Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher review

    PALADIN’S GRACE by T. Kingfisher is the first of the SAINT OF STEEL series that follows the adventures of several paladins after they lose their god to some unseen event. Perhaps I should specify that it follows their “romantic” adventures. The Saint of Steel series is part of a genre called “Romantasy” which is basically romance novels that happen to take place in high fantasy or similar settings. Sort of a sister genre to paranormal romance that primarily takes place in urban fantasy environments.

    I don’t normally read romance. This isn’t a slam on the genre but just something that isn’t really my thing. However, I don’t dislike romance in general and it’s something I really enjoy in my books. Tanis Half-Elven and Kitiara (oh and Laurana), Raistlin Majere with Crysania, and Arilyn Moonblade with Danilo Thann are some of my favorite pairings in fiction. As you might notice, all three of them are in Dungeons and Dragons fiction as well. I like romance in odd places and nothing is odder than worlds different than our own. It’s why I like cozy fantasies where people open book stores in orc territory.

    The premise is that Stephen is a paladin of the Saint of Steel. He’s actually more of a barbarian as Saint of Steel paladins get blessed with berserker fury as one of their gifts. His god dying triggers the majority of them going on killing sprees that he just barely avoided himself. Taking a job with another god as a guard, he’s soon intrigued by a young perfurmer named Grace that he rescues from some religious fanatics. What follows is a plot against the crown prince’s life and Stephen struggling to deem himself worthy of love when he could flip out and kill everyone around him (or so he says). Grace isn’t much better as she suffers severe self-esteem issues from her abusive childhood and first marriage.

    Generally, if I were to summarize what to expect from this book, it is to understand it is primarily about two likable protagonists getting together with a minor plot about one of them getting framed. The book opens up with the paladin’s god dying in some off-screen event and if your immediate interest is, “Okay, I assume they go investigate who killed the god or what shocking circumstances was involved” then you will be disappointed. It promptly time skips years later and dealing with the paladin who had to find a new job and remains depressed about losing his calling. I’m not going to say the Saint of Steel dying is irrelevant but it’s not relevant to the actual plot: trying to recover after traumatically losing something important to you.

    So, what did I think? I think it was fine, very entertaining but has its flaws. I would give this probably a 4 out of 5. As stated, this isn’t really my genre but I like the world, the protagonists, and the religions. The protagonists are a little annoying in how they recycle how much they’re awful people who don’t deserve love. Also, these paladins are not seemingly bound by much in the way of codes so it seems they get a little too much leeway but that’s just a flavor issue. Obviously, you’re not going to have much of a romance if they’re bound by celibacy for example. Still, I enjoyed the frame-up plot and look forward to how the “decapitator” plot proceeds in future volumes.

Available here