Oh goodness, okay this one was rather painfully interesting. rather like a rotting, gaping, wound in all the best possible ways. Creepy, culty, extremely powerful work about three toxically dependent women in a world where a goddess (?) (maybe?) has descended upon the world to give salvation(?) to a besieged castle. 5 stars. Tysm for the arc

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling has all the right elements to be a success for me—gothic atmosphere, medieval horror, and a claustrophobic castle setting that pulses with energy. The world-building is incredibly rich, and the characters are intriguing, each with secrets and motives that kept me invested throughout. You feel the weight of the siege, the desperation creeping through the walls, and the dread that seeps into every scene. The characters themselves are flawed and complex—each struggling with their own desires, secrets, and moral dilemmas, which made it easy to empathize with their struggles and root for them, even when their actions were questionable.

The story walks a fine line between grounded realism and surreal horror, delivering moments that are both unsettling and hauntingly whimsical. The juxtaposition of grounded scenes with almost dreamlike horrors enhances the surreal tone of the novel, giving it an unnerving quality that stays with you. However, I did find myself struggling with the flowery prose at times, which, paired with the multiple POVs, made it hard to follow what was happening. It’s not quite the supernatural sapphic horror I was expecting.

Despite the moments where I felt a bit lost, I still enjoyed the experience. The setting and world-building alone are captivating, and if you’re into atmospheric, character-driven horror, The Starving Saints offers a unique and unsettling story that’s worth diving into. Just be prepared for a disorienting ride at times.

I love the idea of medieval horror and how it was used in this universe. I was engaged with the world and how everything worked together to tell the story. The characters had that feel that I wanted and felt like they belonged in this world. I enjoyed the way Caitlin Starling wrote this and can’t wait for more.

A gory, twisted, sapphic, medieval fever dream of a novel. This was out of my normal genre selection and I'm so glad I branched out to read it; I was engrossed in this story from start to finish. I deeply enjoyed the closed setting, intensely flawed yet intriguing characters, and the rumination on religion and power throughout. My only qualm was that the confusion of reality the narrators were feeling sometimes extended to the reader and was not always resolved with clear answers for understanding. I may later discover I missed major clues, but it felt like some descriptions were too metaphorical for me or the characters to fully grasp. That being said, this is a deeply compelling book and I am so eager for more people to read it so I can dissect it even further.
Thank you to Netgalley and Avon / Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for review!

“Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.
Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin.”

When I tell you this book truly has it all…
- A strange and stinky nun turned sorceress
- A lady knight that is unsure of where her loyalty should lie (she’s also really tall)
- An absolute menace of a girl that seeks revenge for the death of her father above all else
- The dynamics of messy, codependent women that want to kiss/kill each other
- The power exchanges. The YEARNING
- Cannibalism
- Religious icons as a threat
- Kneeling 😏🫡
- Bargaining with a hungry, unnamed malevolence beneath the castle
- A lot of bees

This book is a beautiful and disgusting fever dream and obsessed is an understatement. It’s impossible to guess what will happen next and I fear I will be thinking about it for a very long time. I cannot wait for this book to be out so I can get myself a physical copy. Thank you so much NetGalley the eARC!

The Starving Saints has been described as an intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror, and man, did it live up to that! If you love weird girl, sapphic horror lit-fic, this will be the book for you! Think Ottessa Moshfegh’s
Lapvona, but without all of the fecal matter. It is bloody and sticky and bizarre, and for the longest time, you really aren’t sure what exactly is going on. I love a wild ride when I’m reading a book, and this definitely was one.

The narrators are an excommunicated nun (possible witch?), a Brienne of Tarth-type knight, and a girl playing the long game of revenge for her father’s death. They are all inside a castle that has been under siege for quite some time, and the food has run out. Phosyne (our nun-turned-magic woman) has managed to pull off one magical stunt, and everyone is expecting her to pull food out of thin air. After several failed attempts, it doesn’t matter because the Constant Lady and her Saints (Icons aka Heavenly beings??) show up out of nowhere with a bounty of refreshments. What could possibly go wrong? This book is a wild ride. It is very gory, has a lot of cannibalism, a lot of body horror, and a lot of creepy creatures. You will be grossed out, you will change your opinions about the main characters multiple times, and you will wonder if the ending is happy or not. This is my first book by Caitlin Starling, but I am looking forward to reading more!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyage for this advanced copy of The Starving Saints.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was hard for me! I really enjoyed the concept, but the writing style and prose was like trying to hold water in my hands. I had a hard time latching onto the story amidst all the language.

