Wicked Saints
A Novel
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
An instant New York Times bestseller!
A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.
A prince in danger must decide who to trust.
A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.
Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.
In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.
This edition uses deckle edges; the uneven paper edge is intentional.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nadezhda "Nadya" Lapteva, 17, is a Kalyazi cleric who, unlike her predecessors, can channel not just her patron goddess, but the "entire pantheon." The priests raising Nadya plan to deploy her as a weapon in Kalyazin's holy war against Tranavia, a heretical nation that practices blood magic, but before they finish her training, Tranavian High Prince Serefin Meleski's army attacks the monastery. Nadya escapes and joins forces with two citizens of neighboring Akoka and a Tranavian defector who are headed for Tranavia to assassinate King Izak and end the war. Meanwhile, Izak summons Serefin home allegedly to choose a bride, although Serefin fears his power-hungry father is plotting filicide. Chapters alternatingly follow Nadya and Serefin as their stories converge. First in a trilogy, debut author Duncan's Gothic fantasy muses on matters of religion, faith, politics, and free will. The story starts strong but succumbs to murky worldbuilding, uneven pacing, and underdeveloped characters. Although the devastating conclusion feels more arbitrary than earned, numerous dangling plot threads will leave readers hungry for a sequel. Ages 13 up.)
Customer Reviews
Unexpected Love.
I got this book in a book subscription box I get every month. The book was very good , it gets confusing sometimes due to certain words not being explained as to what they mean ( since they are in Travannia or another language states through out the book). Other then that it was very interesting. I really could picture the book all in my head. Really good detail , the plot was very interesting , truly loved all the characters , and a good book about women power. A must on your summer reading list!
Darkly beautiful
Original story and interesting characters. Darkly beautiful. The Russian names were hard to figure out and so I probably masacred them in my mind
Meh
127 pages into the first book and I’m not hooked. The characters are flat, and I’m not given a reason to root for any of them. While the dialogue is good, the writing structure is good and the premise is fascinating…this goes the way of so many fantasy stories. All plot, no…anything else.
It would seem the author perhaps knowing why she loved her characters forgot to show us why we should (if it happens later on, it shouldn’t. 127 pages is too many to sift through to try to find an attachment.)
I appreciate the attempt to start with the inciting incident, but while this method is supposed to launch readers into a story and keep them interested, the lack of baseline info for this world just leaves you feeling like you missed a few pages somewhere and need to catch up.
There are no breadcrumbs that keep me turning pages…only feeling like if I just keep going maybe it will get better.
There are also a few unnecessary plot holes. Why say a journey will take three weeks but have it over in two scenes with no mention of that time actually passing? Why did the protagonist only notice a character’s “lovely” face after a few interactions, when most ppl tend to notice those things on first meeting…unless that character is hidden in some way. This one wasn’t. If there’s another reason, say so. Stress, focused on other things? Make it make sense, lol.
Even though much happens, it still feels…boring somehow. Again, the plot moves forward but there’s just no real emotional feeling behind any of it. Like it’s a paint by number mad lib for YA fantasy.
So much potential here. But definitely needed some more work before it was published.