Shane squared his shoulders. ‘I pray that I may not fail you, your grace.’

‘You won’t,’ she said. ‘In that, I have faith.’

This is quite possibly the fastest I have ever read a series of books. I’ve burned through T. Kingfisher’s Saint of Steel series, and the final (thus far, I live in hope there’ll be more) instalment Paladin’s Faith has most definitely been my favourite.

Before I launch into gushing about everything I loved this time round and why it was my favourite, I’ll get one or two negative-ish things out the way first. Paladin’s Hope ended on an absolute bombshell of an epilogue, so I rushed to start this one, eager to find out what those events meant and what the paladins were going to do now – but the story skips ahead six months and doesn’t follow up on what was discovered (me tentatively stepping around spoilers here). I can’t deny I was really disappointed by this; there are mentions of it, but it is not the main plot point that I was expecting it to be.

The other matter I wanted to touch on was just how similar the bones of each of these stories are. I’ve been thoroughly swept up by the world and the romance, so although I’ve acknowledged this, it hasn’t bothered me, but I can imagine the formulaic tendency of these books might be a negative point for others. It’s almost as if Kingfisher has a template of story beats that she follows for each one. For some, this could be tedious I guess, but instead I’ve found it reassuring. I’ve often finished a book and felt bereft and wished I could have more of the same, and that’s what I feel I’ve had with these books; it results in quite a comforting reading experience, like binge watching your favourite TV series.

So now that bit’s out the way, let’s move on to what I loved! Or at least, I’ll attempt to put into words what I loved…

Paladin’s Faith follows Marguerite, Grace’s landlady from the first book who also happens to be a spy, and the paladin Shane, who has occasionally turned up in the previous books and seemed stern and boring. Marguerite was of course the absolute delight that I knew she’d be; she is a force of nature, confident in her abilities, and loyal to the back teeth for the (very) few people she holds close. But this time around, she’s also terrified for her life. Her erstwhile employers see her as a loose thread that requires snipping, so to prevent them, she’s going to change the world economy and bring about their collapse. Like I said, force of nature. Go big or go home, and she doesn’t have a home per say… She involved the Temple of the White Rat in her plans, as the only bodyguards who couldn’t possibly be tempted away or bought are those of the Saint of Steel. Enter Wren and Shane, and journey to the Court of Smoke, and secret identities, and escaping from castles, and hikes through mountains, and huddling for warmth in shepherd huts when they get separated from their party… And then there was Shane…

For Shane, with the constant whisper of failure and ruin in his ears, the pull was undeniable. Tell me what you want of me, he wanted to say. Tell me what you believe I can do. Tell me how not to fail you, and I will serve.

As I said, I’d always perceived him as stern and boring, but he turned out to be the most complex paladin yet, and my favourite for it. Having trained under the Dreaming God but failed to be called to service by Him, to then be chosen by the Saint of Steel who then died, Shane sees himself as having failed these two gods, and expects to further fail anyone else who depends upon him. He of course falls for Marguerite, and he gets more and more protective of her the more he falls for her, as his feelings move beyond duty. On her part, Shane is a code to be deciphered, and as she slowly puzzles him out, works out what his various grunts mean, discovers his wry sense of humour, finds out he loves poetry; she falls for him too, despite her rule against letting people too close as they can be used against her.

Kingfisher’s character work is just something else entirely. To have such a large cast of characters in her complex world and have them each feel so individualistic and memorable is a feat to be applauded. To introduce you to characters and give you a glimpse of them, and then turn them into protagonists for you to get to know even better; I feel like they are people I’ve met at a friend’s party who then become good friends on their own merit? It’s an incredibly skilled author who can achieve this in a story. I’m really hoping we get a future story following Wren, with maybe an enemies to lovers romance with Davith…

I started this series having only read the one novella by Kingfisher and hoping these books would be as good. I’ve discovered a series which I know I will come back to, that I’ll be recommending to everyone who will listen. The Saint of Steel series will be my yard stick for fantasy going forward, and I’ll treasure these stories.

Paladin’s Faith is available now, you can order your copy HERE