Wow, this was one wild ride. From the synopsis I was thinking this would not be my cup of tea because cannibalism is a squick of mine, but apparently in the hands of Caitlin Starling I'll go anywhere she wants to take me. Starling's fast becoming one of my favorite authors.

I felt the same intense dread in my mouth the whole time while reading this that I feel while watching a show like Severence. It was creepy, gruesome and relentless, a locked room staged at a castle under siege visited by a clutch of mysterious visitors. Donning the guise of the saints that the people worship, these creatures of darkness are no such thing, instead seekers of control and power, and they have a ravenous appetite for human flesh.

Three women, Phosyne, the mad witch in the tower who can work miracles, Treila, a former traitorous noble's daughter hiding as a rat-catching servant, and Voyne, a knight assigned to be Phosyne's minder, make up humanity's last stand against unspeakable evil in a place where time flows differently.

This had no romance in it but it was still queer AF with lots of painful sapphic yearning as these three have a love triangle of sorts as their fates are inexorably bound together. This isn't character-driven, either; I took some time to feel emotionally connected to the characters since they didn't get much character development. But I was drawn to their horrific predicament. I was on the edge of my seat till the last page wondering how they'd escape and save everyone. In the end I loved these three characters and their transformation from selfish, duty-driven people.

This was a thrilling fever dream, an ugly feast of humanity's worst impulses in the most desperate times; a stunning and vicious portrait of how power corrupts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the arc!
I wanted to like The Starving Saints, however, for me, it greatly missed the mark on two levels. The first comes down to the plot of the novel and the timeline of events which starts rather slow and does not maintain this slow build-up that is characteristic of this genre sub-genre of horror; rather the second half of the book picks up and begins to speed run the plot of the novel to make room for purple prose and bland interpersonal relationships.
The second issue I have is one more closely tied to the marketing being geared towards sapphic readers while not having any major sapphic relationships outside of a brief kiss between a throuple. (this is a personal gripe with the marketing and has almost nothing to do with the quality of the novel)

Going into this I knew that my expectations were low. I just do not get along with Starling's execution of her plots, but I always give her books a chance, hoping that one of them works out. This one did not work out, unfortunately. One thing that Starling does well is her descriptive work--the gore and settings are always top tier. But her pacing and plot work do not match up to the actual quality of her writing. I never quite know what her point is, where the story is going, etc. I always end up disappointed at the end. But her synopses are intriguing enough that I'll keep trying her books. Madness on my part? Maybe!

"[...] Phosyne is hungry. But it's not the hunger of an empty stomach. It's the need to taste. To chew. To consume. She wants to indulge."

Devotion: love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or course. Religious worship or observance. Prayers or religious observances.

The Starving Saints does devotion, and it does it well. A castle under siege for half a year has run out of food. Survivors' faith is dwindling—until the saints come marching in. Quite literally.

Everything about The Starving Saints was brilliant, and I mean that. From the beginning, I was enamored with Phosyne—Her madness, her intellect, her making. And what's a lady without her knight? Voyne is the king's right hand. She is loyalty in its purest form. She is strength, hardship, and desire. And Treila is... something suffocated under her boot, or maybe her hands.

The Starving Saints gives us three main characters with their own points of view—which was executed well. Phosyne is a witch of some sort being used by the king while resources are scarce. She turns sewage into water. Phosyne purifies, Voyne pollutes, and Treila is their double-edged sword.

When the people left alive are close to giving up, their Lady appears at the castle, ready to bring them salvation. Though faith is never that easy, and Phosyne who had already succumbed to agnosticism isn't so easily swayed.

This seemingly omniscient woman, who the castle had been worshipping—had come to save them. To absolve them from their starvation, to flourish their crops, and to save their people. But there were no horses. No baggage. No sacks full of sustenance.

In fact, the more limbs the king lost, the more food there seemed to be. And as the people ate, they began to forget why they ever questioned questioning at all.

The Starving Saints is brutal. With gore, and love, and violence. The fight scenes are beautifully written, and the language is easy to understand. I haven't any deep knowledge about medieval times, so I can't critique the accuracy of any settings or titles—but I did enjoy it.

Specifically, I was a fan of the way the author wrote about suffocation. The way Starling describes it—the stillness, the realization, the anxiety. It's palpable. You feel for the people. You are the people. At least, for a moment. What phenomenal writing.

I loved the relationship between the three women. The way they all worked together, the fighting, the making up. Everything felt just right and perfectly paced. I'm almost shocked with how much I enjoyed this book, seeing as it was far from what I expected.

Somehow The Starving Saints defied and exceeded all of my expectations at once. What a book. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

"'If you stay,' he says, eyes shining in the evening light, 'it is eat or be eaten. But I promise I'll make it good.'"

