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The Starving Saints

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The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling is a gripping medieval horror novel set in a besieged castle. The story follows three women whose lives intertwine as they face a dire food shortage and the arrival of supernatural beings that complicate their survival. Starling's writing is rich and immersive, creating an atmospheric experience that feels both vivid and hallucinatory. The prose is dense and demands attention, drawing the reader into the characters' psychological turmoil and the escalating horror surrounding them.

Characters:

The characters exhibit depth and complexity, navigating moral ambiguity as they struggle for survival.

Writing/Prose:

The writing is atmospheric and evocative, balancing a hallucinatory quality with rich detail that immerses the reader in a unique experience.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative presents a besieged castle scenario with a focus on survival, hunger, and dark mystical forces that challenge the characters.

Setting:

The setting is a besieged medieval castle that reinforces themes of isolation, fear, and the struggle for survival.

Pacing:

The pacing is uneven, with a mix of fast and slow moments that enhance the feeling of desperation and confusion.

Notes:

The Starving Saints is set in a besieged castle.
The story revolves around three central female characters.
Themes of starvation and survival play a significant role in the plot.
The book is described as a mix of medieval horror and dark fantasy.
Inspired by the atmosphere of 15th-century art, the setting feels both familiar and distorted.
It features intense body horror and graphic scenes.
The characters experience escalating mystery and horror as events unfold.
The narrative is immersive and hallucinatory, reflecting the characters' mental states.
The writing style is described as non-lucid and intentionally disjointed.
The book explores themes of insanity and paranoia.
It is aimed at readers who appreciate atmospheric horror and fantasy.
Caitlin Starling is known for her engaging and complex prose.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

High content warnings for graphic depictions of horror, body horror, starvation, cannibalism, and themes of madness and mental deterioration.

Has Romance?

There is a medium level of romance, primarily featuring sapphic relationships that are integral to character dynamics and themes.

From The Publisher:

"As brilliant as it is bizarre. From the very first page you know you are in the hands of an author at the height of their abilities. . . . This is the unhinged cannibal book of my dreams-and my nightmares." -Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing fever dream of medieval horror following three women in a besieged castle that descends ravenously into madness under the spell of mysterious, godlike visitors.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar's walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness-forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy-these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle's new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.

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