Seven Faceless Saints by M.K. Lobb Series: Seven Faceless Saints #1
Published by Little Brown (2.7.2023)
Genres: Romance, Young Adult
Format: Audiobook, 400 pages
Length: 11 hours, 11 minutes
Narrator: Barrie Kreinik, Saskia Maarleveld, Sean Patrick Hopkins
Source: Library
In the city of Ombrazia, saints and their disciples rule with terrifying and unjust power, playing favorites while the unfavored struggle to survive.
After her father’s murder at the hands of the Ombrazian military, Rossana Lacertosa is willing to do whatever it takes to dismantle the corrupt system—tapping into her powers as a disciple of Patience, joining the rebellion, and facing the boy who broke her heart. As the youngest captain in the history of Palazzo security, Damian Venturi is expected to be ruthless and strong, and to serve the saints with unquestioning devotion. But three years spent fighting in a never-ending war have left him with deeper scars than he wants to admit… and a fear of confronting the girl he left behind.
Now a murderer stalks Ombrazia’s citizens. As the body count climbs, the Palazzo is all too happy to look the other way—that is, until a disciple becomes the newest victim. With every lead turning into a dead end, Damian and Roz must team up to find the killer, even if it means digging up buried emotions. As they dive into the underbelly of Ombrazia, the pair will discover something more sinister—and far less holy. With darkness closing in and time running out, will they be able to save the city from an evil so powerful that it threatens to destroy everything in its path?
My thoughts
As I write this review, it’s been exactly 3 days since I finished this book, and I already barely remember a thing. I had to put actual effort into remembering what happened – probably because nothing happened in this entire freaking book. The plot was non-existent, the world building was mediocre, and the magic system was half-assed. Pair that with slow pacing, vapid characters, and a horrible romance (that unfortunately took over the entire story) and it’s no wonder I don’t remember a damned thing about it. Everything about this book was generic and dull. I really have nothing positive to say about this.
First, I want to say: This is not a high fantasy. It is a romance masquerading as a high fantasy. I feel like the author was going for a Nevernight-esque Kingdom of the Wicked vibe…sorry, but this ain’t it. The idea of the seven saints was cool, but the execution fell flat.
The romance just sucked and lacked any chemistry whatsoever. Which is unfortunate, because that’s basically the entire book. They were friends, then they were “enemies” for a stupid ass reason, then all of the sudden they were lovers. That pretty much sums it up – no development whatsoever. I had zero time to get invested in their relationship, and it didn’t help that neither of them had any personality to speak of. I gave exactly zero fucks about any of it. There was also one part that started to get all kissy and “sexy” (it wasn’t sexy) and it was so awful I had to hit the 15 sec skip button on the audiobook so many times that I probably skipped almost an entire chapter.
This book was an egregious waste of time. I wish I had DNFed this book, honestly. Why didn’t I? Well, it was boring and slow, but the prose isn’t terrible; so I kept hoping it would get better. By the time I realized it wasn’t improving, I was already 70% through and at that point I was just like ‘welp, may as well just finish it.’ And here we are. This book was boring and forgettable and I don’t recommend it to anyone.
Overall Assessment
Plot: 0/5
Premise: 4/5
Writing style: 3/5
Originality: 1/5
Characters: 1/5
World-building: 1/5
Pace: 1/5
Feels: 0/5
Narration: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 1/5
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