“A black lead takes center stage in this Western, no longer relegated to the role of sidekick as implied by popular media in this genre. Ride along on this quest for retribution, through rolling plains, prairie and the dense thicket of a foreign jungle. The Black Saint is an action reel etched onto paper.”

The blind bounty hunter becomes a conduit for God’s wrath. Channeling the misfortune of his circumstances into punishment for the wicked demons who have unleashed themselves upon the world, stealing, killing, and destroying with impunity.

The reward is twofold; a heavier pocket for his troubles and a clearing of the conscience, knowing mankind has rid itself of one more evil.

One day, he vows to eliminate the devil who made him. He will sacrifice what he must, his own life included, to face Satan incarnate, to send him back to the fiery depths, and with him, the misery and depravity that brought torment to the unfortunate souls who ever crossed his path.

Spoiler-Free Plot

Desperate people do desperate things. Sophia isn’t above doing whatever she needs to do to survive, and to care for her sickly, dying mother until the bitter end. This purpose is what leads her to the hands of a most unsavory man, and through him, the dark vagabond who would ultimately be her salvation.

Her small world expands beyond its previous capacity. What she once knew to be true is challenged by the characters she meets along her journey—by the virtuous few, and the ghoulish masses.

If it were anyone else, they would certainly have succumbed to the darkness of despair had they been forced through the ceaseless torture of the little back boy’s childhood. Nevertheless, his spirit endures, driven by a longing kept secret, even to himself. Once his hunger for all the injustices committed against him is sated, if it ever reaches that point, what will he make of the life that comes after?

My Take on The Black Saint

We get a large helping of our favourite Western tropes in this book: gunslinging, vigilante justice, and my personal favourite that can only be described by the phrase: ‘person minds their business while being chased by at least two other separate parties, with at least one of them being well-intentioned or misunderstood, and the other less so’.

I enjoyed having a protagonist whose entire existence is shrouded in mystery, and is a walking contradiction of violent vengeance and staunch faith harboured in one body. That juxtaposition works well, especially by bringing a racial component into the fold of the bounty hunter’s characterisation, which adds another layer to his dimensionality.

As expected, there is a lot of movement undertaken by the protagonists—literally and figuratively—such is the nature of the genre.

Unfortunately, the non-stop motion can become confusing at times. You tend to lose track of the location and time period of the current chapter you’re reading, and the events of the past rush by in such a blur that they don’t get enough time to sink in, making the story feel shallower than it should considering the heavy themes it aims to explore. Some of its overall impact is lost in this way.

I can understand the author’s intention behind the direction they have chosen to give this book—the cinema of the mind experience is wholly present in the surges of focused and lyrical descriptions of people, places, and feelings. Pages upon pages of this book feel like director’s notes for an epic film, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

You can imagine the instructions given to editors about scene to scene transitions, instructions given to actors on their line delivery and expression, so on and so forth. I do wish there was more integration of a film-like presentation into the literary medium. Tightening up the structure, grammar, and punctuation will bring positive movement towards satisfying the readers’ expectations of this book after reading its very promising blurb, and prioritising certain aspects of the story, like the importance of delving deeper into one theme over another, or fleshing out the characters’ backgrounds more, will get it where it needs to be.

A unique story such as this one deserves to reach its full potential. I would be interested to see what the author conjures up next.

Age Rating

16 years and above

Content Warning

Corruption, Death, Gore, Foul Language, Racism, Religious Themes, Sexual Themes, Violence.

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