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Cover of The Starving Saints

The Starving Saints

A Novel

by Caitlin Starling

Ranked #26 in 100 Most Popular BookTok and Bookstagram Books

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About The Starving Saints

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. In this isolated setting, 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 survival horror 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.

Reader guide at a glance

Use these edition facts and spoiler-light notes to decide whether this book fits your mood, time, and preferred reading experience.

Audience
Adult/general
Commitment
Standalone or self-contained
Estimated reading time
9.0 hours at about 40 pages per hour
Length
Standard-length read
Best for
Readers seeking revenge, survival, adventurous, atmospheric

Why readers are finding The Starving Saints

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling, published in 2025, is a 365-page book for readers who prefer to browse by the experience of a story, not only by its sales category. Its strongest discovery signals include Revenge, Survival, Adventurous, Atmospheric.

This edition also appears at number 26 in our researched social reading top 100, reflecting current discussion across BookTok alongside longer-running reader interest. The ranking uses one verified English-language print ISBN per work so retailer links, cover metadata, and search results point to a real edition rather than a workbook, translation, or duplicate collector version.

Print ISBN
978-0-063-41883-7
Published
2025
Pages
365

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