Skip to main content

Featured

Series Review: The Suitable 'Verse by R. Cooper

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. Full Audio Here Powerful noble families known as the beat-of-fours, answerable only to a ruler and the mysterious, godlike fae, scheme and squabble amongst themselves, and go to war for the chance to put one of their own on the throne. But the fae might be pulling more strings than the nobles realize and they definitely have their favorites. A series of love stories loosely centered around the political crisis that led to the current ruler, featuring oblivious librarians, crafty though loving kings, an innocent half-fae noble, a legendary outlaw turned conqueror, worried warriors, clever guards, and an infamous beauty. PUBLISHER: Independently Published LENGTH: ~1000 pages so far AGE: Adult GENRE: Fantasy, Romance RECOMMENDED: Highly Queer Rep Summary: m/m and m/m/...

Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan (Something Dark and Holy, #1)

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..

TITLE: Wicked Saints
AUTHOR: Emily Duncan
PUBLISHER: Wednesday Books
YEAR: 2019
LENGTH: 385 pages
AGE: Young Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
RECOMMENDED: No* (I loved this book but did not finish the sequel and do not plan to read the third book at this time. After reading this originally I found out that the premise of the series relies on a bunch of antisemitic tropes. Due to this and the fact that the second book was confusing and I did not enjoy it at all, I do not recommend this book/series. I’ve left my original review intact below.)

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Secondary Character(s).

If you like magic, blood, forbidden glances over a multitude of wounds (literal and otherwise), beleaguered princes, and a darkly brooding danger boy chased by a conflicted magic girl, read WICKED SAINTS. 

This is one of those books where I loved how it felt to read it, but when I try to list what occurred the intricacies escape me and it feels like only a couple of things actually happened. I think the prince is my favorite character, mostly because his goals make more sense to me personally, but both MC's are cool in different ways. I was a little concerned that the "lovers" part of "enemies to lovers" was happening a bit quickly, but then the book reminded me that it's a trilogy and things have time to get complicated, in this case by means of a dizzying but oddly inevitable ending. 

CW for alcoholism, religious bigotry, kidnapping, confinement, blood, self harm, domestic abuse, violence, gore, torture, murder, child death, death.

Bookshop Affiliate Buy Link

Add this on TheStoryGraph

A city of towers and spires overlooking a dark forest.


Comments