#7 Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey
This review has unavoidable spoilers for the end of Santa Olivia. There are no real spoilers for Saints Astray
After escaping the military outpost Santa Olivia, Loup and Pilar, now fugitives, run away to Mexico to spend time with Loup’s cousins. After a brief vacation, the two are hired by Global Securities, a wealthy company willing to pay a lot of money to hire the world’s only GMO body guard. Once they are trained the two are sent off to the world where they will meet and protect the rich and famous. But what’s to be the fate of Santa Olivia?
As someone who considers Jacqueline Carey to be one of my favorite authors, I was really looking forward to reading Saints Astray, the follow up to Santa Olivia. Although at first it seemed fun, if a little shallow, it soon became apparent that Saints Astray was going to be a very different book than Santa Olivia. Saints Astray feels like what would happen if someone took a decent novella and stretched it out unnaturally to become a full length book by stuffing in numerous filler scenes. It didn’t take long before I was groaning aloud when I reached yet another scenes of Loup and Pilar reminiscing about Santa Olivia, or another bizarrely sexless sex scene between the main couple, or another scene of Loup doing something impressive and people reacting in shock, etc. It just gets really repetitive after a while.
Another issue I had with Saints Astray was the plot, which falls painfully short of the dramatic and exciting dystopia told in Santa Olivia. I have nothing against lighthearted books, but Saints Astray was way to fluffy for me. After reading chapter after chapter of Loup and Pilar working as “secret agent body guards,” I couldn't help but feel that not all that much was really actually happening. To illustrate my point, there was a point in which I accidentally left my audiobook on and about an hour passed by without me realizing it. Since I don’t have the ability to scroll back within a single long track without going all of the way to the beginning, I decided to keep on listening to it. I found that I hadn’t missed that much at all.
What I found the most painful was the fact that Saints Astray was seriously lacking in what I look for while reading any Jacqueline Carey book. The worldbuilding was unremarkable, trading the unique setting of Santa Olivia for a rather underdeveloped version the future. The characterization often felt two dimensional and dull. The romance was just two sickly sweet for my taste, and the writing just wasn’t up to par. Admittedly, the book had a few bright shining moments, when the romantic aspects and generic plot lines were pushed aside, such as the trail near the end of the book, but these were few and far between. Perhaps I am judging this book too harshly. Perhaps if it had been written by an author other that Jacqueline Carey who again, is one of my favorite writers, I would have been able to relax and enjoyed it a little more. But all I can be is honest and say that Saints Astray was a disappointing read that I cannot recommend to others at all.
Rating: two stars
Length: 352 pages
Source: audible
Other books I've read by this author: Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, Kusheil's Avatar, Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, Kushiel's Mercy, Naamah's Kiss, Naamah's Curse, Naamah’s Blessing, Banewreaker,Santa Olivia
Next I will be reviewing Extras by Scott Westerfeld.
xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish, and goodreads
After escaping the military outpost Santa Olivia, Loup and Pilar, now fugitives, run away to Mexico to spend time with Loup’s cousins. After a brief vacation, the two are hired by Global Securities, a wealthy company willing to pay a lot of money to hire the world’s only GMO body guard. Once they are trained the two are sent off to the world where they will meet and protect the rich and famous. But what’s to be the fate of Santa Olivia?
As someone who considers Jacqueline Carey to be one of my favorite authors, I was really looking forward to reading Saints Astray, the follow up to Santa Olivia. Although at first it seemed fun, if a little shallow, it soon became apparent that Saints Astray was going to be a very different book than Santa Olivia. Saints Astray feels like what would happen if someone took a decent novella and stretched it out unnaturally to become a full length book by stuffing in numerous filler scenes. It didn’t take long before I was groaning aloud when I reached yet another scenes of Loup and Pilar reminiscing about Santa Olivia, or another bizarrely sexless sex scene between the main couple, or another scene of Loup doing something impressive and people reacting in shock, etc. It just gets really repetitive after a while.
Another issue I had with Saints Astray was the plot, which falls painfully short of the dramatic and exciting dystopia told in Santa Olivia. I have nothing against lighthearted books, but Saints Astray was way to fluffy for me. After reading chapter after chapter of Loup and Pilar working as “secret agent body guards,” I couldn't help but feel that not all that much was really actually happening. To illustrate my point, there was a point in which I accidentally left my audiobook on and about an hour passed by without me realizing it. Since I don’t have the ability to scroll back within a single long track without going all of the way to the beginning, I decided to keep on listening to it. I found that I hadn’t missed that much at all.
What I found the most painful was the fact that Saints Astray was seriously lacking in what I look for while reading any Jacqueline Carey book. The worldbuilding was unremarkable, trading the unique setting of Santa Olivia for a rather underdeveloped version the future. The characterization often felt two dimensional and dull. The romance was just two sickly sweet for my taste, and the writing just wasn’t up to par. Admittedly, the book had a few bright shining moments, when the romantic aspects and generic plot lines were pushed aside, such as the trail near the end of the book, but these were few and far between. Perhaps I am judging this book too harshly. Perhaps if it had been written by an author other that Jacqueline Carey who again, is one of my favorite writers, I would have been able to relax and enjoyed it a little more. But all I can be is honest and say that Saints Astray was a disappointing read that I cannot recommend to others at all.
Rating: two stars
Length: 352 pages
Source: audible
Other books I've read by this author: Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, Kusheil's Avatar, Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, Kushiel's Mercy, Naamah's Kiss, Naamah's Curse, Naamah’s Blessing, Banewreaker,Santa Olivia
Next I will be reviewing Extras by Scott Westerfeld.
xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish, and goodreads