BOOKS | Review: Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

Name: Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel #2)

Author: T. Kingfisher

Publisher: Orbit

Date published: April 2025

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance

Pages: 448

Rating: 5/5

He’s a paladin of a dead god, tracking a supernatural killer across a continent. She’s a nun from a secretive order, on the trail of the raiders who burned her convent and kidnapped her sisters.
When their paths cross at the point of a sword, Istvhan and Clara will be pitched headlong into each other’s quests, facing off against enemies both living and dead. But Clara has a secret that could jeopardize the growing trust between them, a secret that will lead them to the gladiatorial pits of a corrupt city, and beyond...

- From Goodreads. 

This was as equally delightful as the first Saint of Steel book. T. Kingfisher has a wonderfully funny writing style and a great skill at writing characters who are full of personality and life.

I really adored the romance in this story, both Clara and Istvhan were so endearing, even when they were at their most awkward and felt like they were messing things up. They were both so thoughtful and caring and it was lovely to see them realise their feelings for each other and to see them work together and look out for each other.

It was thrilling following the mystery set up in the first book and to see how it came to a conclusion, I think it was very clever and unique and I am curious to see what mysteries will unfold in the next books! 

I'm really enjoying this series so far, and I'm excited to see how it continues, what new characters we'll meet and where the storyline will go. I think T. Kingfisher has built a very fascinating world with plenty of room to explore so it will be fun to find out more about it. 

BOOKS | Review: Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan

Name: Jade Fire Gold

Author: June C.L. Tan

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Date published: November 2024

Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, adventure

Pages: 464

Rating: 3/5 

 

Her destiny. His revenge.
In an empire on the brink of war...
Ahn is no one, with no past and no family.
Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child.
When they meet, Altan sees in Ahn a path to reclaiming the throne. Ahn sees a way to finally unlock her past and understand her lethal magical abilities.
But they may have to pay a far deadlier price than either could have imagined.

- From Goodreads. 

This had a lot of potential and I did enjoy reading it, especially in the beginning, but I think I struggled with the pacing and the way the plot unfolded. There were a lot of plot threads that were only touched on briefly that I thought could have been explored more, but since this seems to be a stand-alone for now, we won't get to find out any more about them.

I did like our two main characters, but I felt Jin had a stronger personality and journey, while with Ahn I felt like the writing for her wasn't so certain and it felt like we needed more time to really understand who she was and what she wanted. It also felt like we spent a lot of time on the build up of the romance between them, for it not to really get anywhere, and I think the romance storyline could have been stronger, if the author had really committed to making this a really powerful love story between them, either that or made it two books and built up the friendship in the first book and focused on the romance in the second book.

The world-building had a lot of interesting elements, once again that I think would have been fascinating to explore more if there had been more time, it felt like there was a lot more depth to the world that we didn't get to see and that could have been intriguing to learn more about.

Overall, I think the premise and the ideas in the story were great, but it was a bit disappointing that the story didn't live up to its potential when it could have been really great if there had been more follow-through on the things it set up.