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

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And when her relationship with Will unexpectedly shifts, neither knows the danger that will follow . . . Another big issue is with the characters. They’re generals, spymasters, enforcers – these are high-ranking government officials that are powerful, smart (apparently), and dangerous. So why did they act and sound like fifteen-year-olds? We’re told time and time again how “dark,” “edgy,” and “dangerous” Will is, but aside from growling or literally just doing something “darkly,” there was no real grit, danger, or strength to him. In fact, whenever he spoke, I just ended up rolling my eyes (how many times can one person growl or “grin darkly” in a paragraph? And if he says, “Aya, love” one more time…). And I really have nothing to say about Aya other than that she was not a compelling protagonist and was poorly written. So this book is about a young woman named Aya (she's twenty-one) who lives in . . . some other place. Fantasy world, who cares. In this world, long ago people had powers but used them to try to overcome the gods and were punished by having their powers and the powers of their descendants curtailed. Aya is one of those descendants. So is her VERY OBVIOUS love interest (books, please stop pretending the love interest isn't the love interest). She is on the queen's guard, and there is plotting? 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. The premise of this one was interesting, and I was hoping to see the author take it somewhere compelling. Unfortunately, everything about this read felt generic and bland. And this is classified as “Adult Fantasy,” but was more YA than many of the YA fantasies I’ve read.

Example: Aya is bonded to a wolf (and isn't the only person in her group to be bonded to an animal) and yet this is barely explored in the book. Another example is the Queen, who both Will and Aya serve, is clearly a fascinating and complicated part of this dynamic, but she gets very little face time in the book. Add this to the fact that none of the cities or places in the world really acquired enough depth to feel REAL. I loved the character development, the mystery of who’s on whose side, the magic, the romance, all of it 🤌 I’m going to need to own a copy of this one! I can’t wait for the next book to see what happens next! 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? But when Aya's power acts beyond her gods-given affinity, she risks being turned into a weapon in a war she doesn't know how to win. Will carries the book in the second half. He is mysterious, charming and flirty. Also, he calls her, "my love." I liked that. But one thing that confused me were his motives, I failed to understand the reasoning behind his actions in some scenes.

Now, about Will. I did not like him. He's the queen's enforcer and he seemed at least slightly more competent at his job than Aya was at hers. He had this "tortured hero" thing going on, but I mostly found him whiny and annoying. He kept saying how much he had done for Aya and how he was protecting her, but at the same time he refused to talk to her about what was actually going on. It was frustrating to read. Will, my dude, stop whining about Aya not trusting you if you don't tell her anything. I wish I could read it again for the first time. You will fall in love with not only the characters but the story itself, absolutely breathtaking' 5***** READER REVIEW The aforementioned sacred wolves and human-wolf bonding in Dramis’s iteration reflect the Fjerda customs deeming wolves to be protected as sacred beings, as well as the drüskella’s taking of animal familiars via those wolves.

i received a digital review copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. this did not affect my rating.

A sparkling masterpiece of fantasy! The world building was original and expertly done, the enemies to lovers is unmatched' 5***** READER REVIEW Another strange world building choice exists within her naming decisions. She manages to give her two male love interests the incredibly pedestrian names of Will and Adrian, and yet we’re to believe that these men live in a world where Tovas and Ayas roam the streets? It doesn’t work. Thanks to NetGalley & Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC of this book. The following review is my honest reflection on the text provided. As Spymaster to the Queen, Aya's blood oath ensures she protects those she fights alongside - including Will, the Queen's Enforcer and Aya's bitter rival. World building issues like this are rife within the text. If this were a first draft, I wouldn’t mind, but this is a published book. It’s extremely disappointing to see how little this was edited and it’s only to Dramis’s detriment as a writer that she wasn’t pushed further.

I. Am. FLOORED. I devoured this book SO fast because it was just that bingeable 🤌 Fantasy lovers everywhere, this book is for you. Aya is Celaena Sardothien before she became a good character. Both are bitter, bratty, gloomy and headstrong. Both have woe-is-me attitudes that chafe and, in Aya’s case, it never truly feels justified in the text. Her mom was killed and she set off the sequence of events that allowed that to take place. That is a kind of trauma. However, the amount of self-flagellation that she engages in is exhausting considering there has been nothing else to date indicating her life has been difficult. She easily rose through the ranks and became the spymaster to the queen at 21 (that’s a whole other level of literary suspension of disbelief that is entirely inaccessible to myself). At least Celaena had more she was grappling with. I liked the writing, it was very ToG. I liked the character dynamics, more so than the characters. As individuals they did not shine, but as a team they worked together nicely. Aya, Will and Aidon had a similar relationship dynamic to Celaena, Chaol and Dorian (in some instances). I liked the lightning scene the author wrote, which was an inspiration behind writing this book.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. I also wasn't convinced by the whole enemies to lovers thing because the characters are supposed to be allies; they work together and have to protect the kingdom together, and besides some little stuff that happened in their childhoods, they didn't really have a valid reason to hate each other. I saw them as rivals who didn't really like each other (at least from Aya's pov) but they are supposed to be be working together for years now so..... I also didn't really feel any chemistry between them besides Aya saying that Will had "a darkness that answered to her own" and Will calling her "Aya, Love." 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.

Will is killed in a final battle and then resurrected. See: ACOWAR, Rhysand, except that death fake-out actually guts every time due to the way the whole series culminates toward that moment between Feyre and the other high lords. This is where we always end up, isn’t it, Aya love,’ he breathed. ‘You with a knife to my throat.’ He kept still, his knife hanging by his side. ‘Kill me, or get out.’ His command was soft and vicious.” Highly reminiscent of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse, Kate Dramis creates a world with humans, wolves (the Athatis), and Visyas (humans with special abilities called an "Affinity").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. Will, the Queen's Second/interrogator of the kingdom of Tala who has the natural affinity of Sensainos/sensing I loved the magic system, especially because it's a bit dark and the characters struggle with that even though they are apparently on the side of the gods. I liked how a love triangle developed, and it didn't annoy me. So many main characters and side characters had different agendas. I loved this because I knew something was up with everyone, but I didn't figure everything out till the end.