The Starving Saints by Emily Twombly is a dark, atmospheric fantasy that weaves together elements of religious mystery, political intrigue, and personal conflict. Set in the besieged Aymar Castle, the story begins with the dire straits of the castle’s inhabitants—food is scarce, morale is low, and rescue seems increasingly unlikely. But just as hope seems to fade, divine figures—the Constant Lady and her Saints—arrive, offering salvation in exchange for unwavering devotion. The entire castle, once on the brink of starvation and madness, falls under their spell, partaking in strange and intoxicating feasts that mask the sinister origins of their gifts.

At the heart of the story are three women, each struggling with their own desires, secrets, and allegiances. Ser Voyne, a war hero, aligns herself with the Constant Lady, while Phosyne, a paranoid former nun turned sorceress, desperately works to uncover the truth behind the Saints’ miraculous arrival. Meanwhile, Treila, a serving girl with a thirst for vengeance against Voyne, is torn between escape and the pull of the intoxicating ecstasy that seems to pervade the castle.

Twombly's writing is immersive, though it may take a while to fully engage with the complex dynamics and the slow-burning tension of the plot. The pacing is deliberate, and the novel can feel dense at times, but the payoff is worth the effort. The blending of religious fervor and hedonism, the examination of power dynamics, and the gradual unraveling of the castle’s descent into madness create a rich and unsettling atmosphere that keeps readers on edge.

The characters themselves are compelling, each driven by their own internal struggles and desires, making their shifting alliances and betrayals all the more impactful. As the stakes rise, the tension between the characters—especially as they wrestle with their complicity in the madness—adds layers of psychological complexity to the narrative.

The Starving Saints is not an easy read, but for those who enjoy slow-burning, character-driven fantasy with dark themes, it is a rewarding experience. Twombly's exploration of power, temptation, and the blurred lines between salvation and destruction is both chilling and thought-provoking. It’s a book that demands patience but ultimately delivers a gripping, transformative narrative. For readers willing to immerse themselves in its intricacies, this novel earns a solid 4/5, offering a haunting look at the cost of devotion and the lengths people will go to in the name of survival.

The Starving Saints is a medieval fantasy horror about three women trapped in a besieged castle along with a king and a great number of people who descend into a hungry madness upon the arrival of three godlike strangers. I wanted to read this because the reviews said it was a historical horror (a blend of genres that I love!) and atmospheric. Also, I thought The Death of Jane Lawrence was pretty good. This book felt like a second-world fantasy, which I don’t usually read, but it was well-written with a slightly fevered dream quality. It was slow at the start but picked up just before the 25% mark with the arrival of the three strangers. Then it was different iterations of cannibalism and magic, which I did not understand, especially near the end. Maybe I misunderstood the story or misread it, but I was left with lots of questions. It got confusing, and it was difficult to follow what was happening. It had strong claustrophobic vibes though, being set in a castle. Overall, this is for fans of fantasy. Thanks to Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel.

Starving Saints was a weird read for me. Initially, the chapters grabbed me and I was excited to see where this tale was going, but the further along I read the less excited I became. I can’t pinpoint what exactly went wrong for me, but I had to force myself to keep reading. Each time our main characters were in certain peril, poof, they were easily snatched from it and round and round we went until the ending neatly wrapped everything up in a pretty bow.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early peek.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for this E-arc. All thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

To sum it up I have never never read a book like this and I mean that in the absolute best sense of a way possible. I chose this book because medieval horror is not usually in my bingo card- but the element of religious mysticism intrigued me. Basically, the luscious world building, the imagery, mysticism and the symbolism got me in a choke hold. I could not put this book down and that's not hyperbole, I stayed up late to an embarrassing hour in order to finish the Starving Saints.

I am in awe of the twists and turns. I found all three of the narrators compelling, with their motivations interesting and sometimes surprising. I enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen next and I really enjoyed reading Mx. Starling's writing style. If ever there is a book to turn into a graphic novel or to have a TV adaptation it would be this book because truly the imagery of the bees, saints and feasts took my breadth away. My only complaint is that I wish there was more! I am not the type to buy a physical book after reading an ebook- but the starving saints may have to be an exemption.

This book stressed me the hell out in the best possible way.

