The Lost Reliquary
Lyndsay Ely
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1668080313
Simon and Schuster / Saga Press, October 2025, 464 pages

Greetings, readers, and welcome back to another book review! This month we’re exploring a brand-new dark fantasy world filled with vengeful gods, powerful warrior-priests, and a protagonist who can’t wait to cut her own god’s throat—that’s right, it’s The Lost Reliquary by Lyndsay Ely!

The Lost Reliquary takes place in The Devoted Lands, a continent once home to many different gods, but after centuries of war is now ruled by the sole surviving deity: Tempestra-Innara, the Eternal Flame. Stolen from her home and raised in the church of the Eternal Flame, Lys is one of Tempestra-Innara’s Potentiates of the Dawn Cloister, both empowered and enchained by her god’s blood, and Lys wants nothing greater than to be the one to slay Tempestra-Innara for destroying her village and killing her family. However, after an assassination attempt from a shadowy group of heretics almost succeeds in killing her god, Lys is forced to partner up with another Potentiate, Nolan, as they are tasked with hunting down the reliquary containing a slain god’s blood—the only weapon capable of killing Tempestra-Innara.

From the start, The Lost Reliquary pulls no punches and delights in its dark fantasy setting. Lyndsay Ely makes it clear that when deities battle, normal people die, often in large numbers, and Lys is constantly on her toes trying to survive the various machinations in play. However, this isn’t just a book about action and bloody revenge (though it has plenty of that). This is also a book about the travails of faith, and the juxtaposition between hating something that you also love, which is beautifully exemplified in the dynamic relationship between Lys and Nolan as the story progresses. The constant evolution and growth of the two unlikely partners is fantastically plotted, and really made their actions and motivations easy to relate to.

Another thing I really liked about this particular story was how Ely deftly sets up certain tropes so that the reader expects a certain outcome, then pulls the rug out leading to some very unexpected twists and turns. There were several occasions that left me pleasantly surprised in how the story unfolded because it revealed some very clever character growth, and the finale felt suitably epic while not being predictable in the slightest (this is the first book in a series, so I’m excited to see where it goes from here).

I also have to give a shoutout to Lys’s vivacity as a character. She’s sharp-witted and quick-tongued, and multiple lines made me laugh out loud as I pictured her response to what was unfolding around her. However, she’s also not immune to the trouble she starts, and more than once makes her own life harder by saying something that might have been better off kept inside. Ely does a fantastic job bringing her to life and making her very likable while still keeping some rough edges, not to mention the massive internal conflict Lys is constantly dealing with that’s at the heart of the story (Lys does want to kill her god, after all, but if anyone finds out, then she’s the one who’s going to die).

Overall, I thought The Lost Reliquary was an excellent mixture of dark action fantasy, reluctant buddy cop detective story, and long simmering revenge that is perfect for wiling away a weekend with. If you like intriguing world-building, well-plotted storylines, and complex character growth, then you’ll probably want to pick this one up. I can’t wait to see what Ely does for the next book, and I know I’m not alone.