YA Weekend: Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
Mogsy’s Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Book 1 of Something Dark and Holy
Publisher: Wednesday Books (April 2, 2019)
Length: 385 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
With so much hype surrounding Wicked Saints before its release, I was glad I took the time to check out some of the more critical reviews before diving in. Doing so helped me prepare myself for the possibility that it might not be everything I had expected, and there were also a few things frequently mentioned by reviewers that I thought might cause me some issues as well. Turns out, they were right. While I don’t actually regret my time with this book (it had its saving graces), I can’t say I was engaged much with it either.
Set in a fantasy world which draws much of its inspiration from Slavic culture and history, Wicked Saints splits its focus between three main protagonists: Nadya, a Kalyazi cleric raised in a monastery and trained to commune with the gods; Serefin, a High Prince of Tranavia who is also a blood mage; and Malachaisz, a rogue Tranavian mage who has defected against his own people. Nadya has spent her life hidden away in the remote mountains, Kalyazin’s secret weapon to use against Tranavia in the religious war between the two nations. However, before her time could come, the monastery that has been a safe haven to her for her whole life is suddenly attacked by Tranvaian forces led by Prince Serefin.
Fortunately, Nadya was able to escape, evading capture by falling in with a group of rebels. Meanwhile, Serefin is forced to abandon the search for the cleric when he is unexpected called back home by his father. Nadya is relatively safe again for now, but for how long? The resistance fighters are determined to take their cause all the way to the palace, where they plan on assassinating the king to put an end to the violence once and for all. Despite herself, Nadya also finds herself drawn to Malachiasz, the gorgeous blood mage who embodies everything she has been taught to hate and fear in her devout upbringing by the monastery priests. Every character seems to have an agenda of their own, each of them grinding against the others like rusty gears while none of them have a choice but to go along with the tide of the times. However, inevitably when the centuries of bad blood and brutal conflict come to a head, there will undoubtedly be consequences for them all.
First, let’s start with what I liked. Admittedly, this isn’t a long list, but what’s there is significant and goes a long way in making up for a lot of the issues in the book. Number one is the atmosphere. Wicked Saints is a gothic fantasy novel and that’s obvious enough; you can practically feel its dark and broody vibes wafting off the pages like some cheap perfume. No, it’s not subtle. One might even say it’s a bit overdone, that this novel is “gothic” in the way a preteen would interpret the word—nihilistic themes, blood magic and death gods, bad boys and bad girls in black edgy clothing, etc. And yet, despite the prose dripping with angst, Emily A. Duncan’s writing is fantastic, which brings me to the second thing I liked most about this book. The author clearly has way with words, and I found her style perfectly suited to creating this gritty world full of richly decadent details.
And now for the things that didn’t work so well for me. As much as I enjoyed Duncan’s writing, it pains me to say that the very nature of it prevented me from connecting with her story and characters. While the prose may be well-crafted, I wouldn’t exactly call it easy on the eyes. In some ways, I feel like the writing may have placed too much emphasis on artistry while sacrificing readability and overall engagement. The plot was decent, but slow, and none of the character POVs managed to excite me long enough to keep the momentum going. Which brings me to the characters. I didn’t like them, nor did I dislike them. They were just there—and it was this ambivalence towards everyone in the book that frustrated me to no end. Make me love your characters or make me hate them—I don’t care. Just make me feel something, anything! The fact that I couldn’t relate in any way to the characters left me with an overall sense of ennui and coldness, and I think this was what resulted in the emotion disconnect I had with the novel.
So yes, I struggled, even though I’d be hard-pressed to point out anything that was seriously flawed about this book. In fact, despite experiencing problems early on, I still knew that deep inside I wanted to see the story through to the end. The problem though, was the incredibly difficult time I had motivating myself to pick up the book again, and in the end, what finally did it was borrowing the audiobook from the library and finishing it in another, more convenient format. It just goes to show, some books and I are simply on different wavelengths, making it hard for us to jive. I believe this was the case with Wicked Saints, which sadly proved not to be my cup of tea after all, but I’m sure it will find lots of love with others.
The BiblioSanctum 
I’m sorry you haven’t been able to connect with the story as you’d have liked. I hope your next reading is amazing 💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! And yeah, it’s a shame but there’s always the next book 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
WIAA Mogsy? What’s it all about? Thank you for the like, I appreciate them all! I am curious Mogsy, how much time do you spend reading per month? I am always impressed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I mostly do audiobooks these days, or I tag team audio and print. Not much time to actually sit down and read 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dang! But I get your points truly! I wrote in my review that I had a hard time really falling into the book in the beginning and after having read yourreview maybe the prose kept me at arm’s lenght. But then I got interested in the story and slowly connected with the characters. I know I will read book two now because I am finally invested. I am just sorry it did not work better for you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I know you loved it and I can totally see why! This book had some high points and amazing strengths, it’s just a shame I couldn’t connect with the characters!
