Weird, gay, and surprisingly accurate historical fiction. The concept of relics & people stealing, displaying, and trading the bodies of saints is generally a fascinating one. It’s inherently gruesome, a fact definitely alluded to in this book. But Nicked takes such a lighthearted approach, telling the story of a heist of a saint’s body through non-stop bumbling action and misfortune, with elements of whimsy right alongside murder. The somewhat naive monk who cannot tell a lie is a perfect foil to the hardened pirate. 

I did find it a little hard to feel too emotionally invested at times; the story is written with a sense of detachment which doesn’t lend itself to feeling like you are experiencing the events in the moment. Instead, it feels more like someone telling you a story of something that happened years ago. It’s hard to know who to even recommend this to—people who know a lot about Christian history and have a very irreverent sense of humor? Fans of gay pirate historicals? It’s sort of Our Flag Meets Death x 10th century monks. hints of Running Close to the Wind but with a totally different tone.