Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Paladin's Grace

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

74 reviews

puck_jay's review

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

THE PALADINS ARE ADORABLE AND I LOVE THEM. This was a good book I wish the fandom was bigger.

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honeywolf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Two broken people find love. This takes place in a fantasy setting and does have plot that unfurls throughout but it's so much more about these two people who believe themselves to be too "damaged" to deserve happiness and comfort. The moments that make this book shine are the quiet moments that make the protagonists feel safest; often times in silent companionship or safety and respect. It's somewhat slow and somewhat crams the plot into the last few chapters but because this is about the relationship more than anything I find that a largely forgivable offense.

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page_karla's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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hareems's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I'm not big on romances at all but this book was exactly what I needed in a romance. It has a solid backstory that never overshadows the leads' love story but that also isn't irrelevant enough to just be a plot device propelling their story forward. Plus the world building is great, again to serve as a strong enough backdrop for the main story but never to take over as the main element of intrigue.

Also Kingfisher writes dialogue and inner monologues like no one else. How were they SO relatable and effective? I could fully feel both Stephen and Grace's thoughts and they were written so realistically I imagine anyone else could've felt the same way.

Also Stephen is how "nice guys" should actually be written. He's nice to a tee but it's not his whole personality. And it's never remarked upon how nice he is, which is great because that's honestly the bare minimum. Actually ALL the paladins are equally as nice. And I'm glad it's never addressed because Kingfisher treats this as the standard, as something that's just a given. I wish this would become commonplace in the booktok space as well, seeing as how it plays such a vital role in books going vital (most of them toxic romantasy), much to chagrin (srsly, how is ACOTAR a 4+ star read on here?).

Plus the humour is remarkable. It's so funny and often self deprecating which I LOVE.

Also love Marguerite. How could you not? She's so wonderful. We all need Marguerites in our lives.

I think the only reason I'm really docking a point is because neither Stephen nor Grace are the most interesting characters. I love that they're ordinary, but even ordinary people have quirks that set them apart, and truly I don't think Stephen has a single one. His quirk is knitting socks, which I love, but that is just not enough. Same with Grace. I LOVE her perfumer identity and her talent for it, but again that's it. There's nothing more to either of them that makes them more interesting than the supporting cast.

Which leads me to Istvhan. He was easily my favourite character and I wanted more of him, which is great because we have a whole next book dedicated to his romance (😭). He was actually hilarious and if that's just a snippet of him, I have to assume that a whole book of his POV will have me cackling regularly. Love that.

I think these may be my favourite romances of all time (even if I haven't read the rest), and despite my bar being low I genuinely think it's because Kingfisher has blown it out of the park with her writing.

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ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I guess I was expecting more of the fantasy element? It was very much focused on the mystery and romance. I did like the romance between Stephen and Grace though and the other Paladin characters but other than that it didn't do anything for me.

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mirandalikesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A wonderful, funny, sweet start to the series. I loved both of the main characters. Stephen has a sturdy practicality that was laced with genuine kindness. And Grace is so unique and intelligent and caring. The vulnerability of both characters made you love them. The thread of their romance - aka the main point of the novel - was my favorite part of the book. And the fact that both characters were in their 30s was refreshing! I love a book that shows that life isn't over when you leave your 20s.

The things that kept this from a 4 star read for me are just some simple style choices. The inner monologue, while oftentimes funny, sometimes was a bit too much talking to themselves. Also the poisoning plot and the beheading plot together felt like a lot going on.

Kingfisher drops lots of breadcrumbs for the rest of the series, and I'm excited to get to it.

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prismatical's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Didn't like it, but it had potential and I did genuinely enjoy parts of it (which is where the .5 comes from).

The tagline and synopsis are very misleading; this is a romance novel that happens to take place in a fantasy world, and the paladin stuff is more there as backstory than anything else. If that isn't a deal breaker for you, you should also know that the plot is pretty weak and takes a back seat to the oddly juvenile romance. A not-insignificant part of the first half of the novel is just Grace and Stephen really, REALLY wanting to fuck each other instead of developing as characters. Grace's backstory in particular feels like an afterthought.

I didn't like that the female paladins got so little focus. Wren gets ONE LINE of dialogue and a couple of throwaway lines about her, and I don't think we even learn Judith's name in this book. I didn't even realize that there were two female paladins until I looked it up. All the male paladins at least get to be introduced, if not more. That was really disappointing because rage when expressed by a man and rage when expressed by a woman are treated very differently in reality, so I wanted to see how T. Kingfisher would tackle that issue. The way she chose to handle it was to not mention it at all. If Wren and Judith don't get their own books or they have to share one book, I'm really not going to be very happy about that. It's also worth noting that Stephen mentions that he wants to stay close to his brothers in arms, but he makes no mention of sisters. Hmph.

The POV switches around too often for my taste. I'm totally fine with POV changes at chapter breaks, but mid-chapter POV changes are just not my cup of tea, especially when they happen in the middle of a scene. The POV changes made it harder to get to know Stephen and Grace because we don't get to stay inside their heads for very long before switching back. I think T. Kingfisher wanted that to line up with the nature of the murder mystery. We do a lot of headhopping, and the serial murderer is beheading people. Unfortunately, while it was an interesting idea it still doesn't add much to the story as a whole.

And finally, my biggest criticism despite not being much of a romance reader: it's actually not very romantic and I didn't believe that Stephen and Grace had a connection beyond wanting to fuck each other and finding commiseration in feeling "broken." The sock scene was very cute, but that was it. This novel also conflates romantic and sexual attraction like you wouldn't believe, which I personally found annoying. I'm too aroace for this.

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