Gifted magic through her godly patron, the goddess of death, Nadya can talk to the whole parthenon of Kalyazian gods. She is the last cleric alive, she must use her magic to bring an end to this century long war and bring the gods back to the heretics.

A boy with his on monsterous secret. Malachiasz, a boy that should be her enemy, might just be the ally that she needs to help her stop this war.

Serefin, a greater blood mage than his father, has been on the front line since he was sent away to war at 16. But now he might face more danger in his own country than the enemies, someone in Tranavia wants him dead and it isn’t the Kalayzia. This time.

Their paths cross and intertwine in this brutal and blood soaked century long war. Each with their own agenda that might lead them towards the same goal.

If you enjoy dark fantasy with gritty characters who aren’t particularly good, and some might just be done right evil, then you are going to love this book. Many of them have their moments of kindness, that you definitely begin to question just how genuine they actually are.

I loved this book so, so much. The ending left me with so many questions, thoughts and feelings about it. This book had a delightfully dark and gothic feeling that I simply loved. I love books that are dark, filled with monsters, blood mages, gods and war. I also loved that it was somewhat based on Russia (Kalayzia) and Poland (Tranavia).

(*small spoiler*) Plus a romance between the holy Nadya and monsterous Malachiasz. The romance between them felt organic. And I really liked reading Nadya’s conflict thoughts about him. As it is literal heresy for her to ally herself with him, to have feelings for him, and to ignore her goddess when she demands that she kill him. (*end of spoiler*)

Nadya has a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts in regards to Malachiasz. And as the plot progresses she even begins to question the gods, in a way. Which is something I found really interesting to read about a character whose live has revolved around, and is so ingrained in her life, her religion and her gods, with them literally being in her head her whole life. To have her begin to question herself, that way of life and the gods I thought was a very interesting part of her character arch in this book. As she has lived her live in a monastary, she doesn’t know much else other than her religious upbringing. So when she comes into contact for the first time with people that don’t share the same beliefs as her, but she becomes close to, then it is unavoidable for their to be some questioning about her beliefs. Especially as Malachaisz often questions her gods, and perhaps to trying to sway her so that she’ll understand why Tranavia abandoned the gods. Through seeing aspects and experiencing others magic and beliefs, when she meets Malachiasz she really begins to doubt everything she knows. It really heightened the conflict that she was having within herself, and it felt very believable as she went back and forth between her decisions and what she thought of being right and wrong. Between what she thought she knew and what she learnt.

Serefin was one of my favourite characters from the start. Mainly because we are first introduced to him in Nadya’s chapter with him on the battlefield and using his deadly magic to reek havoc. Then in his first chapter, chapter 3, he decides to get drunk on monastery wine. I felt that he was a very oddly charming character that had a lot battle scars, both physically and mentally, that he is shown as trying to cope with through out the story. While also trying to not be killed before he can confirm his suspicions or find out the true culprit, all while having to play that part of High Prince at court. That is almost as deadly, if not more so, as the front line.

I also love Serefin because he is constantly struggling to see, which I can relate too (I can’t see anything too far away without my glasses or it just looks like a blurry mess). Plus he’s a bisexual, soft and charming mess that is half of the time a bit of a drunk disaster.

In history, religious wars can be very messy things and I felt that this book portrayed just how much of a mess they can become. Not just religious wars, but wars in general. When a war has been waging for a century it’s going to take it’s tole on the people. It becomes a way of life, both countries’ citizens are taught how to fight from a young age. We see this more so for the Kalayzians as the war is on their side of the disputed boarder, if they see a Tranavian they’re going to try to kill them even if they aren’t a part of the army. For example, the monastery that Nadya grew up in has everyone trained to kill. They might be devote but that won’t stop them from killing and fighting if they need to.

Whereas in Tranavia it’s only those in the army and nobles that are trained to use their blood magic to fight and kill with. (That is shown in the book.) Everyday citizens also use blood magic, but for more menial tasks. The war has not made it’s way over to their side of the boarder, possibly because of the many lakes, swamps and marshes that litter the country.

I felt that the world building in this book made the countries and the conflict feel very real. As well as the two having very different magic systems and beliefs. I liked that at the start of each chapter was a passage from the Codex of the Divine and Vasiliev’s Book of Saints which I felt really solidified the religions and world. Plus I loved that those passages also gave hints to some of the characters magic and what they might become or be capable of through examples of saints or religious text in the Wicked Saints and possibly in the rest of the series.

There were some things that I wasn’t 100% happy with. There was a pretty large lull in the pace of the story where it was very much moving the characters from place to another, getting them into position for the climatic ending. Which I didn’t mind but there were times that I was a little bored. I think that if there had been more interaction between different characters, there was a lot between Nadya and Malachiasz that got a bit repetitive after a while. I would have loved to seen more of Rashid and Parijahan, hopefully their will be more in the next books in the series. Also, I would have loved to have had more scenes between Oystia, Kacper and Serefin. Serefin clearly trusts them and is friends with them so I would like to see more of that dynamic.

Even though I really like the POV chapters being from Nadya and Serefin I wouldn’t have minded some from some of the other characters. Like at the end with the epilogue, that was written from a different perspective. Even if it was the odd chapter. But that might just be personal preference and from all the questions that I currently have after reading this book.

Honestly, I probably could just keep going and going about all the things that I loved about this book. But then I’ll only end up rambling. I thought this was a great debut novel and that as a start of a trilogy it has a lot of potential to be a really interesting and hopefully exciting and enjoyable series. I already love all of the characters so far, and I can’t wait to see how the story continues in the next book and see where the story takes them.