The pinning that is a feature of this series is growing on me. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather have rivals to lovers than a whole lot of pinning but … yeah, it is growing on me. So yes, third book into the series, some characters from the previous book make appearances (look, I am a sucker for that, I love getting to check in with Stephen and super breifly Istvhan and Clara) as we follow another one ofthe Saint of Steel’s Paladin’s.
I do reference the previous two books from here on out, so there are some spoilers!
This time, it is Galen’s turn to pine and have some romance! I quite enjoyed Galen in Paladin’s Strength, so I was excited to see his turn in the spotlight. I will admit that I do not really remember Piper, the doctor/mortician from the first book, but I read the first book a while back . . And so I’ve forgotten some of the supporting characters.
This time, Galen and Piper are investigating some mysterious bodies that keep turning up. Not the same mysterious bodies that plagued the characters in the first two books, but you know it’s an urban city in a fantasy world setting. Of course, it’s got some dead body problems. Except the characters quickly deduce that solving this mystery is going to require a road trip, so Galen, Piper and Earstripe the gnole head out to do some investigating.
And to throw in a spoiler, the characters end up battling through some crazy death traps to get some resolution to what is going on. I really enjoyed this part. Like, I liked it a lot. Part of it was that I enjoyed reading as the characters were forced into close confinement and the way that the characters were all able to use their skills to problem-solve their way through. This wasn’t solving clues a la the trials in The Last Crusade, but I kept thinking of that as I was reading the book there was that kind of sense of fun to it.
Of course, as it goes with this series, the characters can deal with threats to their lives and problem-solve, but they take a little longer to solve their emotional damage and sort through their baggage. Again, this is growing on me, so even as I eye-rolled a bit at some of the hoops the characters mentally jumped through to justify why they couldn’t have what they wanted.
Like the previous book, I listened to this one on audio, and it was the same narrator as the previous book. Want to give a shout-out to the narrator Joel Richards. At first, I didn’t know if I could hear him be Galen and Piper when I thought he was the perfect Istvhan, but nope, he was great at giving voice to this story.
This one was shorter than the previous two, but it made sense for the plot. Sure, I love T Kingfisher’s writing, and I would love it if she wrote some encyclopedia-length novels, but this story felt told, and like it didn’t need extra to it.
Until the end. When the book just …. made me wish I had the next book in the series right away. Thankfully, the library provides! And I’m excited to keep this series read going, but also kind of sad that book 4 is the most recent one published, and after I finish that, I’ll have to wait for any future installments. I will have to pine for future installments if you will.