The Curse of Saints: The Spellbinding No 2 Sunday Times Bestseller

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I’m looking forward to the rest of this trilogy and hope it maintains the high standards set by The Curse of Saints. And when her relationship with Will unexpectedly shifts, neither know the danger that will follow . . . I think I read this too soon after reading the Crown of Nyaxia books, so it’s difficult not to compare the two. Both books utilize enemies to lovers, and both FMCs have similar powers. If you don’t mind similar themes, then you may love this book.

This is where we always end up, isn’t it, Aya love,’ he breathed. ‘You with a knife to my throat.’ He kept still, his knife hanging by his side. ‘Kill me, or get out.’ His command was soft and vicious.” Will carries the book in the second half. He is mysterious, charming and flirty. Also, he calls her, "my love." I liked that. But one thing that confused me were his motives, I failed to understand the reasoning behind his actions in some scenes. This was a let down. Between the Franken-plotting of popular tropes and plot points of much-beloved series, I just couldn’t get behind any of this. For future books in this series, this publisher really needs to push their editors to take a closer look and really dig in with this author. This needed so much more work and I’m disappointed that I’m seeing what appears to be a first or second draft getting published in full form. Dramis has promise as a romantasy author, but more fleshing out needs to be done before she can truly grow. I didn't feel invested in much of the story or characters. There really wasn't anything about the characters or the relationship that I loved. It wasn't until the reveal in the last 10% that gave us any explanation. It was like a switch was flipped in the two MCs liking each other romantically. The book definitely hit its stride in the middle. By this point, I was also slightly more invested with the story. Unfortunately, I didn't become as attached with the characters as I would have liked. And I wasn't as on board with the romance for some reason. (Any other time I would have fallen head over heels for the secret pining.)I saw you walk down those stairs...and I wanted you so badly that I thought I might set this whole godsforsaken world on fire just to have you." This book is the perfect balance of funny, lovable and heartbreakingly cruel and I wouldn't want to have it any other way. There is a love triangle where the FMC has to choose between the clean-cut nice-guy prince and the rough-around-the-edges, standoffish captain of the guard/enforcer. FMC rejects the prince and chooses the other guy. For instance, we spend some time in the first part of the novel learning that Visya’s have wolf companions that are bonded to them, something that is historically sacred within the religion that rules the realm. We even learn the names of both Aya’s and Will’s bonded wolves, only to never hear of them again. I do hope this is an element that is explored further in the rest of the series as it could definitely result in an intriguing layer to the story, because honestly – who doesn’t love an animal companion?

This had all the trappings of fantasy-lite that I usually don’t mind in the romantasy (romance/fantasy) genre. However, where other series triumph in pulling off the lightest of world building to give one a clear sense of the world and its history, this one haphazardly sprinkles in nonsensical tidbits that never find cohesion and others that are never executed to fruition.The dialogue was empty. Every time any character interacted with another, all they spoke in was empty clichés. All information about the plot was fed to us through little spurts of a giant firehose, through the narrator's dull and clumsy inner monologue. And important, emotional moments in the narrative were either glossed over or told to us instead of shown. I honestly can't believe this book was published. Was somebody trying to cash in on some trend? But I absolutely could not concentrate on this book, nothing was staying put in my head while reading it, and that is such a rare feeling for me. The fantasy genre is so competitive and The Curse of Saints is not quite a standout with cliche characters and plot but book 1 builds some foundation to allow the next 2 books to make it better. Example: Aya is bonded to a wolf (and isn't the only person in her group to be bonded to an animal) and yet this is barely explored in the book. Another example is the Queen, who both Will and Aya serve, is clearly a fascinating and complicated part of this dynamic, but she gets very little face time in the book. Add this to the fact that none of the cities or places in the world really acquired enough depth to feel REAL. Perfect for enemies to lovers fans . . . with a vast detailed world ’ Frances White, author of Voyage of the Damned The last 30% was my favorite when all hell broke loose. The political intrigue and love story all come to a head which was very satisfying. Overall, I thought it was a great debut and I’ll definitely continue the series.

i received a digital review copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. this did not affect my rating. The writing itself also posed a concern. It was clunky and dialogue was often unnatural. Will’s constant teasing tones of, “Aya, love,” never come across believably. The queen and other noble characters’ overly proper ways of speaking also are written so stilted and awkwardly that they feel alien. This needed so much more work to hit fluidity consistently and, like with the world building, it just seems that a lot of this was neglected on the premise that the gist of the plot and a few snappy TikToks about the tropes in the book could sell copies without any of the effort to transform this into an actually well-written story via the editing process. The Curse of Saints uses a lot of familiar and well-loved tropes, but overall is missing something to make it stand out from other books in the genre. First of all there's Aya, who is supposed to be this brilliant Spymaster to the queen. I'm writing "supposed to" because she is terrible at her job. From what I remember she gets caught by someone (usually Will) every time she does some spying. I found her unlikable overall and she did not seem like a fully fledged out character. Her main personality trait was disliking Will - at first at least. I'll get to their relationship later.I’m extremely disappointed because this sounded like exactly my cup of tea: a rivals to lovers romantasy with fiery passion, the likes of which birthed the quote, “I wanted you so badly that I thought I might set this whole godsforsaken world on fire just to have you." Anyways it's a good debut and I can see the potential for the rest of the series but someone for the love of god, pls tell authors that we are tired of reading books almost entirely identical to tog and acotar. I'm starting to have a hard time differentiating between every single fantasy book I read.