Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel Book 1)

Old Time Tales

The Big Book of Holy Smells

"I stumbled on my first Kingfisher book about a year or so ago, “What Moves The Dead”. Since then I have read everything I could find in our public library. I read “Paladin’s Grace” on the Libby app and had to wait most of two months to for it to become available. It was well worth the wait. Like most of Kingfisher’s books the protagonist is an intelligent, competent woman who has had a difficult past and lacks self confidence, despite the fact that all who know her recognize her for the treasure that she is. Grace is perfumer and once again Kingfisher has done her homework and written a character whose knowledge and skill of her craft is vast and realistic. Grace’s sense of smell and competence in her craft is key to events. The other title character is the paladin, Stephen. A tortured soul, wracked with self doubt and guilt. He lives a fragile life he fears could be shattered at any moment. Together they must deal with events which could cause a war. Or something even worse than war, because there is a deeper evil lurking over the city. This was a fun book. I often laughed out loud. At times it brought tears to my eyes. This is book filled with dark humor, dealing with how people cope with the trauma that life inflicts upon all of us. But there is also always hope. Strong characters, strong plot, strong dialog. Well worth the read, looking forward to book two! Cheers! ["

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February 21, 2025 Verified Purchase

Constant Reader

Entertaining with Good Characters to Hold your Interest

"This story comes together very well because of the characters. Grace, our heroine, is a perfumer. Her remarkable sense of smell allows her to break fragrances into their components and to compound unique personal perfumes for customers. She has escaped an abusive past and is building a new life in a new kingdom. Grace is vulnerable, but also strong and determined to survive on her own and to solve her own problems. Stephen was a paladin called to work on behalf of his god, until the god died. Now the paladins that survived the death of their god are watching after each other and working for Bishop Beartongue who serves the White Rat. Stephen is a mighty warrior, but he struggles with his control and worries about his broken soul and his future. There is something charming about a powerful man who knits pink socks. The wise and wonderous Bishop is smart, empathetic, kind, and a skilled diplomat. She provided a home for the paladins after the death of their god despite the murderous berserker rage that overcame many of them when the god died. The background is rich, and the plot is complex. The nice thing is that the story does not get lost in lengthy explanatory passages to set up the characters, the world, and the elements of the plot. There are multiple plot lines, which reach resolution, although one of the plot lines is only partially resolved. The romance is romantic, with some passionate sex scenes. This is a pre-industrial world where travel is by horse or on foot, and lighting is with candles. It is a complicated social structure with multiple temples that serve different gods and a multiple political powers. There are details that are gross (an autopsy, decapitations, and oceans of mud) and some that are charming (the gnoles, small badger like creatures that engage in street cleaning and odd jobs). The pacing is brisk and the writing is good. ["

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May 23, 2020 Verified Purchase

Wanderonblue

Love returning to this world!

"I read A LOT. I read a lot of different genres and authors. T. Kingfisher is at the top of my lists, and Paladin's Grace is just one more reason why! Kingfisher's world for this tale, and several others, is incredible. That she can carry across the feeling of stepping back into it, regardless of time or place, between "unrelated" tales is a true gift. Her characters are unique, believable, loveable, shareable, hateable, fearable, and on and on. I love the paladins, I love that you can count on them to be what they are in every book - they are hilarious, they give you warm fuzzies, they are tragic, and they are one of the best parts of any story set in this world. Zale is back and they are a stroke of human genius- T. Kingfisher's inclusive narratives are so seamless you wish real life could mimic her art. If you're new to T. Kingfisher, congratulations!! You are about to get sucked into a reading list that you'll eagerly dread reaching the end of. Never fear, rereading her work is even better than reading it for the first time. You do not need to have read any of her works to thoroughly enjoy this one!! But you'll appreciate the subtle references if you have, or when you return to it again. This one is touching, empowering, fun, and utterly satisfying. The characters are deeply nuanced, believable and - yeah, "just so great "! If you like fantasy, and romance with a story, with real emotions - you need to read this book. It's laugh out loud funny and heart-wrenching in some places, again - those Paladins! And just an all around satisfying read. And if you're already a T. Kingfisher fan, then you're just reading the reviews for fun - because you already know it's gonna be awesome. ["

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June 7, 2020 Verified Purchase

Lionors

Loved. This. Book.

