#holiest

by Sancta Seraphina

I took way too long to read this (and a tad too long to review it, but I wanted to find the right words) because I wanted to savour it slowly and properly appreciate the story, instead of reading it in a couple of days as I tend to to with books that keep me hooked. I wanted to fully enjoy the story, without risking to miss some passage or detail.

I’ve been following the author on Tumblr since a few years ago, from my initial “stint” in the “writeblr/aspiring author” side of Tumblr… even if in the last years I’ve been mainly lurking around before my recent return as “bookblr”.

Anyway, this was a book I really wished I could read and - of course - as soon as I discovered that in the meanwhile Sancta Seraphina was able to publish it, I had to get my hands on a copy!

The art is gorgeous, the worldbuilding for the story is detailed and you can see how much care and how much work the author has put behind it.

Other than beautiful illustrations (all done by the author herself!), I love the glossaries, the floor plans of the Pandemonium, and all the appendices: you can see from there how much the author cares about her world, her story, and how much she’d love others to appreciate and understand it fully.

Some might say it’s a slow-paced story, but I found that the pacing was exactly right for following the unfolding of this biblical horror.

The story is very atmospheric, and I’d risk saying that - in my opinion - this gives this story that “epic vibe” you’d expect when reading a classic like Milton’s Paradise Lost or Dante’s Divine Comedy.

All the characters are fully fleshed-out: even side characters appearing only a handful of times feel *alive* and not existing only in the function of the scene they are in. This makes the world/universe of the story even more realistic or “lived in”, more complete.

Holiest is currently my favourite read… but probably it’ll be my favourite even in the future. I don’t think it’ll be easy to find another book or story that will make me think I found my perfect match.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5!!!

Church of the Holiest Saviour in Warsaw, Poland

"Deep in the heart of Hell, the Fallen Host is living with as much peace as their Father allows them to have, until one day when a treacherous cherub is cast down into their realm like the star Wormwood from Revelation. Yet all of the other portents from Revelation seem to be missing, with the exception of a mysterious manuscript that begins haunting the Devil's dreams and eventually his waking world as well."

First, thank you very much to the author @sancta-seraphina for the arc of this book. I read, and then reread, this and now you can too!

I think the first thing that strikes me about this book, is how much love has gone into it. Its by no means a light read, but that doesnt take away the clear feeling of passion the author has for this story and its characters. Hats off for the handling of the introduction, it covers a lot of information but does so without being long winded or hard to follow. Cant express how refreshing that is. I didnt feel left to stumble my way through the setting or its terms.

If you're someone who reads about angels and heaven for dramatic fights and actions scenes, that's not the focus here. Its more character centered, in my opinion, with most fights being off the page, or references to events before the book. That's not to say there's no violence, Lucifer really goes through it, but those scenes are more impactful because of both the mentioned character focus, and the considered way physical conflict is employed.

There's also an excellent use of humour, day to day details, threaded through the more serious overarching plot.

Speaking of characters, huge fan of this representation of Lilith, of her qualities as a mother, I wish more authors would use that side of her, and if the story allows I'd love to see more. I went from wanting to assist Beelzebub with bringing Abdiel down a peg, to feeling for his situation- there's a lot of that here, no characters situation, be they angel, demon, or fallen host is one dimensional. Layers are peeled back as the book goes on, evolving the readers relationship with the characters. I like the messy family, the antagonist I didnt predict immediately, and the potential for all of it to be expanded upon in future books.

The rest of this got very long, so I'm putting it under a spoiler, but it can be read without concern of actual spoilers.

Holiest brainrot is so real

YES YOU

DO YOU LIKE ANGELS? DO YOU LIKE GAY ANGELS?? DO YOU LIKE SAD GAY ANGELS???

✦ Then this book is for you!! ✦

HOLIEST is a book by @sancta-seraphina! It is the first in The Divine Tragedy series.

The full blurb is as follows:

"Deep in the heart of Hell, the Fallen Host is living with as much peace as their Father allows them to have, until one day when a treacherous cherub is cast down into their realm like the star Wormwood from Revelation. Yet all of the other portents from Revelation seem to be missing, with the exception of a mysterious manuscript that begins haunting the Devil's dreams and eventually his waking world as well."

Also, here's the cover reveal!

I have the honor of being part of the ARC readers and I must say it's absolutely worth it!! Please check it out and consider preordering or waiting to get your copy on august 13th! Sancta is such an amazing artist and writer and her work is so underrated that it hurts.

fanart yapping under read more