Saint Death’s Daughter, by C.S.E. Cooney, follows Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones, a girl born into a long family with a long history of violence and magic. Although a gifted necromancer, Lanie has an allergy to violence, even getting “echo wounds” when around somebody who’s injured. After her parents and aunt die, her older sister, Nita, comes back from school to take on the family debts. What follows is a long series of events that are frankly impossible to summarize without immense amounts of background information.

The first thing to note about this book is its length. It’s almost 700 pages in print. I think it probably should have been split into a duology; there are plenty of points in the middle that could have been breaking points, and I think it would have helped to add more structure to the overall narrative. Additionally, due to the author’s writing style, a very large portion of that is dedicated to worldbuilding and asides. I really enjoyed that, but if you’re somebody who just wants pure action for the entire book, this is definitely not the story for you.

Cooney’s writing style in this book is definitely an acquired taste. Her writing is dense, but it’s so worth making your way through it rather than just skimming. Her voice is humorous and tongue-in-cheek while still being beautifully eloquent. She has clearly put a lot of thought into creating this world for her story. The worldbuilding and magic system are rich and fantastical and believable in their complexity. Cooney skillfully crafts not only one kingdom, but puts an equivalent amount of thought into the surrounding cultures, whose differences and similarities to Lanie’s kingdom play key roles in the story, but also help to make the world feel that much more alive.

Independent of all of that, the characters are all so wonderful. Lanie is so lovable and is just trying her best; I could not have made it through this book with any less of a protagonist. Her sister is wonderfully cruel and horrible; you love to hate her. Mak (Lanie’s brother-in-law, for lack of a better term) and his daughter, Datu, are both such alive characters as well. Truly, every character inhabiting this vast world is multidimensional and complex.

My only complaint about this book is that it dragged on a lot, and I do think it would have been served well by being broken down into two books. There’s some parts that I definitely think are superfluous as well, but I think I’d prefer to see the story restructured a bit to break it in two than to see a significant portion of the book cut.

If what I’ve said about the book appeals to you, then you should definitely pick it up. This book is not for everybody; if an excess of worldbuilding or dense prose is something you dislike, then you’re going to hate reading this book. If you’re on the fence, give it a few chapters. I loved the book enough that I’ll likely buy it in order to reread it, because I definitely don’t think I got everything I could have out of it the first time through. I’m giving Saint Death’s Daughter 5/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.