Emily A. DuncanAnmeldelser
Forfatter af Wicked Saints
Anmeldelser
Ruthless Gods: A Novel (Something Dark and Holy, 2) af Emily A. Duncan
If you like dark, fantastical stories with powerful forces like gods and monsters waging war look no further. If you like forbidden romances and creepy forest vibes, read this. While there is a war on the battlefields in this series, the focus moreso lies in the much bigger war, one that most people don’t realize is even happening. There have been powerful beings at work, manipulating humans (along with those who have become not so human) for a very long time. Our main characters seem to be irrevocably wrapped up in the goals of these higher beings and in this second book, we get to see even more of what that means.
As always, I adored the fairly twisted relationship between Nadya and Malachiasz. It’s just done so well. I was also really stoked to get all this new Serefin development. I love the characters in these books and the interesting dynamic of their interactions with each other. Is Serefin my new favorite? It’s so hard to say! It’s also hard to say which I love more about these books, the characters or the rich world building that gives me so many D&D and Skyrim vibes with a gothic edge. And that ending...wow. The first thoughts I wrote down at the end of reading this book were, and I quote, “Ummm whaaaaat????”
Sometimes I like making playlists for books I read (though it’s a bit scattered, like my reviews haha). Here’s the one I put together for Ruthless Gods:
1. “Didn’t Break It Enough” / Griff
2. “What Have You Become?” / MNQN
3. “Never Enough” / Loren Allred
4. “Don’t Matter” / Derik Fein
5. “Unbecoming” / STARSET
6. “Doubt” / Twenty One Pilots
7. “Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts” / Trevor Morris
8. “My Demons” / STARSET
9. “all the good girls go to hell” / Billie Eilish
10. “Animal” / Miike Snow
11. “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” / Florence The Machine
12. “Enemy” / Mystery Skulls
Wicked Saints: 4/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Ruthless Gods: 4/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
CW: Blood magic blood and therefore there is a huge amount of cutting (self-harm) in this book.
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
This book… I am going to completely fail on this one. Sooooo good. I was blown out of the water by the original world-building and depth, and really great characterizations. Let me apologize in advance for not attempting to spell some of the names… I read via text-to-speech and it sometimes struggles when it comes across non-English names.
Nadezhda is a cleric, hidden away in a monastery, and belongs to one of the two warring countries/tribes at battle over religion and blood magic. When the monastery is attacked by Seraphim, the Crown Prince and a powerful blood mage, she is forced to flee.
I’m not going to say a lot more without getting into spoilers, but this world is incredibly rich, full of court plotting, a Crown Prince who does terrible things, but you wonder if could be turned back from the dark side (I was getting some Kylo Ren/Darkling vibes), and Vultures,
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
It is a gritty (not quite grim-dark) story of a Cleric who can talk to the Saints of her sect. A Prince who is a blood mage and a" bad-boy" who is an even nastier blood-mage, labeled a Vulture. I am that girl that always fell for "the bad boy" so I really enjoyed that character. All three of them, from different directions, set out to bring a halt to a 1000 year war.
The writing is simple, yet it binds together a powerful story that had me guessing through-out. People have described it as a fairy tale. Well, kinda-if you are referring to the dark and terrifying original Grimm Fairy Tales. There is lots of blood, lots of terror. The book is the first of a trilogy and judging from this first installment, I don't see a happy ever-after coming.
This was not a 4 star read for me, but it isn't 3 stars either. It is right there in the middle. But, GR's doesn't give us that option, so I have to round down. Duncan shows a lot of potential and I am looking forward to seeing how much she grows in her writing.
This book was already on many bloggers’ most anticipated lists because the author seems to have been famous on tumblr and all her followers have been with her on her journey of completing her debut novel. So, even though I wasn’t one of them, learning that this book has some sort of Grisha Trilogy vibes, especially a romance between the heroine and (possibly) villain that we never got in the trilogy, I was very intrigued to read it. And I have to say, despite being very bloody and dark for my tastes, it’s a compelling new fantasy world with fascinating characters who impressed me a lot.
This is a story of war, politics and religion - with a whole lot of blood involved. While we all have read many fantasy novels with kingdoms fighting each other and the female MC is destined to save her kingdom, I personally have never read a book whose foundation is a holy war and all the characters are very deeply religious in their own way. The author uses the conversations between the characters and their monologues to give us both the perspectives of the religious god fearing Kalyazin and the heretical blood magic using Tranavians - and the beauty of the writing is that we as readers see our loyalties shifting between both the sides until we are unsure who is worthy of our support. Emily is greatly skilled at writing action packed, violent and bloody sequences because I didn’t feel turned off by them. The pacing can feel off at times, because it starts off with a great action sequence which then follows into a slower paced journey. However, the interactions between the characters, the political intrigue and the spectacular climax make up for any other issues.
