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This, the first novel in the Sisters of Battle series, is remarkable for its unique characters and narrative. Set in the grim, dark, war centric, and male dominated 41st millenium of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the idea of a cult of warrior nuns that can stand toe to toe with the heretics and xenos is a refreshing one. But the novelty is just about the only thing that is extraordinary about this story.

Books published by The Black Library, the literature arm of Games Workshop, are like a bag of corn chips or a sleeve of biscuits, they are easy to consume despite the empty calories.

I opened Faith & Fire wholy expecting to be able to just zone out and get lost in this ridiculous science fiction universe. But, I was hooked to every word throughout the book. Some out of interest, some out of annoyance, all to understand this tantalizing story.

The Sisters of Battle are an intriguing bunch. Not even those in the imperium they serve fully understand what they do. A mixture of religious zealots and hardened soldiers, they are unlike the augmented bio engineered Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines) or the foot soldiers and cannon fodder that is the Astra Militarum. For one, they are all female.

Faith & Fire sees a unit of Sister of Battle of the Order of Our Martyred Lady (warriors) and Sister Hospitaller (medic) face powerful enemies hidden within the imperium itself. 

The plot is enthralling, the Sister of Battle are outranked and under powered. And yet they continue forward out of faith. 

What held it back for me was how lazy some of the story is: How things happen to the Sisters of Battle instead of things happening because of them. There are chunks of the story in this book where you could take out the female protagonists and nothing would have changed.

I listened to the book on Audible and feel that some of the voices given to the Sister of Battle are too manic, panicked, and unhinged to be from a battle hardened warrior nun. It took me out of the story at times.

Nevertheless the 11 hours and 16 minutes that made up Faith & Fire went by quickly and the experience made me want to read more about the Sisters of Battle. Perhaps in hopes that the other books improve and build on the foundation that this book has laid.