The slow burn? Excruciating and exciting
Trying to figure out everyone’s intentions and back-stories? Stressful and confusing
The war and time moving so slowly? Numbing
The cannibalism? The DEFINITION of insanity and the will to survive

The gore was perfectly placed and described in a way that made you feel equally as sick and amazed as you are drawn in on the definition of a nightmare scenario.

TBH, I would have been out long before it got to this!

This is my first book by this author and I will be reading others. All you need to know about this book is body horror, castles, and lesbians. Lord, the lesbians(me) really won with this one. The castle is icky, I can smell the mold and the unwashed bodies, the starvation and these sweaty hot women being super into each other. ;) I loved this book!!!! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!!!!

The Starving Saints is disgusting, weird, creepy, and gory…and I absolutely LOVED IT. You’ve got women being toxic, body horror, cannibalism, and absolute utter depravity. I was into it from start to finish. Give. Me. More!!! I thought the pacing was really good, and I loved the imagery - very visceral and addictive. Well done, Caitlin Starling!

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's eat or be eaten.

It is months into the siege of Aymar Castle. The people are starving and resources are dwindling. As all seems lost, four myterious Saints appear at the castle gates with the promise of feast and abundance, but not all is as it seems.

The Starving Saints is a medieval fantasy horror story that follows three terrible women, who are extraordinarily different in so many ways, yet fit together so perfectly despite their jagged edges.

In the midst of the siege of Aymar Castle, as the people are starving and the resources are dwindling, four Saints mysteriously appear at the gates

Phosyne, a former nun turned madwoman sorceress who is tasked with the impossible, to find a way to feed the starving population of Aymar from nothing. After all, she has already conjured a miracle to cleanse the castle's water, defying all possible science.

Ser Voyne, the war hero who delivered the region of Carcabonne from Etrebian plunder, decorated evenly in atrocities and honors, all in the name of her king. Now, she serves as nothing more than King Cardamir's glorified lapdog, and most recently, Phosyne's reluctant minder.

Treila de Batrolin, a noblewoman fallen from grace after the execution of her father, holding herself together with nothing but spite, rage, and a thirst for vengeance. She holds self-preservation above all, but that craving for survival at all costs does not satisfy her.

As the Saints tempt the populace of the castle into supernatural hedonism, Phosyne, Voyne, and Treila find their fates entwined as the world they know begins to crumble around them.

I'm not typically a huge horror fan, but the premise of The Starving Saints had me in a chokehold that only grew tighter as I kept reading.

At its heart, this is a story about hunger. Hunger for food, for longing, for lust and fear and ecstasy. So, there's a lot of cannibalism. Cannibalism as a metaphor for. Cannibalism. But also as a metaphor and conduit for power, loyalty, and ownership. Hierarchy and dominion are heavy themes in this novel, and from the get go we see how each of our three protagonists is a victim to this system of authority.

Phosyne is only granted the resources she is because she is directly useful to the King. Voyne is the King's left hand man and has little autonomy and is constantly at the discretion of her liege. Treila has had her entire life ripped away from her and survives at the lowest rung of the ladder.

And letting things stay that way will spell the end for them.

So in turn, we see a lot of bargaining and sacrifices, really hammering in the notion that nothing is ever free because everything has a cost, even if we don't realize it. There is a lot of focus on the exchange of knowledge, power, and ownership and how those three things are interchangeable in ways and static in others. The Starving Saints plays around with the concept of a deal with the devil and amplifies it tenfold. What if you don't realize it's the devil? What if you only realize your mistake when it's too late? What if you're the devil?

Despite all this talk around equivalency and value, this isn't a story where every detail is fleshed out with a clear explanation and purpose. It is messy but captivating. Reading it genuinely feels like a fever dream and that isn't an exaggeration. That's not to say that the more solid parts of the world like the bee/honey centric religion and history of battles aren't fascinating, because they definitely still bring a lot to the table. But generally, the world and its rules quite literally shift as you're reading and there were parts where I had to go back and go over again and again because I genuinely could not fully conceptualize what was happening on first read.

The Starving Saints is dark, gorey, and intoxicating. While it is not a romance story, I would say that it is incredibly lesbian. Its storytelling is striking, yet fluid, with a strong core plot thread and interesting and unique characters that just made me feel, in the rawest way. This book will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'd highly recommend it regardless, for fans of The Locked Tomb in particular.