Nadya is a very sheltered girl when we meet her in the beginning. She only knows that her power to wield magic by communicating with the pantheon of gods has made her a target and she needs to survive to save Kalyazin in the war. However, as she meets the rebel gang and especially the Tranavian blood mage Malachiasz, she starts questioning her own devotion to her gods and her hatred towards the enemy kingdom, if she is ruthless enough to follow the gods’ orders and if they truly have the best intentions for her kingdom. She also fights her attraction to Malachiasz every step of the way, because he is the epitome of the monsters who were created to kill someone like her. I absolutely loved their push and pull, the constant tug between light and darkness, how they felt drawn towards each other despite knowing that it probably wouldn’t end well for either of them. I can’t wait to see what more the author has in store for them in the future.
Serefin is a very powerful blood mage and the High Prince of Tranavia, a general of the army who has seen too many horrors at a very young age and tries to drown his sorrows in alcohol. Being at war for too long has made him realize that it is destroying his country and he just wants to find a better way for his people. However, conspiracies abound back at the palace and he is constantly on the lookout for who is coming for him. I wanted to hate him because the book starts with him trying to kill Nadya but as the story progressed, I realized he was only doing what he thought was best and he wasn’t the bad guy after all. His character arc is marred by betrayals at every step and I’m even more excited to know where the author takes his story next. The book also some excellent side characters in Rashid, Parijahan, Ostyia and Kacper who are loyal and steadfast and I definitely don’t think the main characters would be so strong or survive their circumstances without these friends by their sides. I wish to see more of them in the sequel and hopefully, we’ll get to know more of their backstories too.
Overall, this is a very strong debut and I highly recommend it if you don’t mind your fantasy novels to be quite bloody and gory and violent. As promoted, it will definitely appeal to Leigh Bardugo fans with its Russian and Polish inspired world building and the Alina/Darkling vibes. This book also given me one of those ships whom I would die for with my whole heart and it’ll probably only end in tears for me but I won’t have it any other way. Such a great start to a series and I can’t believe I have to wait for more than an year for the next one... Why do these books torture us so 😭😭😭
I would normally do a blurb here, but I honestly don't know how to do that with this book. Sorry about that.
Likes:
~Gothic
~Dark
~A very hot romance
~A very surprising and highly welcome secondary romance. Honestly my favorite part of this book
~This book has some crazy moments
Dislikes:
~I'm super confused about what's going on
~This book moved at a snail pace for me
~For whatever reason I can't get into the story as much as I'd like to
So my very first thought after finishing this book was FINALLY. It took forever to read and felt even longer. I had to force myself to keep going. It's one of those books that are too good to give up on, but not good enough to really want to finish. I had similar feelings about the first book. But I was so hoping that this one would be better. Honestly, I thought it was about the same. Will, I still read the next book? Yes. I've come too far to give up now. Plus I'm still holding out hope for the series to improve and I have to know how it ends now. I'm not going to lie though, I'm hoping the next book is the last of this series.
Nadya is a cleric and a devoted follower of her gods. She can speak to them and them to her giving her power when she needs it. When her home, the monastery, is attacked by the high prince of Tranavia, a country that has been at war with them for over a century, Nayda is on the run. She joins up with new allies one of which is her enemy. Together they form a plan to kill the Tranavian king and hopefully bring the war to an end.
Likes:
~Forbidden romance
~Action
~Magic
~Complicated characters
Dislikes:
~Took forever to read
~A lot of politics
~Very confusing
This book took me forever to read, but I loved the story. I don't understand it really. I loved the story and the romance and everything in between, but I had to force myself to finish this book. Maybe I'm dealing with some kind of reading slump I'm not sure. For now though I am interested in what happens next and where the story is going to from here. But I'm also glad to be done with the book. So in the mess of my conflicted feelings I'm giving it a 3 star.
Nadya is raised believing that she is the last hope for a nation torn apart by war. She has the unique ability to converse with the gods and use the power they allow her to use because of her faith in them. When her monastery home is attacked by the enemy, she flees and joins up with an unlikely group of travelers that seem to share the same goal - kill the king and stop the war.
This book was very dark, which isn't my normal type of book, but the fast pace of the story kept me enthralled until the very end. It also had magic in every shape and form, which I love. At times I found myself reading so fast that I felt that I maybe wasn't quite understanding what was happening, but I needed to find out how it was going to play out. It was definitely intriguing. I loved that the author used Slavic folklore as inspiration for her story. It made it unique and interesting, and I felt I was transported to another place and time.
There were times in the story where I felt that I wanted more details, more explanation, and more of a connection with the supporting characters. However, I loved the connection that I felt with the main characters throughout the story. And can I just say that I was completely shocked by the ending.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a dark, magical fantasy. If you liked Six of Crows or Shadow and Bone, this book is perfect for you. I can't wait for the next book (there better be a book 2)!
This started out sloooow. It was honestly sort of hard for me to get into. Part of the problem is just that fantasy isn't always fast paced since there's so much world building to cover, and I acknowledge that. But the world building here almost felt like it was written for an adult fantasy novel, whereas the drama and plot itself of the book seemed very young adult. It didn't help that I was listening to the audiobook version and the narrators both used heavy Russian accents during all of the dialogue. But about halfway through (? Whenever the first battle with the Vultures was), it started to really pick up the pace and get good.
