Book Review
Title: Seven Faceless Saints (Seven Faceless Saints Book 1) by M. K. Lobb
Genre: Dark, Fantasy, Young Adult
Rating: 3.75 Stars
When I requested to join the blog tour for this book I didn’t know anything about but the stunning cover really drew me in. After reading the synopsis it gave me vibes similar to Nevernight and Stalking Jack the Ripper and I couldn’t wait to get into it. The opening to Seven Faceless Saints was interesting as it seems to combine classic high fantasy with a murder mystery element. While the religion and political aspects don’t make much sense right now that will come later, right now what I know if that the world is divided into disciples and non-disciples. The disciples are those born with the gift of the saints and they are treated as more important than the regular people. Damian is a regular tasked with investigating the murder of a disciple but he has no idea how it happened. We also learn that the country is involved in its second war which Damian was a part of but he is suffering from PTSD. He also had a relationship with Roz but after she presented as a disciple and Damian was shipped off as a soldier they haven’t spoken at all.
Seven Faceless Saints was giving me Nevernight vibes and despite the issues I have with that series I really liked the comparison especially in how Lobb and Kristoff’s worlds are based on real world places and are completely vivid in their descriptions. The saints and disciples issue was also becoming clearer for me as I understand it the disciples are those born with a percentage of their ancestor’s power and their abilities are the backbone of the economy of Ombrazia so they are favoured while the non-gifted like Damian are used a fodder in the war against the heretics, those who following the fallen Seventh Saint, Chaos. Roz was a really interesting character to follow as she is a disciple but presented late and she isn’t happy with her role as she carries around a lot of anger. However, due to their past relationship and the current murder Damian is investigating the pair are thrown together all over again and I couldn’t wait to see how it played it.
Roz and Damian are attempting to work together in order to solve the murder of the disciple but their relationship is emotional whiplash to get through as they bounce back and forth between detachment and lust for each other similar to Ash and Mia’s relationship in Godsgrave. The way Lobb handled dialogue and tone is emotionally scenes was something that took getting used to as it isn’t a style I have experience with but when you finally settle into the switching between POV’s and emotions you see the contrasts between the characters and it really pushed the character development to another level for me as you get to know these characters on a very personally level and from the detached perspectives of other characters as well. Essentially you get to see how they view themselves and how other people see them and the crossover of these two ideas which was an amazing move from the author.
I was loving Roz as a character because she had the hardness and determination that I loved in Mia Covere but unlike with Mia we are meant to side with Roz although there are times where the author makes us question this decision because all these characters harbours regrets, anger and the desire for revenge although it presents in different way. Damian was a nice counter to Roz as he sees himself as a failure and many others do as well because of his lack of abilities and because he suffers PTSD from his time in the war. It was nice to see the strong female with the more emotionally fragile male character than the other way around but Damian was a little frustrating at times as you wanted him to stand up for himself or others and he repeatedly backed down so it was nice to see Roz step into this role as she holds more weight in this society anyway.
One issues I did have with the book was the religious commentary which I felt was a little over the top but I understand the direction Lobb is looking to take the series later on so I pushed through those moments. Obviously as this is the beginning of a series, the action mainly centres around the murder mystery element but I can see Lobb setting up a fall from faith arc for Damian and maybe a finding faith arc for Roz which would parallel and support each other perfectly. I did also want more from the saints and how their powers came to passed on and things like that were kind of glossed over in this book. Nevernight did the same thing in the first book but there was a lot more world development in the second book especially around the religious and political systems and I hope Lobb follows Kristoff example in that aspect of their writing. Overall, Seven Faceless Saints was a decent start to the series and I am looking forward to seeing what Lobb does with the series and how they make this series stand out from the multitude of other high fantasy books.
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