Seven Faceless Saints

Gr 9 Up–Since her father’s brutal murder, Roz has dreamed of nothing but justice and revenge against the corrupt systems responsible for his death. In her old Italy–inspired city of Ombrazia, only the descendants of the seven saints carry the passed-down magic powers of the saints themselves; though Roz isn’t proud of her status as a disciple of Patience, she’ll use it to her advantage to serve her own purposes if she can. When a series of murders forces her to team up with her childhood-love-turned-enemy Damian, now a haunted young military captain who has returned from the frontlines of the ongoing war, the pair find themselves faced with an unfathomable evil, forced to confront their most deeply held beliefs about their destinies, the seven saints, and themselves. Though the chemistry between Roz and Damian falls a little flat, the genre-bending high fantasy murder mystery concept is intriguing, and the narrative raises some interesting questions about the nature of faith and unquestioning loyalty. The religious system underpinning the politics and social structure of Ombrazia is not deeply investigated, which may be a feature rather than a bug for readers interested in fantasy vibes minus the minutiae of deeply introspective worldbuilding and character development. Roz is bisexual.