Monday, March 29, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Paladin's Strength by T Kingfisher

 





Paladin's Strength is the second book in T Kingfisher's (aka children's author Ursula Vernon) Saint of Steel series - her Paladin Romance series that began with last year's "Paladin's Grace" (Review Here).  It's also the fifth book this universe that started with her Clocktaur Wars duology (and continued with Swordheart), but this book can easily be read standalone if you wanted, or at the very least immediately after Paladin's Grace (a Swordheart character has a minor role where he makes one reference to that book).  I have loved these books so much, and while Paladin's Grace was not my favorite, its romantic pairing was just perfect for me as a pair of lovable introverts.  And so when Paladin's Strength was announced, featuring a really fun side character from that book as one of the new protagonists, well, I knew I was going to finish this book on the day it was released....and I did.  

And Paladin's Strength is again pretty great, even if I didn't quite love it as much as its predecessor.  Its Paladin protagonist this time is Istvhan, the charming and hilarious and a lot better with women Paladin from our last book, and he's really fun here as he's confronted with his match in Clara, a nun from a special order of nuns with a secret who is every bit his physical and charming match.  But don't worry, even though the characters are no longer awkward introverts who can't quite spit anything out, Kingfisher manages to make this the slowest of slow burn romances all the same, and the result is tremendously fun.  Oh yeah and there's also severed heads and a horrifying anarchic city of crime and some other craziness, in case you were thinking this would be tamer than your typical T Kingfisher romance, and it all works so so well.  


---------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
When Clara appeared in front of a tent of a traveling war/mercenary camp with a sword, to act as a prize for the camp's leader as part of a barbarian custom, she hoped simply that this wouldn't be the moment of her death.  If it wasn't going to be, Clara hoped that she could use the camp to escape to pursue the kidnappers who burnt down her convent and kidnapped all her sisters so that she could rescue them.  But what she didn't expect was to find the camp's leader to be Istvhan, charming paladin, who seems right willing to help her try to rescue her sisters, even if he isn't telling her everything.  

When Istvhan led a troupe hired by the Temple of the White Rat on an expedition to track down the inhuman golem-like murderers that plagued Archon's Glory, he expected it to be a grueling journey with an uncertain end.  What he absolutely did not expect was to find a nun - a nun near as big as himself, no less - in desperate need of help saving her sisters...a nun he can't help but feel attracted to.  Istvhan knows pretty clearly that Clara isn't telling him everything, but who is he as a Paladin if he doesn't try to help her, even if he has his own mission on the side.  

Soon however, Istvhan and Clara's quests and secrets will draw each other closer and closer together, where they might find themselves in a moment of passion.....if they manage to survive the raiders and murderers they're trying to track down in the first place.....
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If you're familiar with the last two fantasy romances T Kingfisher has placed in this world, you should be familiar with some part of the formula: slow (and I mean SLOW) burn romance between a pair who often can't spit out their mutual interest for one another, incredibly charming dialogue, a group of main characters who simply want well for everyone else, and a fantasy world filled with such imaginative creations that will either make you smile in wonder or gasp in absolute horror.  And yeah, we definitely have that fantasy world here with moments of horror (oh god, the Rabbits) and charm (Brindle the gnole returns from Swordheart and is great).  And the dialogues is so much fun as usual.  

But where this one differs from its predecessor, and even differs from Swordheart, is that Istvhan and Clara's inability to well, fuck, isn't due to a lack of interest or even the two of them being unaware of the others' interest (oh from the 25% to 50% parts of the book there's some mutual disbelief that the other is interested due to how certain events have played out, but that is all resolved by the halfway mark).  Neither of the two are introverts, even though Clara perhaps has every reason to be expecting the worst of social interactions.  But first the pair has to get over their own traumas, coming from ferocious internal beings within themselves that they don't always fully control and how those other selves have acted in the past.  

And then they have to deal with constant, and I mean CONSTANT interruptions.  One will kiss the other and then be interrupted by bandits.  Or another Paladin.  Or Newts.  Or....you get the point.  This could be incredibly incredibly frustrating - Vernon's editor has joked on twitter that she wrote in the margins how frustrated they didn't JUST FUCK ALREADY - except Kingfisher makes all of these interruptions and the situations that create them just fun and silly in their own right.  And the side characters that interrupt these two really great main characters are really fun in their own right, from fellow Paladin Galen to a traveling salesman of alcoholic tonics and his grandmother who are absolutely hilarious.  

Hell, this book even manages to have some serious discussions about faith and about doing the right thing in situations where there's no way to really do enough, to go along with the fun charming tone.  The only negative thing about this one is that it's about 100 pages longer than its predecessor and it might be just a bit too long, with things dragging a bit in the middle.  But Clara and Istvhan are so absolutely charming, their love is so great, and while their eventual sex scene isn't as good as the one in Paladin's Grace, every other bit of romantic and sexual chemistry works so so well between the two, and isn't that what you're looking for in a romance?  Well that and the Happily Ever After, which of course you get here too.  So yeah, this is another winner, and I can't wait for the next one of these.  
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