Audiobook Review – Paladin’s Grace (Saint of Steel, Book 1) by T. Kingfisher, Narrated by Joel Richards (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Length: 12 hours and 30 minutes
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Release Date: April 06, 2021
ASIN: B08ZYXVSNY
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Saint of Steel series
Source: Bought for Audiobook
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year…
Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind…”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Saint of Steel series, which is a trilogy. I bought this as an audiobook through Google Play.
Thoughts: My family listened to this audiobook on a recent road trip. My son is older (15 years old) but there were some parts of the book with explicit sex language and scenes which were a bit awkward to listen to as a family. He rolled with it though. The relationships in here are healthy and well-balanced so it wasn’t the worse thing for him to listen to as far as sex scenes go. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the Clocktaur War duology, but it was still well done.
The story follows a Paladin whose god has died, Stephen, and a perfumer, Grace. They end up being brought together when Grace witnesses a strange murder. Stephen and his surviving brothers have taken refuge at the Temple of the White Rat and do miscellaneous work for them. I did enjoy a lot of the murder mystery portions of this story. Grace and Stephen are excellent characters and getting to know both them (along with Stephen’s brothers) was a delight. I did think that some of the story was a bit slow. Grace, as a perfumer, thinks in smells which I totally get, but the amount of time she revelled in Stephen’s gingerbread smell got really old. I also thought there was too much page space spent on Grace and Stephen angsting about how wrong they were for each other or how unworthy they were for each other.
Aside from the above complaints I enjoyed Kingfisher’s writing and enjoyed the humor throughout. I love the world of the White Rat and have a lot of fun spending time in this world. I do wish we had seen more of the Wonder Makers in this book, this is a fairly cut and dry political murder story, at least initially. My family enjoyed this story but pretty much agreed with the complaints I had. I wish they had gotten the opportunity to listen to the Clocktaur War duology first. As mentioned we listened to this on audiobook and everyone enjoyed it, the narration was well done.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a fun and humorous fantasy read. I loved the world and the characters. However, the story was bogged down some by our two romantic interests over thinking things about how they were not worthy of each other. I am curious to see where things go in the second book, since the murder mystery portion of this remains unresolved. I didn’t like this as much as the Clocktaur Wars, but it was still a fun read.
