The Starving Saints

This one was so close to perfect! Maybe I'm being too nit-picky, but I needed more seige-induced mass panic. There was a brief riot in the beginning, during which the reader is introduced to Ser Voyne, acting as the king's crowd controller and attack dog. But after that, the chaotic swell and the inhumane desperation of the people as a whole, reappears only at "feasting times." There's a late-game scene in the smithy, where the hungry populace comes barging in like zombies, but most of the brutality and tactical coercion happens offstage. At times it gave the impression that this was a small village under attack rather than an entire castle full to bursting.

Starling is an excellent story teller! The Constant Lady and her Saints are show more certainly inspired by real medieval relic cults that played on the gullibility of pilgrims for profit. However, if you know your folklore, especially the fae, you'll realize the danger our heroes are in. I loved that each character had their own motive. You're never sure who is going to survive at the end, or at least, how. These creatures are much older than they seem, organic, feeding off the weaknesses and baser nature of humans, and best left unexplained. It's repulsive and alluring, shocking and beautiful! show less

This felt like a lucid dream where I was a passenger in someone’s acid trip. Delving into one of my favorite themes: imperfect sapphics. And well, cannibals and otherworldly cults, too. This book is heavy on trauma and the fissures it causes baked into a medieval fantasy horror.
A stronghold slowly dying from starvation while out waiting the enemy forces outside their doors.
The three main characters are broken and ripe with all our hidden guilty pleasures. This is somehow extremely claustrophobic yet horny.
Most of the book you are stumbling with the characters, feeling out what’s real, what’s in the realm of reality, and if you are the type of person that will give in.
Weird saints cooking up people with all the necessary gore. Hats show more off.
This isn’t for everyone. But it’s a delicious delve into madness and the fantastical. show less

Fever dream indeed. I read this over two days, in my own fever dream, racing through it. What I liked the most is Starling’s restraint. It has horror, and sensuousness, and a country at war but we never get the full picture. The three main characters have depth and personalities, but they are never fully delineated, past or present. We are given glimpses, can make assumptions and put together the puzzle pieces, but in the end are left as hungry as the characters themselves. This, to me, seems like a great introduction into horror –particularly body horror, if a new reader is concerned about being squeamish over details. Starling gives a scene, and we are left to imagine more, or less to our tastes. I was very excited for this to be show more released, and if the description “medieval fever dream…seasoned with sapphic romance but thoroughly marinated in cannibalistic body horror” makes you interested, this book does not disappoint! show less

This book felt like stepping directly into one of Bosch's Hellscapes and all the nonsensical horror that comes with them. There was so much that I loved about The Starving Saints as well as quite a few things that I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed about two-thirds of the book before my excitement started waning due to pacing and the disjointed way the ending seemed to be put together. In the acknowledgments the author herself mentions how the last portion of the book was written in a "manic weekend" spent in "wild-eyed isolation", which unfortunately was something that was abundantly clear to me even without the confirmation. Whereas in the beginning of the book the descriptions, imagery, and plot felt beautiful and well thought out, the show more latter portion of it just didn't seem to hold up quite as well overall. The ending felt sort of rushed and tired and while I suppose that falls in line with how our main characters were feeling towards the end of their journey, as a reader it was almost disappointing in a way. That being said, I do think the story was extremely enjoyable and compulsively readable in a way that novels haven't been for me in quite a while. I absolutely adored how Starling didn't shy away from the lush disgustingness of it all. Some descriptions were so intense that it almost felt like the story was invading my senses. I particularly enjoyed the progression of the feasts as their true nature became more and more apparent as the story went along, as well as the different ways the three main characters descended into madness. Overall, I can say that I am happy to have read this book and if you're at all interested in the disturbing sexiness that manages to wriggle its way into the cracks of this nightmare, I suggest you give this book a try. show less

This is a tough one to review. I adore Starling's writing, and this book sucked me in from page one. I fell in love with the characters from the beginning--all three of the POVs, which is rare for me--and the small, unsettling details and creatures that slipped into the text with every turn. For more than half the book, I was pulled along without being able to pause, enjoying every moment.

And then...well, I suppose it began to feel like more and more details and oddities were piling up, often unconnected to each other, and I started to feel some doubt about whether or not I'd get all of the answers I wanted, and whether everything would be tied up in a way that made sense of things. I was glad to coast without answers, but in the end, I show more wanted to know the 'how' of things--how things tied together, the logic behind the magic/horror, how all this came to be just as it ended up happening...

So, I don't know. I loved this book for a lot of it, and I'm sure many horror readers won't be bothered by the mysteries left in play, as it fit the book in some ways, but this one didn't quite live up to the expectations built up by the first 100 pages or so. show less

Deliciously dark and simultaneously empowering, Starling weaves a compelling and disturbing tale of three women linked by their trauma and impending destruction in a besieged castle with fast-dwindling food stores. Among the dark corners of Aymar Castle, Treila scavenges for rats and plots vengeance against the knight who destroyed her life. In her rotting tower, Phosyne, the castle lord's madwoman, is tasked with finding a miracle to replenish the castle's food. And Ser Voyne, a knight with seemingly shifting loyalties, becomes entranced by the castle's mysterious visitors and possible saviors: the Constant Lady, the Absolving Saint, the Loving Saint, and the Warding Saint. As the Saints and the Constant Lady continue to exert their show more control in Aymar, the people descend into a state of bacchanalian madness and possession. Yet those with the will to resist are determined to survive by any means necessary.

Told from the three distinct perspectives of these bold women, this was such a unique and all-consuming story. The magical yet destitute world Starling creates is multidimensional and lends itself well to the character-driven narrative as the reader discovers the three women's motivations and inner turmoil. The Starving Saints has everything one could want from a cannibalistic, sorcery-infused story about the complicated, sensual, and unfailingly supportive relationship between Treila, Phosyne, and Ser Voyne. This triad is the heart of the novel and the brutal gore that decorates the pages is the lovely bloody cherry on top. show less

The vibes of this book were absolutely perfect. This is basically exactly what I want from a dark fantasy horror novel. I loved the setting and the castle. I liked all three of the main characters and their POVs. I loved the weirdness and grossness of it all. It wasn't as perfect as it could have been though. I like the strangeness of the magic, but not everything always made complete sense to me. The bargains and the creatures mostly work I think, but it's never really explained why the three protagonists are special. Why are they able to wield magic? I felt like some conversations and plot points felt a bit confusing and I had to reread some parts a few times to understand what the characters were talking about. Overall I liked the show more writing a lot (and especially the descriptions), but some things could have been cleaned up a bit maybe. I also felt that the progression of Phosyne's relationship with Voyne was a bit abrupt and I didn't entirely understand all of their motivations. Sometimes it felt like things just happened because they needed to, especially towards the end of the book. I actually thought the ending could have been a bit darker. All things considered, everything actually turned out okay (aside from the trauma of forced cannibalism and whatnot). I'm not sure that it fit. Overall, though I really liked this. The atmosphere is just absolutely perfect. I loved the siege and the bees and the religion and the darkness. I am always a sucker for medieval settings. Oh and they're all gay so that was great too. show less