The Starving Saints Book Review

Atmosphere, without question, is where the novel truly shines. A dreary medieval town steeped in religious iconography and superstition, undergoing a seige which is slowly starving everyone inside the castle. Labyrinthine hallways, gorgeous monastaries, claustrophobic tunnels beneath the castle- all of it is so well described that it occasionally makes your heart trip with unease. You can practically feel the walls closing in. The third person, present tense choice also heightens this unsettled feeling, allowing readers to feel as though they too belong in this moment. The setting beautifully reflects the tensions of the castle, the undercurrent of fear and animalistic hunger that is a consequence of the siege. And even when the visitors appear, you can sense the shifting dynamics and dread.

However, the gorgeous scenery comes with a cost. The Starving Saints may be beautiful on the surface, but beneath is a complex, convoluted and murky plot that frankly left me completely lost in places. I found myself repeatedly adrift, and while I could appreciate the imagery of things like the bees, I didn’t really know what the purpose of it was. Unfortunately, while the first third or so of the book was solid and intricate, the latter two-thirds were more of a drag because I had to read things over several times before ultimately accepting that my confusion wasn’t because I was tired or unfocused. A lot of threads are left untied by the end, and it perhaps raises more questions than it answers. 

This sense of disorientation extends to the characters. For all the novel’s sensory richness, I never felt particularly connected to the characters. Their motivations and relationships felt slippery, half-explored before being abandoned. It’s possible this is by design- isolation is a key part of the horror of this book, but it did leave me less interested in the characters beyond not wanting them to meet a hideously painful demise.

Yet, for all its flaws, I did enjoy reading The Starving Saints. The gothic medieval imagery and symbolism is rich and atmospheric, and the prose is sublime. If you’re a firm vibes-based reader, you might enjoy this one too.

For me, it landed in a solid middle-ground: intriguingly strange, but too impenetrable to truly love.