Audiobook Review – Paladin’s Hope (Saint of Steel, Book 3) by T. Kingfisher, Narrated by Joel Richards (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 9 hours and 7 minutes
Publisher:‎ Tantor Audio
Release Date: May 31, 2022
ASIN: B09XYL7HZG
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Saint of Steel series
Source: Bought for Audiobook
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“Piper is a lich-doctor, a physician who works among the dead, determining causes of death for the city guard’s investigations. It’s a peaceful, if solitary profession…until the day when he’s called to the river to examine the latest in a series of mysterious bodies, mangled by some unknown force.

Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the maze of the mysterious killer, it’s Galen’s job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He’s just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…”

Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the Saint of Steel series. I bought this on audiobook.

Thoughts: I think this was my favorite book of this series. I really enjoyed the deadly maze and the two main characters. The action is well done and I greatly enjoyed the characters here as well. There is a fun mystery too.

This story involves Piper and Galen; both were introduced earlier in the series. Piper is called to the river to look at a mysteriously mangled body by a gnole, Earstripe, which Piper has offered to help and Galen accompanies them. The three of them end up working to track down the mystery behind multiple dead bodies and find themselves trapped in a deadly maze.

I really enjoyed a lot about this book. The characters are amazing, I loved both Piper and Galen. I was also incredibly happy that we spent so much time with the gnoles and got to learn more about gnole society. This is a well done blend of action, mystery, gorey murder, and romance and I enjoyed it a lot. I felt like this book did a better job of balancing all these aspects rather than letting romance take over the story completely, which I appreciate.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator’s voice is a bit low in tone which can make it hard to hear when there is a lot of background noise (driving, doing yardwork, etc). However, the narration was very well done and overall I enjoyed it.

I liked where this story ended but feel like there is room for more books in the Saint of Steel series! My only complaint about these books is that our two main protagonists spend a lot of time whining about how they aren’t worthy of each other. This was toned down a bit in this book but is still present. You can mention this once or twice but you don’t need to re-hash it over and over and over.

My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I really enjoyed this installment in the Saint of Steel series, it was my favorite book of the series so far. I loved the characters, the mystery, and the crazy death maze. I also really enjoyed getting to spend more time learning about gnole society. Some of the issues I had with the previous books remain; characters constantly complaining about how their not worthy of each other, etc. However, I am willing to overlook that because these are fun and entertaining fantasy reads. I look forward to future books in this series!