Paladin's Grace, by T. Kingfisher
May. 11th, 2020 11:52 amNot a perfect book but pretty much just what I wanted/needed to be reading right now. (thank you to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
michelel72 for reccing this book to me like a month and a half ago!) Kingfisher is reliably compelling and entertaining and good-hearted, and writes the kind of book I can just disappear into instead of being constantly distracted from reading by my other thoughts.
This is a romance novel and also a murder mystery in multiple directions and also one of the lead characters is a paladin whose god died. It's got a lot going on! But Grace and Stephen are both people who have been through really awful traumatizing things and have survived and manage to go on to find happiness even if their past never really leaves them, and it's lovely. Also my favourite nonbinary lawyer-priest Zale shows up again in this one and I love them a lot. Kind of makes up for the enormous amount of earnest guilt all the paladins have going on which I had to wade through. (Paladins are not exactly my character type.) I got rewarded with Zale's presence!
And I really loved Grace's profession as a perfumer, and how throughout the book she is always, always noticing what things and people smell like. And how competent and dedicated she is at her craft. I also loved the strong bonds between the 7 paladins and how much they clearly cared about each other, and also the friendship between Marguerite and Grace. I want to know more about Marguerite's story and everything she clearly has going on!
Also I find it really interesting how very, like, specifically Kingfisher's romance leads are interested in each other's bodies, it's not like "oh they're so hot" or whatever, the narrative makes it very clear exactly what they each find compelling about each other's bodies--and as someone who has literally never found anyone sexy ever I find it really interesting. I appreciate Kingfisher spelling it out for me instead of just assuming I understand sexual attraction. And somehow she does it in a way where I'm like, ok, sure, that's weird but I believe you, whereas in some romance novels when characters are busy being physically attracted to each other I'm just like YOU'RE ALL ALIENS AND NOT THE INTERESTING KIND. I think it's because Kingfisher's writing is just so no-nonsense about everything all the time. And also, on balance, her focus in this tends to be more on how the viewpoint character feels upon seeing or interacting with the other character's body, rather than on the objective attractiveness of the part in question.
(Also Kingfisher makes her leads believably interested in each other as people, not just sex objects, which I really appreciate and which definitely helps too.)
Anyway the ending of this book wraps up many things nicely but there is one specific plot thread which is very definitely left unsolved and aaaaaa I just want to knowwwwwwww!!! ( Read more... )
michelel72 for reccing this book to me like a month and a half ago!) Kingfisher is reliably compelling and entertaining and good-hearted, and writes the kind of book I can just disappear into instead of being constantly distracted from reading by my other thoughts.This is a romance novel and also a murder mystery in multiple directions and also one of the lead characters is a paladin whose god died. It's got a lot going on! But Grace and Stephen are both people who have been through really awful traumatizing things and have survived and manage to go on to find happiness even if their past never really leaves them, and it's lovely. Also my favourite nonbinary lawyer-priest Zale shows up again in this one and I love them a lot. Kind of makes up for the enormous amount of earnest guilt all the paladins have going on which I had to wade through. (Paladins are not exactly my character type.) I got rewarded with Zale's presence!
And I really loved Grace's profession as a perfumer, and how throughout the book she is always, always noticing what things and people smell like. And how competent and dedicated she is at her craft. I also loved the strong bonds between the 7 paladins and how much they clearly cared about each other, and also the friendship between Marguerite and Grace. I want to know more about Marguerite's story and everything she clearly has going on!
Also I find it really interesting how very, like, specifically Kingfisher's romance leads are interested in each other's bodies, it's not like "oh they're so hot" or whatever, the narrative makes it very clear exactly what they each find compelling about each other's bodies--and as someone who has literally never found anyone sexy ever I find it really interesting. I appreciate Kingfisher spelling it out for me instead of just assuming I understand sexual attraction. And somehow she does it in a way where I'm like, ok, sure, that's weird but I believe you, whereas in some romance novels when characters are busy being physically attracted to each other I'm just like YOU'RE ALL ALIENS AND NOT THE INTERESTING KIND. I think it's because Kingfisher's writing is just so no-nonsense about everything all the time. And also, on balance, her focus in this tends to be more on how the viewpoint character feels upon seeing or interacting with the other character's body, rather than on the objective attractiveness of the part in question.
(Also Kingfisher makes her leads believably interested in each other as people, not just sex objects, which I really appreciate and which definitely helps too.)
Anyway the ending of this book wraps up many things nicely but there is one specific plot thread which is very definitely left unsolved and aaaaaa I just want to knowwwwwwww!!! ( Read more... )
