Review: All the Crooked Saints

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater (4/5)

I’m a fan of Stiefvater’s other works (the Raven Boys and Shiver), so I had cautiously high expectations going into this one. It admittedly has a very slow start, and despite the fact that I tend to enjoy her highly metaphorical writing style, it took me several chapters to get into it. There was a fair amount of telling us things, about the characters or exposition for the world, an issue I don’t remember from other books I’ve read by the author. There were also some “what on earth is going on” moments from me at first.

Once I got past the beginning and into the actual plot, I found I really enjoyed the premise and the lore established by the world. The Soria family has the ability to make the “darkness” that lives inside people tangible. They call this a “miracle,” but ultimately it’s more like the pilgrims that come to the Sorias end up cursed and then have to break that curse by understanding whatever their darkness means. This idea is what I loved the most about the book.

I never got very invested in the characters, even though I liked them on the surface level. They were interesting people with depth and personality, but I didn’t run gushing to anyone about Beatriz or Daniel or the romantic subplots. It might have been the omniscient POV that left me feeling a little disconnected from the characters? I’m not sure.

All the same, I enjoyed my read and recommend it to anyone who liked other books by Maggie Stiefvater. I wouldn’t recommend this as your first one by her.