This was a masterclass in writing. I loved every second I was reading this novel. I can’t wait to dive more into what the author produces.

this book was gory and disgusting and beautiful and religious and also distinctly sapphic about it. a novel for the Harrowhark Nonagesimuses of the world.

If you're looking for a book that's drenched in debauchery and brimming with bacchanalian madness, let me introduce you to my latest obsession.

The Starving Saints has it all:
- A lady knight (who has managed to steal my heart, thanks).
- Mind control food.
- Scary bees.
- Cannibalism as a metaphor for... cannibalism.
- Three toxic women who are, you guessed it, toxically dependent on one another.
- Delicious yearning.
- Not so delicious (and I say this positively) depictions of meat.
- A weird, cult-like religion.

When I say that this novel is an exploration of the depths of human depravity, I mean it. It's incredibly visceral--the type of story that doesn't shy away from appealing to your five senses in the worst (best) possible way--and god, the execution of it was just fantastic.

Our three leads are compelling and awful in their own compelling and awful ways, too. I always worry that there might be a character that I hate when there are multiple perspectives in a story, but Ser Voyne, Phosyne, and Treila were all PERFECT. The web spreading between them was also a delight, and I would give anything to read more about their messed up lives and histories if given the opportunity to.

Overall, this was my perfect book and I'm patiently counting down the days until next May when I can get my hands on a physical copy of it. It's easily a must-read for anyone even remotely fascinated by the medieval horror genre, or for anyone who wants to see messy sapphics try to save a starving castle from itself (and possibly each other).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own :)

An interesting read, kind of reminiscent of A Field in England. I don't know that it was really enjoyable though. It was just shy of something for me.

The Starving Saints has everything the self-proclaimed weird reader could possibly want—the disturbing imagery of Ottessa Moshfegh's Lapvona; the fever dream quality of Mona Awad's Bunny; and the soul-devouring villainy of Bram Stoker's Dracula. As you can imagine, I liked it very much.

We open on the inside of a castle under siege. We aren't privy to combat or violence just yet (and when we are, it won't be what you expect). Instead, we meet Phosyne, the King's madwoman tasked with performing miracles. Through this introduction, we learn that the castle's food supply is dwindling, and that the thousand trapped inhabitants are starting to lose patience with the ever-shrinking rations. But Phosyne has already done the impossible—she's purified the water and saved hundreds using the very knowledge that had her deemed a heretic. Now the King needs more. Left with the unfeasible task of producing food from nothing, Phosyne is further crippled with the knowledge that she is now to be watched by the war hero Ser Voyne in order to speed up her progress. This union creates conflict that neither one of them could have predicted—and unbeknownst to Voyne, the revenge-seeking servant Treila walks the castle halls, too. When something far more sinister breaches the castle's barricades, the three women are forced to react. As the threat grows and the stakes rise even higher, the castle's inhabitants are pushed to discern control from autonomy, purpose from circumstance, and service from protection.

I absolutely devoured this book. The atmosphere sucks you in, and the characters, with their secrets, make you want to learn more. The narrative poses interesting questions about faith, morality, and perseverance, and it makes you work for the answers. Grounded yet fantastical, there is no way to predict how this book will go. The things you understand to be solid fracture under your feet, only to piece themselves back together in a manner you couldn't possibly expect.

My one critique of this book comes in the form of a side-effect of the haziness. The author handled this dream-like atmosphere so consistently that, at times, things felt even more muddled to me as a reader than they would if I were a character in the book. Things and events were described in a way that I just couldn't manage to equate with my understanding of the world thus far, and then we were moving on without explanation. That being said, in doing this, the author's hand was so steady that I found myself doubting my own literacy before doubting the writing itself. I never found myself slugging through page after page of clumsy world-building, but some explanation or context might have made the book more digestible.

