I received an eARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the moment I heard about the premise of Seven Faceless Saints, I was highly anticipating getting to read this book. I was so intrigued by the mythology Lobb created and by her main characters, who were once lovers but are now on opposing sides at the opening of the novel. A murder mystery, commentary on religious fanaticism, and a romance arc that spans from friends to lovers to enemies and then back to lovers should have all been ingredients to a book I absolutely adored.
I tore through the first 15% of this book and absolutely adored it before having to put it down and pick it back up later to continue, so I don’t know if my issues are truly with this book, its writing style, and its pacing, or if I ended up in a right book, wrong time situation. I hit the 43% mark and found that I just really wasn’t connecting with this story or its characters and that while the beginning of the story had been promising, the plot had meandered away from the core premise.
As I continued, that disconnect only grew wider. By the time the major conflict becomes a priority in the story, there’s less than 20% left in the novel, which was really frustrating because the first half of what was left was super compelling and interesting, despite the reveal of the villain falling a bit flat for me. I honestly would’ve been fine with this book ending five chapters before it actually finished which is rare for me, even with books I don’t necessarily end up enjoying, I typically understand why the plot spans the timeframe the author has chosen. Overall, I spent somewhere between 30-40% of the novel fully engaged and loving the potential it held, but for me personally, it couldn’t make up for the disconnect I felt during the middle 60-70% unfortunately.
I really wish I had enjoyed this debut more since it was one of my most anticipated books for the year, but it just didn’t do it for me. I can see myself picking up another of her books somewhere down the line to see how her writing grows, but for me, this particular book didn’t reach its full potential that was shining through at times.