The Starving Saints
A Novel
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- ¥2,400
発行者による作品情報
USA Today Bestseller!
“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. . . . 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
“Enthralling, weird, and brilliant. A medieval pseudo-historical horror tale that explores what happens when our prayers are answered but we’re not sure what has answered them, or what it will demand of us in return. There’s no other story like this, and I mean that in the best possible way.” —Christopher Buehlman, bestselling author of Between Two Fires
From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing fever dream of medieval horror following three women in a besieged castle that descends ravenously into madness under the spell of mysterious, godlike visitors.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of sapphic romance and gory cannibalistic horror will find unexpected common ground in this masterful medievalesque fantasy from Starling (Last to Leave the Room). Aymar Castle is under siege, leaving the people trapped inside mad with hunger and desperate for any source of salvation. Loyal knight Ser Voyne attempts to maintain order while the king's alchemist Phosyne urgently searches for a way to create food and serving girl Treila tries to keep her head down while secretly simmering with rage at Ser Voyne. When the castle is unexpectedly visited by the Constant Lady and her attending saints, the feast they bring appears to be exactly the miracle the starving people prayed for. But the truth is much darker, and Ser Voyne and Phosyne soon find themselves fighting to prevent a bloodthirsty bacchanalia that would consume them all, while Treila contemplates fleeing. 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.
