Paladin's Strength, by T Kingfisher

Paladins aren't really my thing and paladin romances aren't really my thing, but T. Kingfisher's writing really is, so here I am again! I am riveted by her world, and her plot, and her characters, and her narrative voice, and this book delivers as always.

But the romance. Sigh. Kingfisher knows how to write one type of romance and it is getting old. Especially all the talk of very large breasts. Okay, we get it, you're distracted by how sexually attracted you are to the other person's body, including at inconvenient moments, let's move on to the actually interesting things, shall we?

But there's lots of interesting things in between all the inconvenient sexy thoughts, so you know, worth it! I just think the book would have been better if it were in a different genre than romance :P

I did really like though that the book featured a romance heroine who is Very Large And Tall And Strong, And Has A Hearty Appetite Commensurate With Her Size And Physical Activity. Not a body type that's often allowed to be a romance heroine! This was great.

Anyway, the plot point of the mysterious headless/head-only murder victims from the last book in the series is picked up again, plus extra plot from the Order of St Ursa, which results in our two leads (Clara and Istvhan) travelling together on a road trip (Kingfisher sure likes those! And I do too, so we're good there :D) as they pursue their quests.

The book is uh.....gorier and creepier than I usually go for, but it works for me when it's Kingfisher writing.

I do feel uncomfortable about one aspect of the book.

cut for spoilers

They discover the person who's been making the evil clay murder-heads, and it turns out he's neurodivergent in some way, and he didn't mean to be evil he just wanted someone to love him, and then he dies at the end. Do not love this as rep; it falls into some real unfortunate stereotypes. I'm certain this was something where the author just didn't think through the implications, as she's usually careful about representation, but still--do not like.

Honestly the part about this that got to me the most, though, even though it's really fairly minor, was that when Clara and Istvhan are talking to him to get information, they don't give him false names. Instead they use his brain problems and his perceptions of his own failings against him to just....never give him their names at all. Multiple times over the course of the conversation. I hated this SO much. It felt viscerally Bad.

At any rate though, I continue to be invested in the series and will definitely be reading whatever comes out next!