The Armored Saint

2.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
The Order ensures that no wizards, with portals in their eyes that admit demons, can threaten the land. Young Heloise, who cannot but protest at injustice, finds she's risked herself, the girl she loves, and all of their families.

Review

I got The Armored Saint for free. I doubt I'd have picked it up otherwise. Unfortunately, that proved to be an appropriate instinct. The Armored Saint for free - the content of which has very little to do with the title - has an array of familiar fantasy elements thrown together. And they feel like familiar elements thrown together. There's very little about the story that stands out. It seems clearly intended as a teaser for a longer series, but I find no reason I'd want to read that series.

The characters are engaging, but we've seen them before. This time, more of them are female, which is nice, but they're otherwise much like many other fantasy heroes - young, modest, reluctant, but determined to push through. There's an oppressive power - evil seemingly because ... well, oppressive powers just are that way. The book moves slowly - especially during a long, long fight scene, and I didn't find it held my interest.

In short, while there was some potential here in the components, I didn't find that Cole brought enough to the mix that was new.