Paladin's Grace (1) (The Saint of Steel)

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Paladin's Hope Synopsis: Galen, a paladin who played a big role in book 2, is our MC. He's struggling with nightmares that end with him going into a berserker rage when he wakes up, when he's called in to help figure out who's murdering more people (love a murder mystery) and meets Piper, a hot lich doctor who basically lives in the morgue and never sees the sun. They embark on a journey to help their gnole friend (basically a badger) solve the murders and fall in love along the way. Zale, aka one of the mostest awesomest non-binary characters in the history of mostest awesomest non-binary characters. God Is Dead: The Saint of Steel died three years ago. This was traumatic for his paladins, and disturbing for everyone else—gods being mythically dead is normal (the Hanged Mother is literally hanged, for one), but gods being actually, no-fooling, straight-up gone is unheard of. From the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of Swordheart and The Twisted Ones comes a saga of murder, magic, and love on the far side of despair. To leave such a woman in the clutches of the Motherhood? And her with six kids at home to care for? Bah! Clearly an evil man.”

I started out my journey with Paladin’s Grace feeling extremely annoyed by its sense of humor, which felt far too affected and precious to me. It really grew on me rapidly, though, and by the end, I was completely won over. I can now confidently say that this book is the epitome of a charming read - the dialogue is witty, the writing is clever, the characters are a loveable and quirky bunch, and the romance is very sweet. The dead didn’t say thinks like “Are you sure he’s dead?”when the man’s head was half off or, “Dear god, what happened?” when it was bloody obvious that someone had shoved a sword through him. The dead just laid there and got on with being dead. » Exciting, deeply wise, sad, brutal and compassionate all at once. And beautifully written, with a plot as cunning as fine embroidery' Catriona Ward The serial killer in Paladin's Grace leaves a lot of severed heads, but no bodies, and the characters spend some time speculating about exactly where they went. Because the killer is actually a special type of golem that's just a head piloting a headless human body, and it's getting bodies for all its friends. A wonderfully fun story of perfumes, poisons, romance, severed heads, assassination plots, paladins of a dead god with berserker tendencies, a shy and kind perfume developer with a delightful civet and a past terrible marriage, and terrific Bishop Beartongue and lawyer Zale, both of the Church of the White Rat.Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind… Frozen geese as lethal instruments (pretty sure my Cimmerian boyfriend would love that, what with his death-by-beef-bone obsession and stuff) and potentially weaponizable stuffed egrets. The Berserker: When the Saint was living, his Paladins battle rage was tempered by his divine judgement. Without him, the only thing that prevents them from killing the innocent is the brute force of other paladins. It turns out that at least some of this is just from how upsetting the loss was, not inherent to entering the state without him. Stephen is able to enter a milder form where he can remember that Grace is friendly and even follow her instructions. But he still tries to fight random objects when he bumps into them. In Paladin's Hope, It's more of a problem for Galen, who if he's awakened from a nightmare may simply throw a punch at whoever's touching him, but may also actively get up, draw his sword, and try to hurt people who aren't a visible threat, his own Love Interest included. Where Miss Angelica goes, I go,” he said, in a voice so deep Grace could almost hear it through her boots. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread. He smelled like gingerbread.

Gladiator Games: This is why Clara's sisters were kidnapped. A powerful pirate lord wants werebears to show up his opponent's zombies in the ring. Funny, frightening, and full of heart; I loved it' Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January on Nettle & Bone Whilst foraging for startleflower, perfumer Grace finds herself pursued by ruffians and rescued by a handsome paladin in shining armour. Only, to outwit her hunters they have to pretend to be doing something very un respectable in an alleyway. I read Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon) because it was recommended for the "Trans or Nonbinary" bingo square, but I think the NB character was a bit too much of a side character to really make this book a good option. However, the book also manages to fulfill the "Genre Mashup,""Comfort Read,""Self Published," and "Mystery Plot" square requirements too.Quizá el argumento es el que menos me ha gustado, pero siento que con ese final la autora dará pie a una a otra historia, o eso espero. Siento que ha sido uno de los descubrimientos de este año y no puedo estar más contenta. There were also minor scenes that made me uncomfortable. I love romance stories and don’t mind sex scenes (when they’re warranted, not when they’re gratuitous), but I hate scenes where one person has to avoid detection (by some king of city guard or something), so the other person covers them with their body and they pretend to be a person and prostitute (or something), miming sex to make it seem like they saw nothing. I just find it awkward, not funny or the basis for mutual attraction. The fact that Stephen and Grace meet this way made it all the more awkward for me to read. I guess that was the point, since Grace is a little awkward herself, but I still hate these types of scenes. So...I loved my first foray into this author's work. And...will read more by her, but this book...was a repetitious, mess of Suffering Mary Sue. The plot, as I understand it, is that Stephen, a Paladin of Steel, went berzerk and killed people because his god mysteriously died. And he has the guiltz. I’ve been having a hard time reading this year because of, you know … (*jazz hands*) everything. It’s hard to connect with Happily-Ever-After when we’re in the middle of Disastrously-Right-Now. Serotonin? In this economy? My brain thinks not.

