Wicked Saints
A Novel
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4.3 • 239 Ratings
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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!
Violence overwhelms the story
While Wicked Saints starts off slow, it really picks up in the last third of the book. Yet, the level of violence through out is just way, way over the top. And it just drags the story down. The story is somewhat original, relying on an Eastern European sense of names, place and culture, similar to The Witcher. And it has a less than compelling love interest, not nearly as good as The Twilight Saga (which is not saying much). And finally it does have a degree of intrigue and mutli-character plotting, yet it pales in comparison to Game of Thrones. Basically, the whole story is rather deriviative. And it is somewhat jarring with a fast pace - everything transpires over what seems to be a few day - and characters who are all teenagers that have achieved levels of magical skills that would take years to achieve. Overall, a decent read, but not memorable.
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