I loved Serefin - he was just so done with all the bullshit and boy do I understand that feeling. Nadya was... I don't know. I think she had a lot of character growth that she needed to go through - I have a feeling I'm going to like her character more in the sequel. And Malachiasz is just... you're going to go back and forth on how you feel about him for the entirety of the book. I still don't even know.
The magic system was really interesting. I haven't read many books lately that create entire religions in addition to magic. It's usually one or the other that gets the attention, but the two were so intertwined for Kalyazi and it was an excellent touch. I'm excited to see how the things we learn about the Kalyazi gods unfold in the sequel.
In Wicked Saints, [a:Emily A. Duncan|15600590|Emily A. Duncan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534514878p2/15600590.jpg] crafts a novel so original and assured it reads as less a debut than a gauntlet tossed down. Richly mined Slavic lore provides a bedrock for world-changing political fantasy and a cradle for characters who feel simultaneously familiar, as though you've met them in a half-remembered childhood fairy tale, and wholly original to their surroundings. Nadya's religious turmoil and Serefin's court maneuverings read realistically, embedding the reader in a world close enough to ours that it feels like an alternate history, a forgotten chapter of magical warfare and holy orphans--while Malachiasz and the Vultures are nightmares who could only be born of one mind. Familiar terrain of countries at war is made uneasy with the characters' shifting awareness of who is on which side, and what powers are at their command, while the huge scale of lifelong battle is brought down to earth by the continuing, uncomfortable knowledge that those characters are very young people. The quest format of high fantasy is tempered by poignant relationships (friendship and romance!), difficult decisions of small and earthshaking types, and an array of delightfully twisted tropes, from Cinderella-esque betrothal rituals to divinely inspired Chosen Ones.
The best fiction provides many angles to one truth, and this book is no exception. As Nadya's gods draw farther from her and Malachiasz's power grows beyond his own reach, few firm answers are given--only a sense of a black horizon, and each character faced with choices that will break or free them.
TW for self harm and graphic violence.
This was a typical arc for a YA novel. Forbidden romance and such. It was so very predictable in that sense. Of course Nadya (our heroine) would fall for her supposed worst enemy. And then do the whole "I like him, but I don't, but I do, but I don't, but I shouldn't!!! But I do...?" It was honestly annoying. The whole time I was just hoping she'd drop it and go with her gut feeling of "this dude's not safe", even though her heart was apparently like "HE'S SOOOO ATTRACTIVEEEE."
Anyway, let's talk about Nadya otherwise. She's a cleric, able to speak to all of the gods in her pantheon, which is very special as usually clerics only have one god to speak to. She was raised in a monastery, where she supposedly received some training. And yet she knows nothing really? about? her? religion????? Except that she prays and the gods maybe talk to her and grant her some magic?? Makes no sense. I understand being introduced to other people who might make her doubt, but also... she talks to her gods... so.... she has proof they exist.
Aside from that, she really is not that relatable. She's a flat character and a pushover most of the time and is not at all interesting. She spirals through this self doubt that manifests in nothing important. All she does is waffle between her religion and the so-called heretics, who are blood mages but otherwise have no explanation about why they are heretical. They just are, okay?!
And now we come to Malachiasz, the forbidden love interest. He is enemy!!!! Why? We are at war!! Why are we at war??? WE DON'T KNOW. There is no history of why the war is happening! It just is!! Maybe because heretics or something. Not entirely sure.
Anyway, he's the dark and stormy type. The whole "anxious, broken" character who is also very powerful and veeeerrryyyy mysterious and alluring. And a liar, musn't forget that part. He's also flat, his motives are unclear, and he's just so torn about what to do. Except not really.
And our Prince Serefin? Same. Flat, boring, blah.
Side characters? You could delete them completely and the story wouldn't change.
No one is really interested in each other. Most of the questions are variations on "can I trust you?" or "how are we going to kill the king?" No thought beyond that, like... what their plan afterward would be.. or... maybe consequences... or.. maybe actually forming meaningful relationships....
Our surroundings are similar. What do we know about Tranavia? It has many lakes. About Kalyazin? It is cold and snowy. About Akola? It's warm and sandy, and we don't even go there in the book. It's just kinda like, yea, there's another country, you know, whatever. But our characters will be damned if they are not loyal to their homeland!!
You know what else this book loves besides being vague? BLOOD. It looooves blood. Everyone gets full of it. All over skin and clothes and it drips out of all orifices! There's pools of it everywhere and it even rains from the sky!! Seriously, everyone ought to be dead because of the amount of blood loss in this book. It's not tasteful, it's just plain excessive. And that's coming from me, someone who enjoys gore. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief after a while.
I read this book super slow and the ultimate reason for that was that it was boring. I wasn't engaged, I didn't care, and I just wanted it to go away, but I was too stubbornly hopeful that it would improve. It did not. Part of me wants to give the rest of the series a chance. The other part is like, "nah bro, it just ain't worth it." I'll probably listen to the latter.
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