Again, to the author's credit, I have never read a book with the ability to devastate me so thoroughly with a CHAPTER OPENER OF ALL THINGS? In general, the way the author opened each chapter was just so enticing. The Starving Saints never got dull. I never wanted to put it down. I always struggled to remind myself that I was not a character in this book, and that I was not facing a similar fate.

The Starving Saints comes out May 20 of 2025! Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

“𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰’𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓭𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮. 𝓣𝓸 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓯𝓯 𝓰𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓬𝓵𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴. 𝓣𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷, 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓼. 𝓣𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓯𝓾𝓰𝓮𝓮𝓼, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓶𝓼, 𝓼𝓸𝓯𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓬𝓾𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓲𝓭𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓪𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓪 𝓼𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭.”

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for a review.
The Starving Saints follows three POVs - Ser Vayne, the king’s knight, Phosyne - a former nun now dubbed a “madwoman,” and Trelia, a young girl torn between vengeance and escape.
The story takes place behind the castle walls during a siege and the populace is facing the threat of starvation. Potential rescue appears in the forms of four saints. The promise of rescue quickly descends into a horrific nightmare.
This story felt like a medieval horror fever dream. The writing was grotesque and beautiful. The elements of gothic horror are unlike anything I’ve come across before. Except for some slow pacing in places, I found this book engaging and alluring.

This was a weird one! The premise was very interesting and the setting was immaculate! The writing style however was a bit confusing and hard to follow. I wasn't a big fan of the multiple POVs especially since the story was already confusing. This was a fun historical horror though! Just don't go into it expecting to understand everything.

Caitlin Starling's books are always so wonderfully horrifying, the kind that moves with careful thought to build into a resounding horror that cannot be ignored. This book is no different. It is the best kind of weird, and is both queer and full of horrors as three women, trapped in a starving palace, are brought face to face with saints who should be their salvation, only for horror to descend.

I love how the author started the book off with a bang no pun intended lol. It was the most lesbian filled book that I loved so much that I honestly could not put this book down!!! When is the author writing more!!!

This book is insane and I don’t quite know where to start. It follows three points of view within a castle that is under siege and slowly starving. Ser Voyne is a knight and the King’s right hand, Phosyne is an ex-nun turned witch, and Treila is an ex-noble turned servant seeking revenge against Ser Voyne.

Everything changes with the sudden and mysterious appearance of divine figures that appear to offer salvation. From the point when the saints arrive, this book is a sensory fever dream tinged with horror. Blood and honey ooze from the pages.

Starling does an excellent job establishing the existing religion and the evil forces that are at play in this book. I also enjoyed the characters, each struggled in a different way with the unfolding horrors which felt in character for each of them.

It’s a really horny book which is interesting because it’s also sexless? Which struck me as a bit weird considering the graphic descriptions of body horror. I also didn’t always understand the magical elements but I can accept not knowing everything.

Anyway I enjoyed it. It's a great read for spooky season, especially if you’re into lesbianism, lady knights, vengeance, sub/dom, religion, cannibalism, beekeeping, hunger, etc.

This book was strange. While I love weird books, this one left a lot unanswered for me. Sometimes that's okay in a story as well, but with this one, I just wanted more. Reminded me of a mix of Lapvona and The Library of Mt. Char.
Very grotesque and a lot of cannibalism. A lot of weirdness. And some bees thrown in for good measure.

1. extremely good fear & hunger vibes
2. caitlin starling opened her laptop, cracked her knuckles, said “i’m going to write the best + hottest + gayest book ever” and then did that
3. LESBIANS LESBIANS LESBIANS!!!!!

This book was good! It had such creepy, eerie, spooky vibes to it, so it was a perfect fall/spooky season read! I liked the way it was written and how I felt paranoid while reading. I think the book was good though. It had a good pacing and characters. I liked it'


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!