Look, if you've made it to this book in the series, you don't need an introduction. T. Kingfisher reliably delivered yet another great romantic fantasy, filled with yearning and characters questioning their own feelings, gods and paladinliness (yes, it's a word!), and a little bit of spy-work. I loved it just as much as the previous entries and that could actually be the review. But in the spirit of book blogging, I'll put a little more effort into it and tell you why, exactly, everyone should be reading T. Kingfisher's delightful books, this one included.
PALADIN'S FAITH
by T. Kingfisher
Published: Red Wombat Studio, 2024
Ebook: 446 pages
Audiobook: 16 hours, 19 minutes
Narrated by: Joel Richards
Series: The Saint of Steel #4
My rating: 7/10
Opening line: Breaking into the Bishop of the White Rat's office was far more trouble than it had any right to be, and Marguerite was a bit annoyed by it.
Marguerite Florian is a spy with two problems. A former employer wants her dead, and one of her new bodyguards is a far too good-looking paladin with a martyr complex.
Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed.
Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts. . .
I'll be honest with you. I had completely forgotten who Margherite Florian was, despite having met her in the very first Saint of Steel novel as a side character and friend to Grace. But that matters about as much as reading these books in the correct order, so don't worry if you face the same non-problem. T. Kingfisher sets up her books in such a way that you can read them however you like, you'll get all the information you need to enjoy it.
In this adventure, we follow the sexy and well-endowed spy Marguerite whose past is catching up to her and who would very much like to continue living, thank you very much. She does what any sane woman worth her salt would do - she goes to Bishop Beartongue and gets herself not one, but two, paladins as bodyguards.
One of them is scraggly-bearded Shane (who has a serious glow up once that monstrosity of a beard is gone) and the other is Wren, one of the few female paladins of the order of the Saint of Steel. How delightful to get this additional female perspective from a seriously overpowered character. At least once she enters berserker mode...
There are several layers to this book and each has its own strenghts and weaknesses. Okay, scratch that, there's hardly any weaknesses there, especially not in the areas I care most about. Kingfisher's characters are simply wonderful! That doesn't mean they are perfect, but they feel so real, so believable, flawed and struggling in a way that makes them relatable, despite living in a world that has gods and paladins.
It took me a while to warm to Marguerite, whose brand of pragmaticism was a bit too cold for my taste, but she did thaw eventually. Paladin Shane might have had something to do with that. Him, I liked immediately, but then Kingfisher writes the best "good guy" characters and still makes them smouldering hot - get out your fans, people. Shane has a particular skill that makes me recommend the audiobook.
Shane can do The Voice, which is a paladin thing that I don't want to go too much into. Let me just stress that Joel Richards, who narrates the audiobook, gave me goosebumps and actually made me look for a fan when he read the lines where Shane does The Voice. It's this low, calming growl/purr that just sends shivers down your spine. In the very best of ways!
I also took to Wren very quickly, not only because she is one of Kingfisher's not-beautiful-by-society's-norms women, but also because she's just so damn likeable. I literally just want to be friends with her and commiserate about hwo shitty fancy shoes are on women's feet.
As for the plot, there is both a bit too much going on and at the same time not enough. Which is my way of saying the pacing and the focus didn't work all that well for me. Marguerite sets out to do several things, and she has to go to court to achieve them. So you get the sort of rom-com trope where you throw people who don't know quite how to behave at court into exactly that kind of situation. Except there's also people trying to kill Marguerite, because... well, being a spy makes that an occupational hazard. And lastly, the reason why Beartongue "leant" her two paladins in the first place, Marguerite is also trying to locate a brilliant artificer who has created or can create a machine that will revolutionize the entire world and thus should not fall into the wrong hands.
Oh, and if that wasn't enough, there are also demons, paladins from other orders, spy friends and spy enemies, intrigue, and - obviously - the whole romance plot that is the heart of the book. It can feel a bit convoluted at times, but since the characters are so strong and the writing so damn funny, I didn't really mind that much.
Technically, you get very much the same kind of romance we've read before in this series, but that's why we're all still here, isn't it? But this book also advances the world building a fair bit, not only because of the artificer and her invention, but also in terms of working through what happened with the Saint of Steel and how the gods choose people to represent them.
I mostly wanted the two main protagonists to bone, but I'll grant you that these new bits of information made me prick up my ears and go "aaaahhh, so that's how it is". I sincerely hope Kingfisher has a few more of these romances in store, because never mind how much they follow the same basic idea (two people wanting each other, yet denying themselves that pleasure for a while only to realize they are actually madly in love), I am far from getting tired of it.
I wonder how long it's going to take BookTok to make this series its newest romantasy obsession. I honestly don't know why it isn't already.
MY RATING: 7/10 - So very good!
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