Saint Death's Daughter (Saint Death Series Book 1)

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.

Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A delicious stew of science fiction, horror, and fantasy, marked by unforgettable characters who plumb the depths of pathos and triumph.”

Delia Sherman, author of Young Woman in a Garden: Stories -- Delia Sherman

"These stories are a pure joy.”

Howard Andrew Jones, author of the Ring-Sworn Trilogy

“C.S.E. Cooney has always been a consummate wordsmith, but with Saint Death’s Daughter she proves she’s a master of long form fantasy as well. Cooney sets her budding young necromancer adrift in a dazzlingly dark, weird, engaging and strangely warm world alive with memorable characters, hidden secrets and sinister intrigues. Everything, from tiny elements of characterization to overall pacing to information about the setting, is handled with a deft skill others should strive to emulate. This is a masterful work from a writer at the top of her game. I can hardly wait to see what she conjures next!”

Publishers Weekly

"Newcomers will still find Cooney’s glittering narrative skills and vivid worldbuilding addictive, her diverse characters intriguing, and her message of justice and freedom stirring. This remarkable and richly detailed adventure is worth savoring." -- Publishers Weekly

Kathleen Jennings, author of Flyaway

“A giddy, glittering mosaic of incautious hope and over-generous loves.”

Locus Magazine

“Desdemona and the Deep is an eloquent, elegant novella about power, art, consequence and change. It’s also pleasantly queer and drunk on language, which appealed to me deeply. I recommend it.” – Liz Bourke, Locus -- Liz Bourke

Angela Slatter, award-winning author of All the Murmuring Bones

“CSE Cooney’s prose once again delivers on the promise of the wild magic and music. Saint Death's Daughter will leave you feeling she's actually summoned a new world, and you might just stumble upon it around the next corner. Glorious.”

Mike Brooks, author of The God-King Chronicles

“Saint Death’s Daughter is marvellous: it strikes an expert balance between light and dark, serious and ludicrous, and always keeps a wonderful, strong, queer energy about itself.”

Buzzfeed

“Wildly inventive.”

Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor

“I loved Saint Death’s Daughter to pieces. I loved the world-building and the characters and the way that every time I thought I knew what kind of book it was, it changed. There was an ebullience to this book, in its world-building (with footnotes!) and its prose and its characters, that I found both delightful and compelling. I enjoyed it tremendously and look forward to the next installment in the adventures of Miscellaneous Immiscible Stones.”

Locus Magazine

“ -- Amy Goldschlager, Locus -- Amy Goldschlager

Tiffany Trent, author of The Unnaturalists

“Just as magical as I knew it would be. The compassion Claire has for her characters, the ways in which she draws the reader deep into her world, are peerless and divine. I could go on about the wonder of her prose, but I’d rather readers just dive straight in and discover it for themselves.”

Lisa L. Hannett, author of Songs for Dark Seasons

“Sumptuous, bawdy and layered as a mille-feuille... this book is impossible not to devour.”

Liz Duffy Adams, author of Tremontaine and Whitehall

“Gorgeous, sexy, cruel and compassionate and funny. Such rich, delicious world-building and frankly lovable characters (even the baddies are compelling!). I relished every word.”

Kirkus, starred review

“Grisly, dark, lovely, funny, heartfelt.”

Tina Jens, award winning author of The Blues Ain’t Nothin’: Tales of the Lonesome Blues Pub

“Saint Death’s Daughter is filled with lavish world building, lyrical prose, and characters to die for. C S.E. Cooney is a faerie queen barely trying to pass in the mundane world. This book is as luminous and flamboyant as she is.”

Cassandra Khaw, author of The Salt Grows Heavy

“Saint Death’s Daughter is a triumph of a book, gorgeous beyond measure, fizzing with Cooney’s love for language, her inventiveness in prose; it is also unbearably tender in how it addresses the idea of death and legacy, the love we can gather into a life before we curl to sleep in Death’s arms.”

Tor.com

“Every character arrives in a burst: fully-realized, always finding their mark, dripping with detail and a fire in their heart.”

Booklist

"A rococo romp through strange and eerily familiar worlds."-- Erin Downey Howerton, Booklist -- Erin Downey Howerton

Caitlyn Paxson

“A mind-spinningly original bit of worldbuilding, and an emotional arc so moving that I cried like a baby.”

The Colorado Sun

“Cooney’s prose is beautiful and intricate and glowing.”

I have never read anything so utterly alive.”

“Saint Death’s Daughter is a tumultuous, swaggering, cackling story, a gorgeous citrus orchard with bones for roots. Miscellaneous Stones’ journey into adulthood and power, sorting knowledge from wisdom and vengeance from justice, has an ocean’s breadth and depth, its storms and sparkles and salt. Soaring with love and absolutely fizzing with tenderness and joy

Locus

“Memorable prose propelled by extraordinary ideas… Twisted genius!”

Rhianna Pratchett

“C.S.E. Cooney’s tale of a young necromancer allergic to violence is infused with brilliantly intricate world-building, dark humour, diverse characters and even a touch of whimsy. As Miscellaneous ‘Lanie’ Stones navigates her world of familial strife, both natural and supernatural, and her own burgeoning powers, you can’t help but learn to love death alongside her.”

Strange Horizons

“Saint Death’s Daughter exemplifies what fantasy can do in the best of ways.”

Robert V. S. Redick, author of Master Assassins

“Cooney’s prose, is a vast, note-perfect song. There’s no voice like it.”

About the Author

C. S. E. Cooney is the author of World Fantasy Award-winning Bone Swans: Stories. Her short novel The Twice-Drowned Saint is included in Mythic Delirium’s anthology The Sinister Quartet. Other work includes Tor.com novella Desdemona and the Deep, and a poetry collection: How to Flirt in Faerieland and Other Wild Rhymes, which features her Rhysling Award-winning “The Sea King’s Second Bride.” Her short fiction and poetry can be found in Jonathan Strahan’s anthology Dragons, Ellen Datlow’s Mad Hatters and March Hares: All-New Stories from the World of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and elsewhere.

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