Reviews with content warning for Violence - Paladin's Faith

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Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher

19 reviews

witcheep's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I have enjoyed every book in the world of the white rat, and this one I loved! Paladin's Faith follows the great T. Kingfisher recipe for romance: adult main characters who have their strengths and weaknesses out in the open with each other if not for the whole world to see. The characters are multidimensional, and as not-perfect they feel more like genuine real people.

The great main characters and a well-built romance are grouped with wholesome friends as side characters (and familiar ones from her previous books as well), witty humour, a big quest that still manages to feel a little cozy even through abysmal conditions, and great worldbuilding.

This book offers impactful new lore to the world of the white rat: how gods are killed and made in different cultures in this world. It is now confirmed that

The Saint of Steel did not just disappear but was killed either by another godly being or by a god-killing weapon that would simultaneously shake the world. Will the Saint (or his chosen ones' suffering) be avenged? That would make a great plot for another sequel

. I can't wait to see what T. Kingfisher does with this in the next sequels or standalones in this world.

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iriwindel's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.75

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miss_berry315's review against another edition

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1.75

I am so fed up with how this series has fallen apart. After the end of Paladin's Hope, you would assume the next installment would touch on the main theme running through the series, but alas, we get nothing. If I didn't have some interest in knowing what happens with the running plot, I would have DNF'd this one.
This book did not feel like it was in the same series as the rest of them. They're in an entirely different location attending some royal court event, Marguerite is a ""spy"" who will do ~whatever it takes~ to get information out of people (this is the author's attempt at being pro-sex worker, a minor improvement from the blatantly anti-sex worker comments from previous books in this series).
The relationship is boring, there is no banter, no friendship built at any point, Shane is insecure and awkward and full of guilt for even feeling lust towards a woman. The title should be "Paladin's Catholic Guilt" because my goodness it was laid on thick in this book. I'm talking, every damn time Shane has even the slightest lustful thought, he feels the need to serve penance for it.
Even though we get both Shane and Marguerite's POVs, we don't get any thoughts about each other, no pining or emotions, just the author telling us they like each other instead of showing it.
If the synopsis did not explicitly state that Shane was the love interest for Marguerite, I would have assumed it was Wren -- which would have honestly been a better story for both characters.

Which leads me to Wren's storyline in this book. She deserved so much better than the unnecessary descriptions the author repeatedly gave to us. I'm so beyond tired of women who aren't hyper feminine being written in this way. Did we really need another book where a woman is described as meek, chubby, unstylish, not conventionally pretty, frumpy, and insecure only to be put in situations where she has to wear a dress (*gasp* how silly goofy to make someone feel dysphoria!!) and then gets bullied and made fun of by conventionally attractive women?? Like, is this high school?? And to then have

a man pretend to like her and date her when he really has ulterior motives to get information and ofc he would never date someone who looks like her

is outdated, hurtful, and cheesy. She doesn't even really get a revenge arch or find her power in any way. Huge thumbs down, even more so once

she is forced to spend time with him after knowing he was using her, just so the MCs could be alone together. Like, do not give this man a redemption arch, make him go tf away.

Honestly, between how caricaturized all of the characters are, the lack of continuation on the whole Saint of Steel thing, and the lack of relationship building, this book was really not that good.

The last 5ish chapters are probably the only good part of the whole thing and finally gave us a little bit to work with moving forward.

I may just end up skimming the next book whenever it eventually comes out.

I wish I could replace these books with Swordheart 4 times over tbh.

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marmaladereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was my least favorite in the series so far. While it was a solid adventure book much like the other Saint of Steel series, it felt like more of the same (Broken Paladin falls in love, feels guilty about it) and this book in particular felt like a filler side story as we follow Shane and Marguerite on a side adventure while Galen and Piper are investigating what killed the Saint off page. I really wished we got more movement on the main plot here, but I guess we'll see more of that in book 5.

I did enjoy the ending quite a bit here - this book was less sappy, with higher stakes, and quite a bit more world building than previous books in the series with some interesting implications leading into the next book.

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glowingrabbits's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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mary_soon_lee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the fourth of the Paladin books, which combine fantasy with romance. It's very good. The romance is interwoven with a solid plot. The paladin in question, Shane, is a complete delight, twice-deserted by gods, ridiculously good, ridiculously hard on himself. The sections that deal with paladin matters such as gods and demons are handled very well [not quite as surpassingly well as Megan Whalen Turner achieves, but I have yet to discover an author to match her in that regard, and I am digressing....]

Marguerite, the other half of the romance, is clever, highly competent, used to looking out for herself, and able to appreciate every inch of Shane's appeal. I very much appreciate romances that show both viewpoints, as this does, and I also enjoyed the short dips into other perspectives. There are several secondary characters whom I hope to see again -- Lady Silver, Davith, the ever-wonderful Bishop Beartongue -- and a couple whom I suspect may get their own book in the series (Wren, Judith). Marguerite herself was a supporting character in book one in the series, Paladin's Grace, which is itself very good.

There's also a nice vein of humor running through this, and moments that moved me, and, unexpectedly, a sense that all might not end happily, which I usually don't experience in romance.

So, yes, very good. Four and a half out of five steel stars.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

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astropova's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

5.0

Honestly, I think this is the best one yet in the series. I love Marguerite and Shane! And I think the character development for them both was excellent. I love how real and vivid all of the characters are, and how comfortably and smoothly the author manages to worldbuild.

And I can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the series.

The cliffhanger with Judith and Wisdom is going to burn a hole in my soul from anticipation. And I really want to find out who killed the Saint.

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