Saint Death's Daughter: 2023 World Fantasy Award Winner! - Saint Death Series (Hardback)
C. S. E. Cooney (author)Published: 12/04/2022
WINNER OF THE 2023 WORLD FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
Nothing complicates life like Death.
Lanie Stones, the daughter of the Royal Assassin and Chief Executioner of Liriat, has never led a normal life. Born with a gift for necromancy and a literal allergy to violence, she was raised in isolation in the family’s crumbling mansion by her oldest friend, the ancient revenant Goody Graves.
When her parents are murdered, it falls on Lanie and her cheerfully psychotic sister Nita to settle their extensive debts or lose their ancestral home—and Goody with it. Appeals to Liriat's ruler to protect them fall on indifferent ears… until she, too, is murdered, throwing the nation's future into doubt.
Hunted by Liriat’s enemies, hounded by her family’s creditors and terrorised by the ghost of her great-grandfather, Lanie will need more than luck to get through the next few months—but when the goddess of Death is on your side, anything is possible.
Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Ltd.
ISBN: 9781786184702
Number of pages: 480
Dimensions: 235 x 158 x 34 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
“Wildly inventive.”—Buzzfeed - Buzzfeed
“Cooney’s prose is beautiful and intricate and glowing.”—The Colorado Sun - The Colorado Sun
“Every character arrives in a burst: fully-realized, always finding their mark, dripping with detail and a fire in their heart.”—Tor.com
“Saint Death’s Daughter exemplifies what fantasy can do in the best of ways.”—Strange Horizons
“Grisly, dark, lovely, funny, heartfelt.”—Kirkus, starred review
“I can usually predict story beats long before they happen but the author managed to surprise me with the depth and complexity of the characters, especially the antagonists.” -- The Southern Bookseller Review
“Strange and magical adventures in a colorful world where most people are gender fluid, the gods are strange and death is not an ending.” -- Thornwell Books
“This is the weirdest book I have read in a long time – and yet it’s weirdness is charming. Somewhat reminiscent of What We Do in the Shadows or The Addams Family.” -- Booknest
“The novel complicates and recomplicates, always to its benefit. There’s a puppy! And there is suspense, and twists, and a satisfying resolution that gives no one all they want.” -- Black Gate
“I don’t want to tell you much about this book. I want you to experience it the way I did; a cake whose every layer is more delicious than the last; a gemstone that always has another glittering facet when you turn it over in your hands; a gift that never stops giving. This is a book you should go into unprepared – and unarmed.” -- Every Book a Doorway
“The broad aesthetic here is ‘whimsical gothic’: early chapters have a real Ghormengast-y vibe, which Cooney balances with a story that builds increasing nuance. Saint Death’s Daughter has gone straight to the favourites list, and I can’t wait to see where the adventures of Lanie take her.” -- Nerds of a Feather
“A beautiful, stunning work of literature, more art than words, and something that I recommend everyone reads.” -- Just Geeking By
“Lanie’s journey from a young woman to adulthood is compelling; the rise of her necromantic power and how she learns to wield it is enthralling. The world the author has built around Lanie is intricate and beautifully realised. It is a story that rewards the time invested in it.” -- British Fantasy Society
“I’ve never met a book that is so completely sure of itself. Cooney could have gone off on any tangent and I would have completely believed it. I loved Saint Death’s Daughter for its complexities and characters and chaos and I think this will remain one of my top reads of the year.” -- FanFiAddict
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“Whimsical and darkly funny”
Saint Death’s Daughter is one of those books that piqued my interest from the moment I heard about it. The story revolves around (soon to come into her necromantic powers) Miscellaneous, or Lanie, Stones.
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“Wonderfully Rich”
What a wonderfully complex and entertaining read. I thought this was going to a be a quick YA story of a young necromancer navigating her powers but it completely blew my expectations away.
Firstly I wouldn’t...
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“Thoroughly enjoyable”
This is a sprawling, turbulent, gruesome, fascinating and very entertaining story that starts in a manor with the Stoneses family that is rather dysfunctional to put it mildly.
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