"I'm a huge fan of Lois McMaster Bujold, both in science fiction (my beloved Vorkosigan saga) and her fantasy. Most recently, I've been gobbling up her Penric novellas and wishing something came even close to that. And then this book by Kingfisher was recommended. I was skeptical, as I am about many of Amazon's recommendations, particularly in fantasy. I *love* cross-genre books with romantic themes, but it's getting increasingly difficult to find any that are well written *and* have good characterization *and* have characters I like *and* have a well done central m/f romance, which is my favorite. So I got the sample...and the first line did precisely what a good hook is supposed to do, snagged me so hard I *had* to keep reading. "Stephen's god died a little after noon on the longest day of the year." How do you NOT keep going after that? I certainly couldn't. Oh, frabjous joy! A paladin that is genuinely a *good man* but not a prig or Lawful Stupid, a *real* self-effacing, quiet hero of a type that reminds me more than a little of someone like Steve Rogers. A strong, independent, funny, quirky-in-the-best-way-possible heroine with an unusual talent and profession. Wonderful side characters (I wish in a way I'd read Swordheart first, because I would have -completely- glee'd at seeing Zale show up again!) and a fun non-human species that is delightful without being the oh-so-often reprised generically catlike type. Plus, just that first line set up my absolute favorite kind of character arc, one where you have a genuinely good person who's just trying to do the right thing and his or her struggle to stay *on* that path after the world's torn apart. I enjoy that SO much more than the usual ho-hum 'bad guy redemption' arcs, and they're so much harder to find and even harder to find ones that are done *well*. On the fantasy front, I loved the world and I especially liked the well-incorporated horror slant. On the romance front...oh, it was so good to see two such deserving people work things out. So often fantasy writers just can't manage romance, especially m/f romance, without resorting to overdone pushme/pullyous or worse, the 'all men suck' card. In this case, the conflicts sprang from the characters' backstories and actually made *sense*. Brava! Oh, let's face it. I just enjoyed the hell out of this story. Period. Do what I did. Buy it, read it, get the sequel, and then go through and start devouring everything else she's written. You won't be sorry. I certainly haven't been. ["

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April 2, 2021 Verified Purchase

LACE

True to the Sample - Romance, Murder, Political Intrigue

"I'm a sucker for stories of people who have lost their faith & within the first ten pages of this story, the MC gets kicked to the curb when his God dies. I also love books that explore senses other than visual -- and the female lead's role as a perfumer opens the story to her insight/interpretation of the world through smell. The author spends a lot of time building the romance between the two main characters, intertwining it between magical/murderous mysteries, political intrigue, and court drama (I'm talking legal courtroom, not kings/queens kind of courtroom :) The female lead's backstory is well-drawn, though she's so much of a saint, it's hard to see her as a real woman. But hey, this is a fantasy, & what other kind of character could a paladin fall for? I enjoyed the story & look to read more from this author. If you like the sample, you will finish the book -- it's true to it. I really liked the world the author built -- especially the religious orders. My only nitpick is that some of the dialogue could have been fleshed out a little more with what the characters were thinking about the events/plot, but it was a great read notwithstanding that small critique. Both leads have interesting backstories that are dribbled out in a way that isn't too heavy-handed & which for the most part tie into the present action (a few scent memories notwithstanding). My favorite characters were the priests/servants/bishops of the Rat -- they have some of the wittiest lines & I loved their remarks & insight about the dead god's paladins whom they took into their own order. I already downloaded the sample for book 2 & am glad to find a new author! There's a lot to like about this book. The only reason it got 4 instead of 5 stars for me is because I didn't *love* the main characters enough to want to immediately re-read the book or thirst for a second story about them. I'm actually quite excited to start book 2, which focuses on a different paladin from the dead god's order. ["

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May 21, 2021 Verified Purchase