The vibes are STRONG with this one—from the very beginning I was hooked on Caitlin Starling’s latest dark fantasy, absolutely gorging myself on its prose. Aymar Castle is under siege, its people starving and becoming restless. They keep sending messengers out in hopes of seeking aid but none return. Phosyne, a nun-turned-attic-witch hoping to find a solution to their lack of food and clean drinking water. When the king demands a miracle and assigns her a chaperone to urge her work in the form of the imposing and powerful Ser Voyne (who is HOT), both women are faced with an impossible task. Trelia, a servant girl who catches rats to eat and trade and hates Ser Voyne, discovers a hidden part of the castle that might lead to a way out. But the suffering continues until one day, four beings arrive in the castle, claiming to be saints—and everyone goes absolutely apeshit about it. The Starving Saints is a delirious descent into madness, with three fascinating women at its core. This one is for people who like a little sacrilegious weirdness and also wish Game of Thrones was just a fancam of Brienne of Tarth.

I honestly didn't know what to expect going into this, and I think that turned out to be one of its greatest strengths. There is the constant sense throughout that something is watching you, though every time you turn your head, there's nothing there. It's unsettling, gory, rich, gluttonous, and unapologetic. Two aspects that I found to be particularly strong are the characters and the setting. These women are so uniquely different, but ultimately united... Usually with multiple POV's, I naturally cling to a favorite. Here, there was none; each perspective is interesting in it's own right. The setting--aided by the writing--felt like a fairytale in the best possible way. I could *feel* this story happening around me. I'm more excited by this book than I have been in a while, loved it!

I had high hopes for this book and it satisfied them all. The moment I read the summary I knew this was exactly for me. Our three protagonists— a witch, a woman that used to be of high nobility and a knight — encapsulate and break their respective archetypes in a way that is so rich I couldn’t do anything but be bewitched by the characters. The twists and turns of the story through the narrations of the three protagonists were handled so well— in no moment was I bored or not interested in any of the POVs and storylines of each of them. The balance of the narration was impeccable. Every bit of the book —the unknown magic, the mystery of the saints, the real desperation of being on the verge of starving— was weaved into each other with such elegance by the writing of Starling, I felt like one of the people inside the castle, trapped under a siege, longing for a miracle. The atmosphere was absorbing, it managed to transmit the hunger each of the characters suffered, not only because of starving but due to their own ambitions. I loved how the relationship between each of the protagonists was different yet they all held the same dependence and craving between them, they felt like a holy trinity intrinsic to the book to me.
The only thing I didn’t entirely enjoy, not as much as the rest of the book, was the ending. It felt predictable and perhaps too comfortable for what the story really was. It would’ve been interesting to see it go the opposite way, a much darker one. Still, I don’t think it was bad at all.
Phosyne, Ser Voyne and Treila, I will be thinking of you three for a very long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

This novel was honestly one of my favorite of 2024. The writing style was truly CAPTIIVATING, I kept getting drawn back to this story over and over again. Everything about this was wonderful, truly a mindf*ck of a novel in the very best way. Caitlin Starling, thank you for this wonderful book, I can't wait to see more from you! One of the craziest and most beautiful books I've ever read, do yourself a favor and read it when it's published in May 2025!

I really wanted to like this book, but I just....didn't. the premise is good and the first few chapters had me hooked. But, it was mostly downhill after that. This is clearly in the horror genre. There are a lot of graphic depictions of cannibalism and a lot of uncomfortable sexual scenes, ranging from slightly uncomfortable to skin crawling discomfort.

Overall, the set up was great, but maybe it just wasn't my kind of book? I wasn't prepared for all the cannibalism. And I may have been able to take it for the stories sake if there just wasn't so much of it.

It follows three POVs, which I kind of liked from an information gathering standpoint. You definitely needed to put all their POVs towards to get close to a full picture, and even then I was still kind of lost at points.

It feels like it takes at least 60% of the way through this book for anything of substance to actually get explained or even happen. If it wasn't an ARC, I would have DNFed it long before the end.

I really hate leaving a bad review for an ARC, especially when maybe it just wasn't for me, but alas that seems to be where I landed with this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Why You Should Devour This Book

Fans of Gideon the Ninth’s gothic irreverence and Annihilation’s existential dread will find much to love here. Starling’s narrative is structurally daring, refusing neat explanations in favor of a lingering, unsettling ambiguity. The worldbuilding steeped in a bee-obsessed religion and war-torn history is rich yet deliberately disorienting, mirroring the characters’ unraveling reality.

