The Armored Saint

This book just didn't do it for me. I'm sure it will for a lot of others, but not me. I literally could not stand the main character, and not for the reasons you might assume if you've already read the book (or at least some of the reviews). It wasn't because she was female, nor was it because she was gay. I don't care one bit about any of that as long as the character is interesting and compelling and someone I can root for. This main character was someone I rooted for, oh yeah I did...I rooted for her to be murdered so the rest of the characters could go on with their lives and not be in mortal peril due to her series of absolutely ridiculous actions. Without spoiling anything, every single conflict in the book arises from her getting angry and doing or saying the exact opposite of what everyone else in the book would have done. Because feelings.

Now don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for “rebelling” or “challenging norms” or whatever virtue-signalling term you like. But if you grew up in a world like this where merely talking out of turn might end with you, or your loved ones, or maybe your entire village's violent deaths...you'd probably at least think twice about doing it multiple times in the span of a few days.

It is very clear that this was written from the very beginning to be about “female empowerment”, but to me at least it failed miserably. Everyone else pays the price for her stupidity, and if you really want to get analytical, she's “rescued” by a male character every time as well (except perhaps the last fight, but even then someone else provides the means). This is no Ripley from Alien or Sarah Conner from Terminator, some of the best female characters that jump to mind. This is Bella from Twilight, except instead of needing to be rescued due to being clumsy and dumb, this time she is dumb and can't keep her mouth shut for even the one minute that would have avoided every bad thing that happens.

Practically everything in the book is telegraphed way ahead of time too. You might not know exactly how things will happen, but you have a pretty good idea. You even come to expect that she'll say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time and just roll your eyes and watch it unfold.

It gains the second star due to the one unexpected turn of events late in the book. That was well done. Still not enough to get me to read more in the future, but I did enjoy that part at least. I feel bad any time I “trash” a book, because I know writing is incredibly difficult and personal and if it were me reading what I just wrote above, after years of working on a book, I'd probably take it badly. But I also value honest reviews here, so at least someone might be a little better prepared if they do decide to pick up the book.