Name: The Armored Saint
ISBN: 9780765395955

Myke Cole

"Cole weaves a fantasy world that feels comfortably familiar, then goes to places you’d never expect. You won’t stop turning pages until the stunning finish." —Peter V. Brett Myke Cole, star of CBS's Hunted and author of the Shadow Ops series, debuts the Sacred Throne epic fantasy trilogy with The Armored Saint, a story of religious tyrants, arcane war-machines, and underground resistance that will enthrall epic fantasy readers of all ages. In a world where any act of magic could open a portal to hell, the Order insures that no wizard will live to summon devils, and will kill as many innocent people as they must to prevent that greater horror. After witnessing a horrendous slaughter, the village girl Heloise opposes the Order, and risks bringing their wrath down on herself, her family, and her village.

The Armored Saint

Sunny

Heartbreaking and traumatising. I loved it 🤎

"Cole weaves a fantasy world that feels comfortably familiar, then goes to places you’d never expect. You won’t stop turning pages until the stunning finish." —Peter V. Brett Myke Cole, star of CBS's Hunted and author of the Shadow Ops series, debuts the Sacred Throne epic fantasy trilogy with The Armored Saint, a story of religious tyrants, arcane war-machines, and underground resistance that will enthrall epic fantasy readers of all ages. In a world where any act of magic could open a portal to hell, the Order insures that no wizard will live to summon devils, and will kill as many innocent people as they must to prevent that greater horror. After witnessing a horrendous slaughter, the village girl Heloise opposes the Order, and risks bringing their wrath down on herself, her family, and her village. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Janice Hopper

I'd pre-ordered this book because I like Myke Cole and want to support his foray into fantasy. I think he does fine with his other series, but with all the military stuff that goes on, I'm not really the target audience for them. (I almost never really enjoy military SF. That's just me.)

This is an engrossing little book, with a protagonist (Heloise) who is, by turns, inspiring and annoying. I've seen criticism of her for being impulsive and making bad decisions. It's true. She is, and she does. Her life and the lives of the people around her would have been better if she'd had a bit more self-control.

OTOH, when called on, she acts heroically and bravely. 

I found the whole story pretty engrossing. I often read in bed at night, and I found myself deliberately NOT reading this book in bed, because I knew I'd be up much longer than I really needed to be. 

I've already pre-ordered the sequel. I'm curious to know more about the world and the society Heloise was born into. She thought for a while that what she'd learned all her life was false, and was ready to proceed based on that idea. Then she found out she was wrong about that too.

Toni Turner

2.5
I’m really sad that this didn’t work for me. Exploration of sexuality in a fantasy!? A religious fantasy!? Sign me up! But this writing...I did not vibe with unfortunately.

celeste

Yeah, I'm DNFing this one @ 35%.
Honestly, I wasn't feeling this book at all. I couldn't care less for the characters nor for the plot. The "bad guys" were a copy of the Templars, and the main character made stupid decision after stupid decision, and I couldn't do it anymore. The only reason why I kept going until I decided to quit was because given some comments the MC made, it's obvious she is either bisexual or lesbian. In the end, I just couldn't keep reading it, it just wasn't for me.

Liz Griffin

** spoiler alert **
           WARNING: This book review is not spoiler-free.        Summary: In a patriarchal feudal society, the common folk abide by one overarching rule: "Suffer no wizard to live."       Heloise, the protagonist, is an impulsive sixteen-year-old girl who likes following her former-soldier-turned-factor (scribe) father, Samson, around the countryside and visiting her best friend, Basina, the Tinker's daughter, at the smithy. On the road, she and her father encounter the Order of Pilgrims, the knight-like enforcers of the Emperor, who are specifically responsible for blotting out wizardry wherever it springs up. They force the inhabitants of Heloise's village to participate in a ritual called a Knitting to wipe out a neighboring village supposedly tainted by wizardry. This event causes Heloise to question the rules by which she has lived her entire life. Is wizardry truly evil, or are those who practice wizardry a threat to the Order's unchallenged authority?       Several thoughts. The writing is beautiful but is never overbearing or distracting, which is very challenging in genre fiction, particularly high fantasy. Cole does not pull any punches with his visceral descriptions of battlefield victims, alive and dead alike, with just enough information to paint a vivid snapshot and force the reader to fill in the gaps. I haven't read any of his other works (military fantasy predominantly, I believe), but I might have to start dabbling into that genre after enjoying this book so much.       Furthermore, Cole respectfully portrays the struggles of a teenage girl, specifically the conflicted emotions she feels for her best friend -- love that straddles the platonic-romantic line, and jealousy as Basina prepares for her marriage and no longer seems to prize their friendship as paramount. As a young woman who has seen many, many friends get married and start families, I empathize with the sense of loneliness, even failure, that springs up inside when you're not interested in the "marriage & kids" cycle.       Here's the one major plot point that bothered me [Major Spoilers Ahead!!]. Clodio, the ranger who turns out to be a wizard, says a number of meaningful things to Heloise about love and magic and fear... but all those things are called into question when Clodio, after performing excessive magic, transforms into a portal to hell exactly as predicted by the Writ, the lore prescribed by the cruel Order. Are Clodio's earlier pronouncements supposed to still be considered valid? Was it the specific final acts of dark, violent magic that he performed that were too much for his soul/psyche? Maybe this will be explored in the later installments of Cole's series.       In conclusion, I'd give The Armored Saint 4.5/5 stars.

Nic Lake

shelby mosel

Scott Robertson

Nicholas Conner

Myke Cole, star of CBS's Hunted and author of the Shadow Ops series, debuts the Sacred Throne epic fantasy trilogy with The Armored Saint, a story of religious tyrants, arcane war-machines, and underground resistance that will enthrall epic fantasy readers of all ages. In a world where any act of magic could open a portal to hell, the Order insures that no wizard will live to summon devils, and will kill as many innocent people as they must to prevent that greater horror. After witnessing a horrendous slaughter, the village girl Heloise opposes the Order, and risks bringing their wrath down on herself, her family, and her village. "Cole weaves a fantasy world that feels comfortably familiar, then goes to places you’d never expect. You won’t stop turning pages until the stunning finish."—Peter V. Brett The Sacred Throne Trilogy #1 The Armored Saint #2 The Queen of Crows