All in all, The Starving Saints is a beautifully haunting tale of hunger, devotion, and transformation that will leave your stomach churning and mind scrambling while you can't help but crave the taste it left in your mouth.

I think that it is unfortunately time that I have to hang up my hat on trying future Caitlin Starling books. I was fully blown away by her debut, The Luminous Dead, but everything I’ve read since just hasn’t been up to par. This, like many others, I found to be just bland and lacking.

3.5 stars rounded up

I have to admit that I only really skimmed the summary of this book, so when I started I only had the vaguest idea of what I was walking into. Honestly, I saw the medieval Europe-esque setting and the possibility of cannibalism and I was sold.

This book was quite good. It's chaotic and has a lot of different threads to keep track of, what with the three main characters who keep getting separated from each other. It was, overall, an interesting and fun read. I thought the author did a good job of establishing the stakes, first from the siege and then from the Saints' appearance.

The characters were pretty solid, but I think Phosyne was lacking a little something in backstory that Voyne and Treila had. Because the latter two have a shared past, we do learn more about them as people and what led them to Aymar, but I can't really say the same for the former. We are told why Phosyne left the order briefly, but I don't feel like the explanation of her turn to "heresy" felt quite as fleshed out as Voyne's guilt or Treila's quest for revenge.

I also thought this book skimped a bit on the worldbuilding. Everything outside of Aymar feels hazy and unclear, down to the political situation and the religion of the Constant Lady and the other Saints. I can kinda forgive not learning more about the war and the story behind the siege, since that isn't the main focus of the book, but I really wish the religion of this world was explained more. Like, the nuns play a big role in part of this book (Phosyne used to be one), but I didn't think they were explained very well.

I also found the lack of folklore, parables, and myths kinda strange considering the central role religion/supernatural beings plays in this book. We aren't really told who the Constant Lady and the Saints are, and when the Saints arrive at Aymar and chaos ensues the main characters don't have any theories as to what these creatures could be. It felt strange since, in most instances like this, people will make some sort of connection to religious or folkloric figures in their attempts to understand what's happening. That never really happens, and I personally find it hard to believe that there's a culture that mirrors out medieval Europe yet doesn't have any weird creatures that people tell stories about like demons, fae, or vampires.

I have some very complicated feelings about this book. The first…50% was decidedly boring. Now that I’ve finished the book, I am happy to have had that time with the characters, but at the time it was hard to get through.

But the second half. THE SECOND HALF. I considered giving this book 3/5 stars because of the first half, but the second half of this book was too unique, too MUCH, to give anything less than 4/5 stars.

Recommend if you like really messy, smelly, complicated women who eat rats and sometimes other people.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Read this if you like: medieval horror, A24 movies, Florence’s Dance Fever album.

The vibes here were off the charts bizarre in an enchanting fever dream way. There are times when you (and the characters) will wonder what’s real and what isn’t. The magic/fantasy elements provided incredible drama for the horror unfolding in Aymar.

The trio of main characters (Phosyne, Voyne, Treila) are toxic and terrible…and so engaging and enjoyable to read about. The characters are complicated, with depth and mysteries that unravel over the course of the book. I always worry that with multiple POV stories there’ll be one I dislike, but all three were excellent.

The premise of this is so unique - definitely not cookie cutter fantasy, and I’m not as familiar with the horror genre, but I think it’ll stand out there as well.

As mentioned in my read this if - this book would make a great A24 movie. Someone needs to get on that ASAP. I want to see Aymar Castle (I will close my eyes during the meat-related scenes).

I like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a read.

I made it 70% into this book and realized, I didn't know if I quite understood what I was reading and how it made sense. Normally, I don't have an issue with Caitlin's books, since I rated The Death of Jane Lawerence so highly. This was... well, lets ask this: to be created, where does one or something come from? An idea? A combination of various things? So that means that its original status, or basis, is traceable. Correct?

I think that's what the the author was attempting to convey. In the story, religion is expression as creation - but is it creation of thought or something else entirely? What are the building blocks?

Bees, water, fire, and thought are all things mentioned and focused on in this book. But honest to god, it's like someone dumped a bunch of shapes with holes made out of squares and asked me to plug them into the correct holes. One is gonna match up, but the other shapes are shit out of luck. That was me with this book, I understood one thing but the rest I didn't and it frustrated me so much that I gave up.

