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Buddy reading is something that I’ve really come to enjoy throughout the last year. So when Michelle from Because Reading asked if I wanted to do a buddy read of Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan, I jumped on the chance. Wicked Saints has been on my TBR for some time. I was glad to finally be reading it and the buddy read made it a bonus.

I really enjoyed the world that Duncan created in Wicked Saints. It was familiar in that there are two countries who despise each other because of different viewpoints. It was also so completely different but not uncomfortable. I thought the differences in religion/magic were well thought out.

Personally, I would align with Nadya and her people’s beliefs. The opening of Wicked Saints was pretty intense and it drew me in right away. After the initial events the pacing did seem to be more start and stop than I would’ve liked but the story never dragged. I did not see that ending coming and that’s about all I can say about that!

Nadya made for a pretty sympathetic character. She just wanted something exciting in her life…until she got it. I think we can all look at that and wince in sympathy. (Anyone else tired of living through “once in a lifetime events”??) One thing reading has taught me is to be specific in what you wish for.

Malachicasz was definitely an interesting character. I honestly didn’t like him as much as I would have liked to. I couldn’t quite understand what Nadya made of him. Serefin was definitely not one of my favorite characters. He won me over by the end of the book though.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the secondary characters in Wicked Saints. Listening to parts of the audiobook really helped out with some of the pronunciations. This book wasn’t a full 5 stars for me but I’ll definitely be continuing with the series.