This is not a tale for the faint of heart. It’s a story that claws under your skin, blending poetic imagery with visceral horror. The cannibalism here is both literal and allegorical, a metaphor for the ways we consume and are consumed by power, love, and rage.

It is a feast for readers who crave horror that challenges as much as it terrifies. Caitlin Starling has crafted a world where devotion becomes damnation, and salvation tastes like ash. Enter these gates, if you dare. Just remember: hunger is holy, and every saint has teeth.

Ok this was everything to me. Dark, gothic, fantasy-horror, sapphic, fever dream stories are back in a big way. The atmosphere of this one was so visceral. I could literally feel the heat and the crushing stone overhead. 10/10, would read again.

Hooooly shit! I have been looking for a book to fill the void that The Locked Tomb series has left me and this definitely did the job. It was medieval and sinister and Gross, I loved every single second of it!

Lesbians, religious iconography, cannibalism…what else could you ask for in a novel?

I’ve been a fan of Starling’s for some time. I’ve read almost all her books and unfortunately this is her weakest. The premise was promising and drew me in at first. As the book goes on, the pacing is all the same and too slow. The characters start making infuriating decisions. By the second half I was lost as things aren’t conceptually explained well enough. The writing felt impersonal as well. I couldn’t connect with the three main characters and couldn’t find myself caring about them. It is a shame the plot became confusing and unintelligible.

This book wasn’t for me, unfortunately. The premise sounded really interesting but I couldn’t get past the first few chapters. That is not a reflection of the writing, voice or other aspects of the story, just a personal preference. The cover is absolutely stunning.

Ok for starters the cover of this book is EVERYTHING! So beautiful. Sapphic medieval fantasy/horror? Sign me up. Phosyne, Ser Voyne, and Treila are struggling to survive and thrive in a castle under siege where starvation is becoming unavoidable. Then, redemption comes in the form of four saints offering food and salvation. But are they all they seem to be?

The Starving Saints leans more dark fantasy in the beginning and then turns into a buffet of body horrors (literally.) It’s described as a fever dream which could not be more accurate to this novel. In fact it was a little too dream-like in my experience, veering into incomplete ideas and confusing sequences. I also wanted way more of a sapphic romance as described, rather than three women who seem to have love/hate relationships with themselves and each other.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this arc.

DNF at 58% mark

The premise of this book sounded AMAZING and right up my alley. Most of my favorites are fever dream type horror, but this one wasn’t really either. It was mostly confusing, and we as the reader were provided little information. We are thrown directly into the story with a lengthy build up (close to the 50% mark) that really tells us nothing about the characters. I wasn’t connected to any of the characters because I didn’t learn about them except for sporadic paragraphs where the reader is directly told why one character doesn’t like another (Voyne and Treila in particular) or what their role is in the castle.

Every chapter felt like the same thing repeated over and over, and by the point I reached the 50% mark somethings started to happen? This should not be the case for a 300+ page book. Not to mention the lack of sapphic or LGBTQ+ themes.

This needs to go through more editing and be cut down a lot. This could even be a short story. Having this thought shocked me since there seems to be so much going on in the synopsis, but I think this story tried to bite off more than it can chew.

The cover is INCREDIBLE and deserves five stars, and I did enjoy all the concepts of this story but the execution was lacking. I think this would be a very interesting story to see on screen and would translate better that way (though I don’t say that often).

I thought the descriptions of the saints were done very well, and I could picture them perfectly. They were the part that make this novel feel beautifully eerie.

Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me, but I hope other readers are able to connect to it.

Thank you to Netgalley for access to this arc.

I was utterly captivated by The Starving Saints from the very first time I heard about it, and as soon as I read the first page I was entirely entranced.

Content warnings include: starvation, death, amputation, cannibalism, assault, mutilation. Mentions of: treason, beheading.

I have read all of Caitlin Starling's other books, and they all excell in atmosphere, and The Starving Saints is no different. It's oppressive from the entire beginning, both in setting and feel. It takes place in the besieged castle Aymar, food stores empty, and no sign of help arriving. Starvation is imminent, and things have gotten dire. Additionally, it's the height of summer with a sweltering heat plaguing the already starving inhabitants of the castle.
It's a stifling atmosphere, and the book makes you feel it.

The book centers around three of the women in the castle. Scattered Phosyne, the castle keeper's madwoman, tasked with creating another miracle to save everyone from starvation. Bold Ser Voyne, a battle hero frustrated by the tight leash her king keeps her on. And cunning Treila, a maid with a dark past who keeps to the shadows and who would do anything to escape the castle walls.
The three women become entangled, both by their pasts and presents.

