertenecer completamente ni a un mundo ni a otro. La protagonista es Maria Lunurin, novicia de los colonizadores aunque en secreto es una poderosa storm caller, gracias a su herencia mixta. Maria, junto con su pareja Cat y la hermana de esta viven una vida reposada aunque constreñida, hasta que los abusos de los españoles la fuerzan a tomar una decisión que cambiará el rumbo de sus vidas.

Saints of Storm and Sorrow es un libro sobre la rabia, más que la venganza. Sobre la ira que ya no se puede contener más cuando las justicias se acumulan una sobre otra, cuando la desigualdad campa a sus anchas y solo queda revolverse contra la autoridad, por más que las consecuencias puedan ser terribles. Me quedo con eso del libro y con lo original del sistema mágico (aunque no quede muy claro cómo funciona), porque la historia romántica me parece que flaquea en algunos momentos, aunque estoy muy a favor de que la bisexualidad de la protagonista sea algo totalmente normal que no se ponga en duda nunca. Es muy destacable la ambientación que ha conseguido Buba, que es capaz de transportarnos a un paraíso tropical amenazado por las tormentas y también es meritorio cómo consigue describir la opresión de un sistema autoritario religioso nada más comenzar la novela.

La labor de los narradores del audiolibro me ha parecido bastante correcta, aunque un tanto desigual, porque Danice Cabanela se lleva la parte de león en la narración mientras que Dante Basco tiene un papel más residual. Además, me parece que los valores de producción del intérprete masculino no son los mismos que los de Danice, suena un poco más enlatado y menos fresco.

En resumen, me parece una estupenda novela de debut, con sus fallos pero bastante recomendable.

What an awesome debut novel!!! I could not put this down such good character, development and relationships within this world and the magic system is just so cool and the Goddess!!! There were so many moments that I raged along with her! Congratulations on an awesome book. I was given the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, and the narrator did a fantastic job with the portray of the individual characters.

Book: 5/5
Male Narrator: 0/5
Female Narrator: 4/5
Overall audio: 3/5

I just finished this book and I am in shambles.
(see content warnings at the end)

This is an intense, dark, anti-colonization, queer fantasy set in a Filipino-inspired land during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Lunurin, storm bringer and lightning wielder, hides that she’s goddess blessed.

A novel overflowing with vengeance, grief, and primal rage, this is a story of a woman, one of the last of her kind, who tires of making herself small to endure the whims of white men.

As the last chapter came on and sat there staring at the wall like: “so how the fuck do I review this?”

Saints of Storms and Sorrows is in no way perfect. I see its flaws and yet Buba is an author with something to say and her voice echoes loudly over a century after the Spaniards pillaged our home land.

The Philippines is known as the only Christian nation in Asia with close to 80% of the population identifying as Roman Catholic. The current collective Filipino identity is so closely associated with Catholicism but its origins are brutal- Columbus came to a flourishing, native land with its own beliefs, languages, and culture, but deemed us uncivilized heathens only fit to be exploited, converted, and used as goldmine for resources.

Just knowing how much lived Philippine history went into this fantasy world hurts so much. I feel open and raw. My wounds weeping with scabs picked off and bleeding. Knowing my people were subjugated and forcefully civilized and converted to Catholicism under 333 years of Spanish colonization instead of having had Lunurin save them has me struggling to breathe.

Buba takes the historical narrative and flips it on its head offering freedom from the success of Spanish conquest that we know today and offers Filipinos their freedom, even if it’s just in a fantasy world.

Honestly, my biggest gripe with this book was that the male audio narrator was absolutely terrible. I feel like he didnt coordinate with the female narrator on how to pronounce words as most of the names he pronounced a DIFFERENT way. He also had a heavy American accent which when pronouncing Filipino-inspired words triggered me, most especially since this is an anti-colonization novel.

This is not a book meant for everyone. But if it is for you, I highly recommend picking up a physical copy.

READ THIS IF YOU LIKE: Sword of Kaigen and Blood over Bright Haven by ML Wang, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan, The Poppy War by RF Kuang, A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair, The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso, So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole

CONTENT WARNINGS: (I tried to list as many CW as I could but there were many and I was heavily triggered from page 1.) HEAVY religious trauma and anti-Catholicism, rape of minor by priest (off-page), abortion, child loss, racism, queerphobia, cultural erasure of indigenous people, colonialism, and more