I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Extasia by Claire Legrand Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 2/22/22
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 492
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Her name is unimportant.
All you must know is that today she will become one of the four saints of Haven. The elders will mark her and place the red hood on her head. With her sisters, she will stand against the evil power that lives beneath the black mountain—an evil which has already killed nine of her village’s men.
She will tell no one of the white-eyed beasts that follow her. Or the faceless gray women tall as houses. Or the girls she saw kissing in the elm grove.
Today she will be a saint of Haven. She will rid her family of her mother’s shame at last and save her people from destruction. She is not afraid. Are you?
Short and Sweet Review
In the village of Haven men are dying and our main character knows that when she becomes one of the four saints that she can stop the evil that has invaded Haven. She has seen beast and faceless women but she will tell no one because she will be the one to save her people.
This book was something. Something interesting, strange, different. Some of these things were good and others just had me wondering what was going on. The book starts off with our main character who won’t go by her name because it’s the name her mother went by and her mother brought shame upon their family. Anyway once she becomes a saint she goes by the name Amity. Unfortunately for Amity and the Village men are still being killed and the village thinks it’s because they made Amity a saint after everything her mother did. The other Saints, Mercy and Temperance invite Amity with them to a place called Avazel where Amity meets a coven of witches who use a power called Extasia. Their leader Malice admits that her and the coven have been killing the men in Haven basically to meet the devil. Amity decides that she’s going to find relics and meet the devil first to stop the evil taking place in Haven.
Extasia was nothing that I was expecting at all. There were a lot of religious tones. The men in the village had elders they looked to God and it was such an old way of thinking but they would find it acceptable to beat on the saints. The saints and other girls in the village dealt with a lot of abuse they shouldn’t have, but they followed the way of thinking. Amity who in the end becomes rage (lots of name changes) uses Extasia and has to keep it a secret because she knows what will happen if she’s found out and she still has a mission to complete. I liked watching Amity try to find the relics and slowly go from obedient to realizing that things in Haven aren’t as great as she once thought. Amity definitely had a lot of character development from the beginning to the end, she was stronger and much more sure of herself and willing to see change. I did like the sisterhood between the saints and how they realized that they were the ones who could save Haven. The romance we see a sliver of it so I’m not sure why it was made to be one of the big selling points for this book. I would say there’s maybe 3 to 5 scenes with the love interest and just one big one. The ending reminded me of books like Divergent or the Maze Runner and basically felt out of place.
There were things I liked about this book and other things that just confused me or made me want to put this book down. Overall it was different and not what I was expecting.
