By: Emily A. Duncan

Something Dark and Holy #1 | 385 Pages | Pub. 2019

Wicked Saints at a Glance

• Overall Rating: ★★★★
• Heroine: Special Peanut
• Dude: Check out those teeth
• Steaminess: Feels appropriate
• Brutality: The real brutality was on the citizens of the countries

Pairs Well With

Medovukha

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Review

What is even happening?

I said this a lot while reading this book. I LOVE Russian-influenced books. No idea why, maybe because I read too much Dostoevsky in college? I was actually expecting to become insanely obsessed with this and while I really enjoyed it, I’m not obsessed. It’s dark and creepy with battling magic styles, but there is something about religious wars in fantasies that is unappealing as a plot point lately. This probably has nothing to do with Wicked Saints, but I have overdone it on religious war fantasies lately.

We get three Point-of-View characters, which I always enjoy, especially when there are three distinct voices. Duncan executes the triple POV really well and all three main characters are fully developed and well-defined.

The magic system is unique. Ok, blood magic is not, but I like that they have to use their own + spell. They aren’t just randomly magical. I also enjoyed Nadya using her necklace to call on the gods for her magic; this gave the plot more tension.

Remember the whole “this is a war” thing? Yeah, it starts off with a bang. In the first couple of chapters my heart was ripped right out of my chest and slammed back in. So buckle up because sh*t gets crazy.

 

Beware….Spoilers below!

 

 

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All that stuff that I said about loving Nadya needing to use the gods for her magic… Well that went out the window and SURPRISE she is just a special peanut and magic on her own. Not a fan of this revelation TBH. I liked that she had to work and negotiate for her powers.

And when Malachiasz transforms at the end? This is all I can think of and it’s stuck in my head forever.

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Have you read Wicked Saints? Let us know what you thought in the comments!

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