I'll wait for the reviews on it. To those who wish to really deep dive and go into physics with this book go ahead. But I don't rate books for vibes, I rate them for meaning and the ability to express, vibes come secondary. To most I think will have a hard time understanding and the average reader will be lost on what is going on in here. But, if you're enjoying an acid trip in the middle ages, guess knowing where you are when you take acid doesn't apply when it comes to this book.

Wow! what a creative and one of a kind story with such a unique premise that i haven’t read before! The characters drag you in, in the most intriguing and depraved ways that really makes you question humanity and yourself. The multiple narrative/POVs can be really difficult to keep you engaged within their story, but this was PERFECTION. Each perspective was its own, building the story in such a compelling way and really keep you intrigued with their truly insane histories. This was a fabulous read that’s entertaining, fulfills any interest in more medieval gothic genre and really makes you think without realizing it.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I feel like it has been so long since I read a book that was refreshingly different and wild, and this book hits every mark. It’s fresh, it’s creepy, and it’s definitely not like anything else I’ve ever read before.

This book is disgusting, and I meant that in the best possible way. The situation being described is horrific and desperate, and Starling spares no detail to draw you into the setting. There was a scene where a woman has to chew up a bit of dried fruit and spit it into another person’s mouth because they were so starved they couldn’t do it themselves. That description stuck with me through the end of the story because it was so foul and realistic that I actually reared away from my Kindle like I could see it. At times I found myself rubbing phantom grime off my arms while I read.

The setting of the story is also really interesting. What is left of a ravaged kingdom has hidden inside the last castle standing to wait out their enemies, only for a new enemy to walk through the gate. Whenever a story presents you with one antagonist and then suddenly introduces another, I start rubbing my hands together in expectation. Starling presents you with a horrifying setting to make you ask, “what could possibly be worse than this?” And then what you get is so much worse it makes you yearn for what you had just a few pages ago.

And finally, the Saints. I’ll be brief so as not to give away arguably the most interesting part of the story, but I always enjoy a story that leaves you with more questions than when you began. If you read a lot of fantasy, you’ll see enough evidence to make your own conclusions about the nature of the Saints. But the text itself never really clarifies what it is you’re dealing with. It’s just familiar enough that I think I know, but just different enough that I have no idea what I’m seeing. Starling plays with the inherent horror of not truly knowing your enemy in such a deft way that the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up until I finished the book.

This review is provided in exchange for an ARC copy via Netgalley.

This book was so horny and bizarre. A little confusing at times but over all the vibes were SPOOKY. I love me some sapphic medieval weirdness.

This was a disgusting but brilliantly wild ride. I ate (lol) this up, truly could not put it down. I think it could have leaned more into the horror of it all, but it was so unique and I had such a good time reading it I can’t really complain.

This reads like a fever dream, but is a gripping, disturbing ride through medieval horror with cannibalism, magic, and body horror. It’s dark, atmospheric, and filled with compelling characters. The supernatural elements are fun!

“A miracle so profound may be indistinguishable from horror.“
What did I even just read!!! Going into this (at least the first few chapters), I was getting Gideon the ninth/the sixth deaths of the saint vibes. Maybe a bit of the honeys with the bee religion. However I was soooo wrong but I’m not mad about it!! This was a wild, gory ride that I couldn’t put down. Despite all the horror (so much horror) the beautiful prose really emphasized the disconnect the characters and everyone in the castle felt. I also felt weirdly hungry the whole time…the sensory details were that good. I will definitely check out more by this author!!! Massive trigger warnings for war violence, cannibalism, murder, assault, starvation so be careful but if you’re fine with those things give this one a try!!

We are extremely lucky to be spoiled for the sheer volume of nun flavored horror coming out next spring (TWO entire books, this one included). This one is especially hallucinatory, as it features a convent and town under siege, dwindling supplies, and the desperation of leaders lets in something old and hungry and eldritch. We've got lady knights, false miracleworkers, nuns, lesbians, increasingly desperate people, and the fever dream madness of what unfolds in this small town. Also, A++++ for cannibalism using illusions and delusions. Pick this up, you'll be in for a hell of a treat.