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| Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher |
Paladin’s Faith is a fourth book in The Saint of Steel fantasy romance series by T. Kingfisher. It follows the paladins of a dead god who try to find their place in a world where they are no longer needed, set in the same world as the Clocktaur War duology, though a few decades later.
Shane is a paladin abandoned by two gods, which has given him a huge inferiority complex and a fear of getting everyone around him killed. He’s ordered to protect Marguerite Florian, a spy who is trying to locate an artificer who has created a device that’ll potentially disrupt the economy of the entire world. She’s a resourceful woman with few compunctions about her work and how she gets it done, which doesn’t always sit well with Shane. Naturally, a romance ensues, albeit slowly, as one of them fears he’s not good enough and the other doesn’t really have a need for a romance.
Despite the interesting premise, this is by far the weakest book in the series. The entire first half of the rather long book is basically filler events, with a token attempt made to locate the artificer. The romance doesn’t go anywhere. Things pick up on the latter half, but what was supposed to be the driving force of the plot takes a back seat when a new storyline appears, and is all but forgotten. It’s Shane’s story, and it’s a good one, but it doesn’t really mesh with the romance. That the pair ends up together in the end is because this is a romance, and the book would’ve been fine without.
On top of the weak story, this lacks the charm and delightful whimsy of the earlier books. Marguerite doesn’t make a very interesting romantic heroine and while Shane has his moments, he’s not much of a romantic hero either. Side characters exist to fill the pages, but I suspect their story will come later. And not a single gnol made an appearance. The epilogue promises an interesting story to come though, and even though this was a disappointment, I’ll definitely read on.
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