Well, if you want my professional opinion, this great goddamm hole in his chest is probably what killed him. » despite the fact that he had a moaning woman in his arms, Stephen had not been less aroused in recent memory. The first time Stephen and his paladin buddies are escorting Bishop Beartongue in the royal court. Honestly, just the banter between the four of them pretty much won me over for the rest of the book. I’m an emotional husk of a man and so rarely genuinely laugh at a book, but this scene got me. It was just very funny and left me wanting more. Possibly too much as I only really wanted to read more banter for the rest of the book. Maybe it was TOO good! Whilst foraging for startleflower, perfumer Grace finds herself pursued by ruffians and rescued by a handsome paladin in shining armour. Only, to outwit her hunters they have to pretend to be doing something very unrespectable in an alleyway. The dialogue. Just in general, the dialogue between characters was good. Kingfisher was able to show tension, familiarity, or humour between characters whenever she wanted.

Then Paladin Stephen becomes entangled with Grace the perfumer, and he discovers a whole new reason for living. If he can let himself. If he can get over himself. If he can trust himself.

Escape Rating A+: Paladin’s Grace was definitely, sincerely, absolutely a case of the right book at the right time. Un libro que me llamó la atención nada más verlo. Resulta que a esta autora la quería leer por dos novelas suyas recientes, sin embargo, en una de estas que me puse a ver su repertorio vi esta saga y me dije: esta será mi primera impresión de la autora y tengo que decir que ha sido una maravilla. Paladin tropes were thoroughly killed dead seriously harmed during the writing of this book, which is somewhat glorious, methinks. If you liked the author's Swordheart, one of my faves, well, here's a triple dip of more like it. Middle-aged protagonists, authorial humor, and all. As much as I liked this book, I do think the plot is the main weak point though. There was a lot going on, including a mystery, a courtroom drama, a romance, and an action adventure. It felt like some plot threads, such as Grace's mysterious spy BFF, were just discarded without being resolved. Furthermore, the resolution of the main plot point was very underwhelming. Grace is falsely accused, spends chapters fighting it, and then the prince just pops up and handwaves the whole issue away. I would've preferred an ending that involved someone finding evidence to clear Grace's name or someone using legal loopholes to get her out of jail.Stephen had been called to service as a paladin, a holy berserker in the service of the Saint of Steel, one of the many gods in the world of the Temple of the White Rat. Only three years ago the god died and shattered his followers. A scant seven of the broken paladins remain and they work in service to the Temple of the White Rat in Archenhold. While patrolling the city in search of a particularly gruesome murdered Stephen rescues a young woman who is being hounded by followers of the Hanged Mother. They immediately hit it off while not actually knowing each other's names. Fantastic Racism: Gnoles are treated as second-class citizens. This causes a lot of trouble in Paladin's Hope, when Earstripe catches on to the pattern of the bodies in the river before anybody else, but Captain Mallory won't listen to him because he's a gnole, leading to a lot of mortal peril that could have been avoided. Worse, after Earstrip leads the effort to catch the killer on his own, they trump up charges of vigilantism and throw him in jail, right after he's had major surgery. Refuge in Audacity: Grace's friend Marguerite cheerfully admits to everyone that she's a spy for Anuket City. This works amazingly well at keeping her out of trouble. Turns out that she is a spy, but she doesn't work for Anuket City and her name's not Marguerite.