Heloise lives in a world which is slowly recovering from the effects of a war with demons, who enter reality by birthing from the bodies of those who perform wizardry. Or so she is told by The Writ, the sacred word of the Emperor, who died along with the rest of his Palantines while cleansing the world of evil.
The Emperor's word is enforced by The Order, a force of warrior priests who search out any taint of demons, and stamp it out, usually by force, with very little concern for collateral damage. They maintain discipline among the common villagers by having them assist in the "knitting", a polite euphemism for the murdering of an entire community wherever a hint of magic is seen. It doesn't take much. The demons can come from a portal in a wizard's eye, which one of the Order is always looking out for.
The world under the order is grim, and suffering under rather strict rules, set out by the Emperor and provided at the end of each chapter as a neat little excerpt from the Writ. There's some subtle horror in these, and they're one of the better parts of the book.
And of course Heloise manages to annoy the wrong person, and most of the plot is then driven from her need to avoid his desire for revenge.
The villains are impressively nasty, which allows our protagonist to position herself in opposition to them, and gives Cole a good range of emotions to play with as the Order bully their way around. Some of the more tense sections come simply from the Order being visible in the distance. Villagers split into factions rather easily, and the back and forth of decision making and the conflict that arises when they choose to fight or flee the Order is compelling.
Unfortunately, there is a major weakness in the book, which is its cut off point. There is a lot of build-up that happens in order to set up the climactic battle, and this is honestly really enjoyable. There's a lot of village life in there, with some good standoffs and negotiations, and no small amount of suspense, but the minute the final fight scene gets going, it all feels rushed through. There's obviously more in the series, but here it feels like it was thrown in earlier than intended to give the book a good climax, and it could have done with taking up a bit more room.
Still, the first 90% of the book is good enough that I'll pick up the second. (Also, if you're a fan of Warhammer, it's definitely something you'd be interested in.)
Tagged: Book Fantasy Grimdark Novel Print