Despite the starving, it's a delicious read. It's both a horrifying crawl and a sensual dance, of the three protagonist as well as their interactions with the Saints that miraculously arrive and offer food and pleasure, despite arriving with empty hands. Something is very wrong, and no-one seems to notice.

I loved following all three protagonists, and the tangled complexities of the respective relationships with each other, and then later how they each deal with the Saints, all dynamics that are constantly in flux. The book is not a romance, but there are some definite sensual elements, though I found them to be more driven by dangerous obsession and a need to consume, than by romantic feelings.

I also particular enjoyed how all protagonists have respective moments of absolute power and realized agency, but also deep lows and vulnerability, which are often brutally exploited - but things are never as they seem.

Consumption, bargains and careful wording are definitely big themes in general. As with almost all of the author's books, the big questions of how and why are answered, but very convoluted and not really straightfoward, and I always find it hard to put my fingers on the answers and put them into words. Rather than frustrating, in The Starving Saints I found this fit the atmosphere very well, and I got just enough answers to be satisfying.

Overall an absolutely stunning novel, though not for the faint of heart. It's brutal and raw, and does not pull any punched with its themes, it's gory, but not overly graphic, though I does not shy away from evil.

The most mesmerizing aspect of this book is easily Starling's writing. Some people are destined to write fantastic books, a sentiment proven by Starling's writing of this remarkable novel. Starling's writing oozes a breed of complexity that perfectly captures the novel's dark atmosphere and unbridled sense of hope and love. There were so many times that I kept rereading the same lines as I became transfixed over her brilliant prose and mastery of word choice. I often describe myself as someone not new to the horror genre nor someone who shies away from gruesome, splatterpunk works. Yet, this book is the most terrifying novel I have ever read. Many scenes were written with such vivid tenacity that I physically recoiled. The medieval vibes within this novel were so realistic and genuinely captivating. This is a very intense story that begs to be both read and deeply understood. The duality of the story--life in death and death in life--was astonishingly structured in a manner that faultlessly developed throughout this novel's perfectly paced plotline. I was so engaged while reading this--I did not want this book to end! The themes of truth, loyalty, and power were written realistically and authentically. The ending wrapped everything up nicely, a component many books lack nowadays. This was an immensely captivating, unique, dark, honest, and beautiful story. I cannot wait for this to be physically published! It is truly a modern masterpiece.

oh she was weird. and the girls that get it, get it. but the girls that do not get it…oh dear. this was one of the most unique books i’ve ever read, but from the writing style to the captivating story i absolutely need more of it. starling has a way of thinking (and writing) that feels unlike i’ve read before and i need to read everything she’s written immediately. preferably sooner!

My thanks to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this book!

The Starving Saints is a masterful blend of three kinds of horror, all serving the exploration of relationships.

Let’s start with what I liked:

First, the protagonists grant us psychological horror. They each lose touch with or hold onto reality in unique ways, all while coping with a decaying setting and antagonists that they struggle to understand and outsmart. Each of the three POV characters has destructive tendencies which bring both vulnerability and twisted intimacy to others. I’m happy to say that the author explores these tendencies down to their marrow.

The antagonists mix cosmic and folk horror: they are utterly alien, despite their rootedness in the natural world and the familiar forms they choose. Although the antagonists aren’t incomprehensible enough to strictly fit cosmic horror, they filled the protagonists with a sense of absurd powerlessness common to the genre. They also felt reminiscent of fae, as old creatures with disturbing folk tale logic. This unique horror combination was as mesmerizing as it was terrifying, especially given how the antagonists establish relationships of ownership and territory.

Ultimately, the horror—while masterful in its own right—is a vehicle to talk about relationships. The Starving Saints shows us harmful relationships to the self and to others, as well as the struggle to negotiate alternatives. Loyalty, love, hatred, and possessiveness are all explored in an abstract but nuanced way.

Having gone over this story’s strengths, I’m ready to list some criticisms:

My main gripe is how quickly the protagonists began to love and trust each other. Emphasizing the madness and desperation that drove this trust, or at least adding more positive exchanges between these characters, would probably justify their ultimately favorable bonds and sometimes selfless decisions. Also, the (mild) kink aspect of one particular relationship felt interesting, but could’ve used more and subtler exploration.

And the folk tale logic of the book, while typically quite strong, is sometimes stretched thin. The characters found unexpectedly easy ways out of a few deadly situations. Other events caused by this (again, typically strong) folk tale logic weren’t well-telegraphed. Sometimes, very consequential changes were only explained by following blocks of text—usually the POV characters’ thoughts.

Now, the verdict:

In all, The Starving Saints is an innovative piece of horror with compelling characters and a nuanced exploration of the ties that bind.