I want to thank NetGalley and Tor.com for letting me read an advance copy of this title. The only downside is that now I have to wait that much longer for the sequel, because this book definitely deserves one.

I want to highlight two of my favorite aspects of this story. The first is the main character, Heloise. Heloise isn't some chosen one, a prophesied hero. She's a young woman who stands up for the ones she loves, even when threatened by impossible odds. Her natural curiosity and impulsiveness both save her at times and get her into trouble at others. To put it succinctly, she's a very real person, and the fact that she does amazing things will inspire readers to aspire to greatness despite the fact that they're just "normal".

My other favorite aspect of this story was the pacing of the narrative. At about the halfway point, I was absolutely convinced I knew something about the way things would play out, and then without betraying what had happened so far or making a jarring turn of events, the author was able to turn my expectations completely upside down. And on top of that, the ending was simultaneously satisfying, believable, and left me wanting more.

Read this book; you won't regret it.

Not due for publication until March 2018. I had this short novel (maybe a novella) for review as an advance reading copy from Netgalley. This is a fantasy setting in which, following some kind of religious war, bands of holy warriors—the Order—have the power to root out and kill wizards without trial, often cruelly. If they decide a village is sheltering a wizard, there’s no mercy. Supposedly wizardry opens up the way for hell’s demons to come through into the world—and no one wants that. Heloise and her father meet up with the Order on the road to the next village, Hammersdown, and Heloise talks back, never a good idea. Her initial mistakes are compounded and eventually everyone suffers for it. Later the order takes it out on Hammersdown and Heloise is forced to see things that no one should have to see. It’s inevitable, therefore, that the order comes looking for Heloise and her family. Character-driven, this is a deep study of Heloise in adversity but the supporting characters work well, too. The writing is visceral. It drew me in quickly and didn’t let me go, even delivering something unexpected at the end.

For me, the jury is still out on this book. An interesting concept and scene shift from an author known for more modern military things. Having said that, the clandestine development of sophisticated armaments is very much of a "steal" from today and interestingly developed. Part 2, which is implied from the ending might appear on my reading list but a ways down that list. Overall, the book left me feeling that I had stumbled across the biography of Joan of Arc; in a parallel universe.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, and yet I was still surprised. Cole tells a small-scale, intimate story in what feels like an epic setting. I kept expecting the stakes to be raised, but at the same time focusing in on one young woman in a series of life changing events is something the genre could use more of. The queer characters also made my heart warm.

Myke Cole is best known for his military sci-fi, so his foray into fantasy was kind of a given. And I haven’t read his military sci-fi stuff yet, but the sort of matter-of-fact way military sci-fi tends to operate gets carried over to the fantasy realm with this one and… yeah, it was a bit of a miss. This is more my problem than the book’s problem – the worldbuilding is minimal, the characters are just kind of there doing whatever is required of what’s happening, and the book just completely failed to engage me. I fully respect that I might not be the target audience here, but I had expectations that ultimately weren’t met here. I can say for sure that if you’re looking for high fantasy, this won’t be it.

This book starts out with an extremely naive viewpoint character who does dumb things. I personally found these flaws difficult to get past. While things did pick up as the book progressed, I don't easily identify with stupid and headstrong characters, particularly since the learning curve for this one seemed slow.