The Lives of Saints

A wonderful book. A quick read. It's a collection of short stories about the Saints in the Grishaverse world. These stories have different emotions and themes. Some are sad, some are scary, and some are funny. They are put together nicely and help you understand the world better. They explore topics like greed, fear, and the unfair treatment of women accused of being witches. You'll also find references to things from the main books, which is fun and might make you wonder if they'll show up again later. The illustrations are STUNNING. They bring the Saints and their tales to life and make the stories even better. It's like a treat for your eyes. The book is shorter than it seems because the font is larger, and the illustrations take up a good portion of the pages. Personally, I liked this about the book. If you're a fan of the Grishaverse, I highly recommend giving it a chance. It's a great addition to the collection.

Here are some of my favourite illustrations.

I know a little about the Shadow and Bones series. I read the first book around the time it came out but wasn't really interested in reading the rest of the series. Last year I read Six of Crows and of course I watched the show on Netflix. Basically, I came into this book knowing a little bit about the Grishaverse. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful that it is almost a shame that they are not painted on a large canvas. They defiantly mimic the Catholic Orthodox paintings of saint with some modern and fanatical elements. The stories go with each of the illustration very well. The main reason that I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because the saints that were actual charters in the stories are written somewhat different from all the other saints. The other saints get the story of how they became saint. Where as Alina's story for example is just someone praying to her and then at the end telling us briefly what she was saint of and what she did. I'm not quite sure when this book is supposed in this timeline. For example is Alina an newly added to the saints and that is way there is not much about her? I think it would have been more interesting to have it written like the rest of the saints with inaccuracies or just making her more “pure-of-heart” or “righteous” then it was in her book. The idea of how history portrays a person and how they really were is fascinating and I personally think it was something that could have been explored more.

I kept putting this off thinking it might be boring but it was really good.

Favourites:
1. Sankt Lukin The Logical - The talking head
2. Sankt Egmond - How the Ice Court was created

rating- 3/5[b:The Lives of Saints 54205369 The Lives of Saints (Grishaverse) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593535795l/54205369.SY75.jpg 84577530] is a collection of the short stories of miracles and martyrdoms of the saints in the grishaverse. The stories are pretty short and make for a fast read.While it makes a great addition to the grishaverse, most stories of the saints have the same recurring theme of: miracle is performed,-they are either branded as evil and killed by the people -or become a hero and die doing good deeds.due to this there were only few stories that stood out to me. Reading about the familiar saints like Lizabeta, Anastasia, Nikolai, Grigori, Juris or for that matter Alina and the Starless saint was really nice but i don't think any of the other stories will stay with me for too long.The illustrations are beautiful and although i read the ebook, I'd love to have a physical copy for the illustrations alone.I also listened to the audiobook for a few stories and BEN BARNES narrates it. (I feel like that's more than enough reason to listen to the audiobook immediately.)overall, i liked the lives of saints but it doesn't stand out to me like the beautiful and haunting writing in [b:The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic 34076952 The Language of Thorns Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (Grishaverse, #0.5, 2.5, 2.6) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491842507l/34076952.SX50.jpg 55087763] does. The stories are fast and don't add anything to your existing knowledge of the grishaverse. you could pick it up if you're in a reading slump or need short stories to read in between books.

I really wish that these were all stories of Saints' lives, not few random tales about their miracles, because we learned the actual ones from other books.

'There have been too many stories in between, miracles and martyrdoms, too much blood spilt, too much ink. There was a war. There were a thousand wars. I knew a killer. I knew a hero. They might have been the same man.''‘

Leigh Bardugo opens one more portal to the exciting universe of the Grishaverse. This is The Istorii Sankt'ya, the Lives of Saints, created by Alina Starkov, narrating the tales of saints. Stories of beauty and death, violence and injustice, mercy and divine providence. Stories of heroines and heroes, of the violent mob and cunning demons.

Sankta Margaretha, the patron saint of thieves and lost children, who saved her people from a demon with the help of her beautiful jewels.
Sankta Anastasia, the patron saint of the sick, who saved her people with the drops of her own blood.
Sankt Kho, the patron saint of good intentions, and Sankta Neyar, the protector of blacksmiths.
Sankt Juris, the patron saint of the battle-weary, who protected the faithful soldiers from cold and starvation, with amaranth as his symbol.
Sankta Vasilka, the patron saint of unwed women.
Sankt Nikolai, the patron saint of sailors and lost causes.
Sankt Maradi, the protector of impossible love.
Sankt Demyan, the patron saint of the newly dead.
Sankta Mariya, the patron saint of those who are far from home.
Sankt Emerens, the patron saint of brewers and protector of the harvest.
Sankt Vladimir, the patron saint of the drowned and of unlikely achievements.
Sankt Grigori, the protector of doctors and musicians.
Sankt Valentin, the patron saint of snake charmers and the lonely.

‘'You can choose faith or you can choose fear. But only one will bring you what you long for.''

Sankt Petyr, the patron saint of archers.
Sankta Yeryin, the protector of hospitality.
Sankt Feliks, the protector of horticulture.
Sankt Lukin, the patron saint of politicians.

‘'I will die in the woods, a free woman in the company of the trees. Better than the pyre.''

Sankta Magda, the patron saint of abandoned women, and bakers.
Sankt Egmond, the protector of architects.
Sankta Ursula, the patron saint of those lost at sea.
Sankt Mattheus, the patron saint of those who love and care for animals.

‘'The orphans came to this magnificent place covered in dirt and lice, and those from the border towns arrived with ghosts in tow - memories of raids in the night, homes set to the torch, mothers and fathers gone suddenly silent and cold.''
Sankt Dimitri, the patron saint of scholars.
Sankt Gerasim, the patron saint of artists.
Sankta Alina, the patron saint of orphans and those with undiscovered gifts.
...and the Starless One, the mysterious, shadowy saint of the ones who seek salvation in the darkness.

‘'I wander now, lost among the shelves. My hand cramps around the pen. I gather dust. But someone has to set down the words, put them in the proper order. I am the library and the librarian, hoarding lives, a catalog for the faithful. Erase my name. Indelible is a word for stories.''

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

I was pretty excited when I saw the announcement for this book and I would have loved to have it in my collection but unfortunately, I can't afford it right now so I had to settle for reading the ebook from my library.

After listening to a glimpse of the Shadow and Bone tv show's score yesterday, I was feeling a little nostalgic, so it was nice to be back in the Grishaverse. The stories of the Saints in this book are just little incidents of their miracles in life and while they were interesting to read, I don't think I would remember most of them. It was still a joy when familiar names of places or characters showed up. But as with many dark fairytales, most of these stories end in brutal ways for the Saints despite their benevolence because it's human nature to misunderstand people and their good actions while they are alive, but revere the same ones after they are dead. So, this did end up being sad and bittersweet on many occasions. However, the illustrations for each of the Saints are beautiful and I'm sure they'll look even lovelier in person. Hopefully I'll get to buy it someday soon.

Overall, this book is perfect for you if you are missing the Grishaverse and want to delve into it again, and have a little time to indulge. Here's hoping it'll satisfy me till we atleast get the trailer of the show.