LikeLike
I’ve seen this going around recently and it has been received very mixed reviews… I won’t be picking it up since I don’t read a lot of YA anyway but it sounds like a book the 13 years old me would have loved haha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, the ratings seem to be all over the place! People seemed to either love it or hate it.
LikeLike
“A gorgeous bloodmage”
Yeah, those couple of words were enough for a full stop for me 😀 Not that I’m going to dive into YA easily anyway.
Sorry it didn’t work for you but glad you had already lowered your expectations. Sometimes it seems like high expectations are the worst thing we can do to ourselves before reading a book 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, everyone looks like a fashion model. I love YA, but this is why I can’t take the genre seriously sometimes 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ambivalence towards characters is a real book killer isn’t it. This is a book that I really liked the look of but I’ve got enough already waiting so I won’t be adding this to the pile.
Lynn 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup, I’m a characters-first kind of reader. Not being able to connect with the characters is pretty much the kiss of death for a book 😛
LikeLike
I hate the kind of book that I can’t give up on despite it not being all that good and characters are key to my liking a story, so I’m going to skip this one. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally understand. I liked this a bit more than you (although I left my rating off because I was on a blog tour, but its probably 3.5 stars.) I thought her writing was fantastic, but she just didn’t have a good enough story or more interesting characters to back it up. I didn’t like the first half much at all, but I’ll admit I did like Malachiasz😏
LikeLike
Yes, the writing was fantastic! I think she may have gone overboard with creating the atmosphere though, and the characters suffered as a result. It could have used more balance for me, but I’m glad you liked it 🙂
LikeLike
Yeah, characters are key for me too. Though if you enjoy atmospheric, Gothic stories and good writing, it might still be worth a look 🙂
LikeLike
Oh, I know so well what you mean when you say you had to actively seek the will to pick up the book! It’s usually a bad sign, because if a book fails to engage us, there seems to be little point in keep reading it… I’m sorry this turned out to be such a disappointment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, not having the motivation to pick up a book is the worst! That’s the first sign I know a book’s not working for me.
LikeLike
Ah complicated. I don’t know why but the cover does not feel YA
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does look more mature than a lot of YA covers!
LikeLike
If no one excites me I am out
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear ya!
LikeLike
Yeah I’ve seen quite a few more critical reviews too- shame it didn’t engage you much, but good it had some saving graces. I do like the sound of the atmosphere, even if it’s a bit angsty. It’s a real pity the writer sacrificed readability though. Really great review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, and my thoughts exactly re: the angsty atmosphere and readability being sacrificed. If only this had been a little more balanced!
LikeLike
I struggled with this one as well and ended up DNF’ing it. It just didn’t grab my attention, but I agree about how atmospheric it is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, glad I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get into it. If I were in the habit of DNFing, I probably would have done so too, to be honest.
LikeLike
Hmm, I called the hype early on (so I took it off my TBR), but it’s still a shame that it didn’t jive with you at all. I honestly thought it would be more of a technical mess than anything else, but I guess it’s a matter of characters not jumping off the pages at you? Really great review regardless! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, guess I should have listening to my instincts a bit more regarding the hype – thank goodness I did prepare myself for disappointment by checking out some of the more critical reviews before reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve seen this one everywhere and really appreciate the honest review. Feeling “meh” towards the characters is one of the biggest things that keeps me from loving a book. Like you said, make me love or hate them, but make me feel it strongly!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, and as a “characters first” kind of reading, I can’t agree more! I just want to feel something for the character, anything is better than leaving me feeling cold.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve seen some mixed reviews on this one and your review kind of solidified that I think I’m going to pass on this one. It’s also been kind of over-hyped IMO and that’s usually the kiss of death for me on a book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, the hype was pretty strong with this one. I’m glad I decided to check out some of the more critical reviews before starting, just to get a more balanced feel for the book.
LikeLike
Wow, I clearly have been in an echo chamber of hype! To be honest, I’d been avoiding a lot of reviews since I’ve been planning to check this out, but since our tastes are so similar I decided to read yours. Sorry this one didn’t work out for you, but perhaps you’ve saved me a read!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lot of blogs that I follow actually loved this, but thank goodness on one of them the reviewer mentioned something about the angsty atmosphere and the writing style that might not be for everyone. It led to me to check out more reviews and I started spotting things that might bug me, and I’m glad I came into this with my expectations slightly tempered or I might have been even more disappointed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t read this one but I know exactly what you mean because I have had a similar experience with a book before (lovy prose, great atmosphere, but the style gets in the way of the story etc). Sorry you didn’t love this one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly, it definitely felt like the style was pushing out everything else. I just wish there had been more balance!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads | The BiblioSanctum