From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.
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.
“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. Truly one of the most inventive, audacious, immersive novels I’ve ever read. Grips you like the cold sweat of a fever and doesn’t let you go until the final moment of dizzying, gut-shot revelation. 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“Holy crap on a stick, this book is messed up in the best way. The Starving Saints broke my brain. It’s cannibalism like you’ve never seen it before!”— T. Kingfisher, bestselling author of Nettle & Bone“The Starving Saints is a rich, strange, deeply medieval novel that left me astonished and delighted. Starling expertly dismantles our expectations in this perfectly rendered puzzle box of a world. I would follow these women anywhere, which would probably not end well for me.”— Kate Heartfield, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Embroidered Book “This fantastical story is transfixing on its own, but it also serves to underscore that humanity’s obsession with power may be the biggest horror of all. . . . A brilliantly constructed and thoroughly unnerving fever dream that Starling’s fans will gulp down.” — Library Journal (starred review)"This medieval fever dream is seasoned with sapphic romance but thoroughly marinated in cannibalistic body horror. . . . Starling cleverly balances the carnage-filled surrealism with three women who show their love in ways both passionate and deep." — Booklist (starred review)"A masterful medievalesque fantasy . . . . Starling expertly balances the plot’s contrasting aims, offering gruesome horror and sweeping fantasy worldbuilding in equal measure. The dextrously delineated human hierarchy in the castle and the creepy saints’ bee-based faith system undergird the increasingly shocking events of the plot. The pace is fast, the twists are unexpected, and the complex queer characters—each of whom narrate in wonderfully distinct voices—are easy to root for. This is a feast." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Starling is one of the new leading voices in horror,” — Locus“A delicious Gothic romance.... It has to walk the line between romance and horror and not flinch away from either. The Death of Jane Lawrence is up to this task…. By the time the book reached that point of no return, I was so invested that I would have followed Jane into the very depths of hell.” — NPR
Caitlin Starling is a writer and spreadsheet-wrangler who lives near Portland, Oregon. Equipped with an anthropology degree and an unhealthy interest in the dark and macabre, she writes horror-tinged speculative fiction of all flavors. The Luminous Dead is her first novel.
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