50% amazeballs, 50% hard to get through. But looking forward to more
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We have a religion based on a long-dead emperor who is considered a type of god, with a holy Writ that defines people's lives. There is a militaristic order that works to wipe out wizardry in all forms and they are happy to kill wizards and anyone sympathetic to wizards or suspected to be wizards in a bizarre ritual called "Knitting". The order takes an autocratic view of the population and even call regular villagers beasts. This is not a happy world.
Heloise lives through one of these "Knittings" and sees the horror the Order imposes on the people.
Then one of the side characters who is friendly and helpful turns out to be a wizard and I expected the military order to be a sham. I expected the Heloise to side with the wizards and stand up against the order. Then the wizard dies as a devil breaks through and that caught my by surprise. The order was telling the truth after all.
This book reads fast. I thought it was a novella because of the speed of the work.
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I kept wanting to like this, but I would get bothered by little things, which means it just wasn't engaging me. For example, when she runs into the woods in terror, there is no way that she wouldn't know where she was going. She's lived in this same small village for sixteen years, she knows every path out of it. The first 3/4 was people just reacting to events they didn't control, especially Heloise wasn't allowed any agency, just The Hand Of The Author pushing her around. When things do happen, it is all either heavily foreshadowed or surprises, neither of which engaged me. And no, you can't have a pre-industrial society chugging along with no technology development for 1000 years. They have advanced metalworking, they would at least have hand-cranked washing machines, crossbows, and bicycles.

Docked a star for Bury Your Gays. ( )

way too short and way to good.... need more Mr. Cole! ( )

I agree with all the reviewers that call this brutal and beautiful. Lots of mystery still in the worldbuilding. It reminded me a bit of Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series, although whether the worldbuilding mysteries have anything in common I will have to wait to find out. ( )