PHANTASTIQA

Prepare your souls, fellow horror fans, for Caitlin Starling’s new novel The Starving Saints (Harper Voyager, May 20, 2025)—a blood-drenched medieval horror story of monsters and magic.

In this tale, a castle under siege becomes home to a new kind of nightmare when four deities suddenly appear amongst the starving masses. From the King and his liege lords to the peasants and farmers, the castle’s inhabitants are ready to rejoice when these saints produce a boundless feast out of thin air. But not everyone is convinced. Among the skeptics are a heretical nun, an honor-bound knight, and a serving girl with a secret who can all see there is something sinister to this divine intervention. As the indulgences increase, it’s up to the three women to unravel the mystery and save themselves from hell.

With The Starving Saints, Starling has composed such a unique piece of horror fiction it truly must be read to be believed. The plot writhes and twists in unpredictable directions that will keep readers leaning toward the page, even as Starling’s prose makes every scene a benediction to the poetry of horror. (“It’s eat or be eaten, she tells herself, and she cannot eat darkness. But it can eat her.”) This is a story, and a writer, that pulls no punches when it comes to describing pain, violence, and suffering, and genre fans will be pleased to know there is much of all three to be chronicled here. 

But it’s the characters that will capture the reader’s hearts in The Starving Saints. All three of Starling’s protagonists are compelling, dimensional people whose characterization still satisfies the genre’s need for archetypes. Phosyne’s erratic magic and Ser Voyne’s commitment to duty quickly expand beyond the expected, while Treila’s mysterious past provides much more motivation than one might expect. 

There will inevitably be comparisons to Christopher Buehlman’s Between Two Fires, and it’s undeniable the two novels strike complementary chords. However, what Starling is doing here is utterly unique and will quickly be cited as a standard in the sub genre. The Starving Saints is medieval horror transubstantiated into something fresh, fearless, and not to be missed. 

Seeking more medieval horror? Look no further than Howls from the Dark Ages.

About Post Author

Adrienne Clark

Adrienne is a writer and editor from Seattle. Her work has been published around the web (Nightmarish Conjurings, Addicted to Horror Movies, Woot!) and for institutions including the Museum of Pop Culture and the 5th Avenue Theater. She has more horror paperbacks than can be medically safe and loves nothing more than to share these interesting artifacts from the recent past.

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