Book Review: Saint’s Blood

The Greatcoats are back–and this time it’s personal.

How do you kill a Saint? Falcio, Kest, and Brasti are about to find out, because someone has figured out a way to do it and they’ve started with a friend.

The Dukes were already looking for ways out of their agreement to put Aline on the throne, but with the Saints turning up dead, rumors are spreading that the Gods themselves oppose her ascension.

Now churches are looking to protect themselves by bringing back the military orders of religious soldiers, assassins, and (especially) Inquisitors – a move that could turn the country into a theocracy.

The only way Falcio can put a stop to it is by finding the murderer. He has only one a terrifying iron mask which makes the Saints vulnerable by driving them mad. But even if he can find the killer, he’ll still have to face him in battle.

And that may be a duel that no swordsman, no matter how skilled, can hope to win.

-Goodreads

Book Information

• Title: Saint’s Blood
• Series: The Greatcoats #3
• Author: Sebastien de Castell
• Page Count: 592
• Genre: Fantasy
• Rating: 5.0/5.0
• Date Read: June 1st, 2024

Opening Thoughts

I had the opportunity to continue the Greatcoats series by Sebastien de Castell with book three Saint’s Blood in May. I will of course give my usual breakdown below but long story short, this is becoming one of my favorite series of all time. This was my second five star rating in a row for this series. And that is still barely an uptick from the four and a half star I gave book one.

Pacing

The Pacing was fast paced with a good mix of ebb and flow. This wasn’t non-stop action by any means but I never felt like I was slogging through unnecessary information at any point in the story. I’m still continuing the series with the audio narration performed by Joe Jameson who is just nailing this story for me. As usual no issues with names of characters or places in Saint’s Blood. Sebastien does such a good job in making sure a lot of emotion is present within his stories. His style in this series is just clicking so well for me.

World Building

The World Building continues to be top notch. I find often realize I catch myself immersed deeply in this world and it’s story as I’m listening to Joe’s narration. This world continues to be one that is struggling not only to survive but to find it’s path to destiny. Since book one the characters are constantly doing what they can to protect the ones they care about as well as keep the heartbeat of their country alive. We still have plenty of factions whether it’s the different royal families or in this one a more prevalent inclusion of the church. We continue to learn more about the history of this world as the story goes on as well which is always a bonus.

Character Development

The Character Development is where this book and series continues to shine for me. None of these characters are perfect by any means. They all have their flaws. One thing that I love that this author does though is always at least allowing for a bit of hope no matter how bad things seem to be. One of my favorite parts in this story is when the surviving Greatcoats get some new names or designations near the end of the read. It just seemed like one of those moments where you get the feeling things are making a turn toward something new.

Roundup & Recommendation

If I had to pick a series to compare this to, I’d have to go with Michael J. Sullivan’s The Riyria Revelations which is another favorite series of mine. I only have one more full length novel left in this series, then I do plan on reading the fifth book which is a collection of Greatcoats tales then finally trying to get my hands on two prequel short stories if I can find them.

Overall, I’m still continuing to absolute love this series. I’ve gotten so immersed into the story, world and characters at this point. I actually picked up book 5 on sale from Audible just this morning. I figured I’d get to it sooner or later but I wasn’t sure when since it sounds like a collection of Greatcoat stories rather than the usual novel format. I figured I might as well grab it while it’s on sale. I also noticed a friend from a buddy read Discord server recently shared a book that is within the same world if not a continuation, so I’ll need to keep an eye out for that along with Sebastien’s other series he already has out there.

As with previous mentions for recommendations, if you like your fantasy stories to have plenty of emotion, action, adventure and swashbuckling fun, you must check out Greatcoats!

Scoring

World Building 5/5
Pacing 4.5/5
Character Development 5/5