The Armored Saint by Myke ColeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This interesting fantasy book is a melding of medieval life, the Inquisition, gnomish mechanics via World of Warcraft, with a satisfying sprinkling of classic Dungeon and Dragon's lore. The subplot of our heroine's lesbian attraction for her friend and the background story of a homosexual ranger-wizard's lost lover combined made me feel that the book was a little pandering toward the LGBTQ community. It would have been my personal preference to focus on one gay love story, but to have both plus the dramatic, movie-of-the-week lecture of being allowed to freely love who you love seemed a bit mawkish.
To be clear, I quite enjoyed the presence of an LGBTQ storyline in a medieval fantasy. I just think it could have been written with more finesse by focusing on one relationship, and leaving the lecture on freedom of love out. The storyline should draw those thoughts out of the reader; not tell the audience what to think word-for-word.
Overall, the storyline felt very plausible, given that so much of what happened in the book has already happened in real life with religious fanaticism, political turmoil, classicism, poverty, shaming of homosexuals, etc. The entire plot was very believable, with the exception of demons. Well, ones we can see anyway.
I would read the next book because the heroine is engaging and powerful.
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