A review by kitvaria_sarene
Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher has more romance than book one - and I liked it even better! 

Say what? Julia liked something with more romance? Yes, I'm as astounded as everyone else. So why does this one work for me? The potential couple are both older, experienced people who have gone through quite some traumas, but came out the other side with a tendency to banter and humour.
I usually hate all the back and forth, but here it actually made sense to me, seeing the chara tera back stories. A paladin who can't really be interested in a nun of all things. A sort of werebear, who wonders how anyone could love a person who might turn into a beast all of a sudden. These two together are hilarious and cute, and don't take themselves too seriously.
The friendship that developed along with desire was really great to see, and I adored spending time with them, especially as there's enough adventure and mysteries to make the romance just one part of the story, and not the main thing.

I just can't get enough of older protagonists, who might creak and crackle when getting up, who feel their joints and yet are still active and have agency. Often these characters are sidelined or not important to the story. So having two not just older, but also rather big and not especially pretty people as leads was just amazing!

The blend of cute, fun, cosy and quite dark and bloody is a mixture I never knew I needed, before I found this author. Now I simply can't get enough of what I tend to call "cosy dark"!