The Saint of Steel Series by T. Kingfisher

I am hopelessly in love with T. Kingfisher’s Saint of Steel series, and I only wish I had not taken so long to read them. Last year I picked up my first book by T. Kingfisher, The Hollow Places, a horror novel that haunts me to this day. Since then, I have been scooping up every book of hers I could get my hands on. The Saint of Steel series was recommended to me a few years ago, but I hadn’t had a chance to read them yet. When Orbit UK released the images of these covers, I was swept away. They are gorgeous, stunning. And I ordered them from Blackwell’s in the UK and dove right in as soon as they came in.

And I utterly devoured them. I think I read all four books in just a few days, and this is unsurprising because these books are romantasy perfection. And it has all kinds of love and all kinds of characters and it is everything love should be. Beautiful, trusting, timeless, unyielding.

Paladin’s Grace is the first book of the series in which we meet Stephen, a paladin of the Saint of Steel, trying to move on after his god died three years earlier. He mostly lives and works for the White Rat, an organization that took in all the broken paladins left. They give them a place to eat, sleep and work and feel useful again while they heal. One night he runs into a woman Grace in an alley and saves her life. Grace is a perfumer running from her past. When she meets Stephen, sparks immediately fly. But with a killer on the lose in the city, it’s a dangerous time…

Paladin’s Strength is the second book in the series and follows another paladin, Istvhan as he travels across the continent on the hunt for a killer. On the way he runs into a nun, Clara, who is on the hunt to find the men who kidnapped her sisters and destroyed her home. Istvhan’s first instinct is to just ignore helping Clara as they are traveling with different purposes. But Istvhan can’t deny the parts of him that make him a paladin and agrees to help Clara locate her sisters. As they travel together, he becomes more and more in awe of her strength and courage. But there’s more than meets the eye to Clara, and she’s wary to get too close to anyone in case they discover who she really is.

Paladin’s Hope follows lich-doctor Piper and paladin Galen, both of whom you meet in earlier books. Piper is often called upon to help investigate the cause of death for the city guard. When people start turning up dead, one gnole constable wants to investigate against the orders of his captain. Piper agrees with him and with the help of paladin Galen, the three set out to find out what’s going on. But when they come to a house in the countryside to ask some routine questions, they are instead thrust together into a labyrinth of traps and have to work together to escape. Piper, so often used to working alone, and Galen, so worried he’s falling into madness, must work together to survive, even if it means falling in love along the way.

Paladin’s Faith is the last book currently set in the series but not the last book in the White Rat books (more on that later). I was really eager to get to this one because I knew it had to follow Marguerite, a spy and closest friend to Grace from book one. Marguerite is on the run as a lot of people would like to see her dead. When she comes across a massive plot that could change the world, she knows she has to investigate as doing so would likely save her life. But she can’t go alone, so she enlists the help of Shane, another paladin living and working with the White Rat. Together, the two have to infiltrate a court of the wealthy in order to unravel the mystery and save their lives. The problem is they are both wildly attracted to each other and Shane is trying so hard to remain professional…

At the time I started this series, I thought it was finished. When I got to the end of book 4 I was screaming because I thought there is absolutely no way this can be the end. Good news, it’s not! T. Kingfisher shared on her website that she has a total of seven books planned. And also, she has written other books set in this universe I still have to read (Swordheart, Clocktaur War).

It’s hard to squish these reviews into one post, but let me just say this series is utterly gorgeous. This is romance and fantasy at its finest, and there are so many amazing characters in each book, I loved watching them fall in love. I love that the stories were connected but separate. T. Kingfisher keeps building on the world and the lore with each book, so you’re left wanting more and more. I would really like to see a book about Beartongue though, just saying. She is my favorite of all the side characters we met.

The Saint of Steel series showcases T. Kingfisher’s amazing writing style. These books blend romance, fantasy and humor with elements of horror. It is quintessentially a melting pot of genres woven into one story, and it is goddamn perfect. I am so excited to keep reading when the next ones are released!