Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher

17 reviews

sunsorbit's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Police brutality, Grief, Death, Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I liked the plot of this book the most out of the series so far I think!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

ariep's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I could not stop reading this book. I love the characters, and the writing, and the plot! It was so tense, and incredibly engaging. I really loved the first two, and this one is no exception! I don’t know what else to say other than I loved it, and I will probably read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Violence, Confinement, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm

distilledreads's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

Of the first three The Saint of Steel books this is my least favourite, which was disappointing because I was so, so excited for Piper’s story. I’ve loved him as a character from Book #1 and I love him even more now that we were able to experience his perspective. The reason this installment fell short for me is because of the brevity, so I guess that’s a testament to Kingfisher that I just wanted more. 

Insta-love is one of my least favourite tropes, and I definitely found Piper and Galen’s story to be insta-love. Not only is the timeline in the book significantly shorter than the two previous books, but the length of the novel is much shorter too. Unfortunately, that was really apparent to me and I wanted more development between Piper and Galen. As it was, I couldn’t quite buy into how quickly they fell in love and their relationship progressed. Although I will fully admit that the life-or-death situation and adrenaline pulsing through most of the book would sway both to going all in very quickly. 

As well, I believe there were two continuity errors in Paladin’s Hope, or at the very least two explicit references to past scenes that didn’t quite match up with how they were previously described. That took me away from the story quite a bit as I tried to parse through it. 

All of that said. The last line. My gods, the last line. Paladin’s Hope was hovering around a four-star rating for most of the book because of the brevity and insta-love, but the final line had me sitting up in bed and actually screeching.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Blood, Death, Violence, Grief, Child death, Gore, Sexual content, Murder, and Medical content

mirandalikesbooks's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.25

This series just keeps getting better! I think Piper and Galen were such a lovely pair, and the secret to what was causing the deaths being explored in the beginning was a fun adventure.

I like how this book explored discrimination within this fantasy setting. It made the main characters that much more loveable that they stood up for the underdog. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Murder, Body horror, Sexual content, Death, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

My favorite of this series so far — and they've all been great! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Police brutality, Violence, Classism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Excrement

readinggem's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

A romance much like the previous two in this series. A lot of space is given to how unworthy the paladin is for love. But it’s still a fun premise. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

no_mourners_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Sexual content, Animal death, Medical content, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Cursing, War, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Drug use, Excrement, and Torture

roksyreads's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

Another lovely fantasy with the perfect balance of mutual pining, smouldering romance, and loveable characters. But how can you end it like that???? I am relieved to know there will be more books, because I love these stories immensely, but I do rather wish there were more now following that last paragraph. Alas, I will have to put my patience hat on. Thankfully, there are plenty more stories written by Vernon under the Kingfisher pen name for me to read and re-read whilst I wait. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Police brutality, Classism, and Suicide

narya's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

Comienza mucho más directo y yendo al grano que los dos anteriores, lo cual al principio me descuadró. Pero es otra historia de otros personajes. Tampoco sigue la trama del misterio, aunque es cierto que queda bastante cerrado en el anterior, e introduce una distinta que también llega muy de golpe.

(Edit: vale, lo mismo leerse los libros de Clocktaur War antes que éste viene bien, pero tampoco es necesario. Solo es que Paladin's Hope rescata cosas de los otros y te hace algo de spoiler si no los has leído. Eso se apaña si tienes mala memoria.)

PERO

Compensa muchísimo con el desarrollo de los personajes, que se expresan con libertad (aunque sea para ellos a veces) y te permiten reflexionar sobre muchos sentimientos y situaciones. Son adorables, son humanos, los acabas queriendo mucho. 

Un detalle:

Según avanzaba me iba quedando con la sensación de que el poder de Piper apenas se explota para lo prometedor que es. La últina frase del libro me lo compensó bastante. Ojalá haber sabido más sobre la muerte del Saint of Steel, no diria que no a una cuarta parte. Y si no, para la imaginación.

Brutales los giros que mete esta mujer en la trama y el cariño e intensidad con los que trata los temas sentimentales y las relaciones, una trilogía que he disfrutado muchísimo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts