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

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when aya lashes out and unleashes a power that hasn’t been seen in over 500 years, she’s forced to work with her long-time rival, will, to discover who she really is. has she been sent to save her realm, or destroy it? This all probably sounds like I didn't like the book but I truly did!! It's a really good debut novel, I loved following the author's journey and I'm so happy her book is getting published. It's just that, like I said, I've been waiting for this book for a while and had certain expectations. I guess it's just easier to sell an enemies to lovers book so that's what most of the promo focused on. I will probably re-read it when it comes out and this little feeling of disappointment has washed away and I'm sure I will love it for exactly what it is. The plot itself is well crafted and cleverly thought out. I found myself incredibly invested almost immediately and was rooting for our characters from the start.

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. Thanks to NetGalley & Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC of this book. The following review is my honest reflection on the text provided. Unfortunately, because it aims for all of these things but doesn't flesh any of them out, the book mostly feels flat: like the bare bones of a world are created, but nothing feels lived in or completely real. I think the primary reason for this, other than it being an early work by this author, is that there is such an outsized focus on the character dynamics, and the romance in particular, that the world building and more interesting parts of the magic feel like after thoughts.

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. 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. The queen’s Tria mirrors the Grishaverse triumvirate in that three ridiculously young people in both series have risen to the highest positions of power they can possibly be appointed to. Unfortunately, this was quite possibly the most generic fantasy I've ever read. The world was bland and uninteresting - I didn't particularly care about what I had read, nor did I want to learn more, to be honest.

I. Am. FLOORED. I devoured this book SO fast because it was just that bingeable 🤌 Fantasy lovers everywhere, this book is for you. 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?The Curse of Saints was a very enjoyable fantasy read. I found it to be a complex world with a lot of characters. The point of view changed between characters throughout the book and I felt like each PoV framed and presented the characters thoughts and problems extremely well. There was quite a bit of terminology within this story and I did find myself referring to the glossary on a few occasions to refresh my memory. 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. SJM repeatedly uses certain turns of phrase that also kept popping up in this novel, including but not limited to “fighting leathers,” “rubbing soothing circles,” and “sketched a bow.”

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The book opens with Aya throwing her slight weight around, so it initially seemed like she would be the usual tiny but fierce FMC. However, the reader soon learns that Aya is more apt to process information and respond accordingly. They're all gifted with magic from the gods and called Visya, who are meant to protect the humans. You'd think this would make them scarce and only in certain areas - wrong! I think there was maybe 1 non-Visya they interacted with, and I can't be sure of that either. What's the point of a race of people to protect humans if it seems even the bartender of a crappy bar has powers too?? Possibly my biggest gripe with this is that I'm seriously meant to believe that a 35 year old Queen surrounds herself with a trio of people who are all below 23?? And they're meant to be super amazing at their jobs? It's so unrealistic, and I know it's fantasy but a 21-year-old would never be a top tier spy master because...well she's 21! I just couldn't ignore this when reading it. If authors are going to give characters super high up and important jobs, then make sure they're an age that it's believable for them to be given that level of responsibility and experience. 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.

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Then at the end we get Will's pov explaining why he had to pretend to be mean and blabla but that he had always wanted to be with her deep down and I'm just like... you didn't even know her? She hated you and never really talked to you so like what do you mean "you've wanted to be with her forever but accepted it wouldn't happen"?? 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." There's a third POV character, but I found it unnecessary to get scenes from his perspective, so I won't further discuss him. Forced by circumstance to work together, Aya and Will struggle to come to an uneasy truce. But when tragedy strikes, Aya instinctively reacts, unleashing a power that hasn't been seen in over 500 years. Shaken, she's confronted with an impossible truth: one that threatens the precious grip she keeps on her control. One that forces her to work with Will to discover who―or what―she really is. And one that could turn her into a weapon in a war she doesn't know how to win. The Curse of Saints is built on the foundations of what could have been a solid fantasy novel – a complex magic system, warring kingdoms, vague prophecies and morally grey characters. So, it is a shame that the novel ultimately fails to deliver. The book becomes overwhelmed with all of the fantastical elements it tries to accomplish, slightly skimming the surface but never exploring deep enough into the elements to have a substantial impact. The world-building, in turn, felt incredibly rushed, and so I felt very little connection to the kingdom or the characters.

Forced by circumstance to work together, Aya and Will struggle to come to an uneasy truce. But when tragedy strikes, Aya instinctively reacts, unleashing a power that hasn't been seen in over 500 years. Shaken, she's confronted with an impossible truth: one that threatens the precious grip she keeps on her control. One that forces her to work with Will to discover who—or what—she really is. And one that could turn her into a weapon in a war she doesn't know how to win.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. In The Curse of Saints, the first in a trilogy from debut author Kate Dramis, we are introduced to a kingdom rife with the power of Visya’s; individuals who are blessed with affinities of raw, god-like magic. Visya powers fall under any three categories: Physical Affinities, Elemental Affinities, and Mind, Emotion & Sensation Affinities. Our protagonist, Aya, falls under the last, possessing the power of persuasion. These powers, however, have been bound to never grow strong enough to challenge the Nine Divine, the realm’s gods. In a nearby kingdom, there are rumours of a dark magic arising, threatening to reach Aya’s home. It is this dark magic that sets the plot of the book into motion, where Aya, the Queen’s Spymaster, is forced to investigate this threat alongside her rival Will, the Queen’s Enforcer and Second. It is on this journey that Aya discovers that her affinity is one that spills over the bounds that restrict the Visya, placing her at risk of becoming a weapon in a war she does not know how to win, or might not necessarily want to. 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. I won't attempt to summarise the plot. It was pretty confusing at first and got slightly less confusing later, and there were a couple of plotholes. The overall vibe I got from the story was Shadow and Bone meets Throne of Glass, but not well written. The different scenes often felt like they had gotten cut off right in the middle of the action. The ending felt so hopeful. Aya and Will may not be heading off to a happy ending, but they’re together, they’re being honest with each other, and they’re ready to take it all on. But that epilogue. It hit me right in the gut and left me spiralling.