After writing my original review, I kept wondering if a different format might suit me better for this book. So I borrowed the ebook, and wow did that make a world of difference. I could skip and skim the inner monologues until they lessened. A little after mid-way through the book, the plot really picked up, the two main characters started interacting more – with each other and with others that can knock some sense into them, other things started happening to keep them busy and distracted (action! suspense! sex!), and it was much more fun.
The assassination situation gets resolved. We get more information about the decapitations, but that thread seems to show up in the next book(s) as well. Stephen and Grace are cute when they finally get together (spoilers? It’s a romance, so doesn’t seem like a spoiler). Honestly, all of the protagonists are quite endearing, a bit quirky, and just delightful. The story is wrapped up quite satisfactorily with enough threads that I assume the other books in the series will pick up. All in all a good read (minus the mopey inner monologues).
On to the next!
Original Review Below:
I didn’t know going into reading Paladin’s Grace that it was a romance. The blurb on Goodreads comes across as a murder-mystery crossed with fantasy. The beginning of the book is very much in keeping with that genre expectation. Until the second main character’s name is given. She doesn’t introduce herself to Stephen – the Paladin, who we meet first – straight away. There’s a meet cute, then they part ways. Then we get her name from her interaction with her friend. That’s when it dawned on me that it was a romance. Her name is Grace. Stephen is the Paladin. Paladin’s Grace. Ha.
I don’t typically have beef with romance. It’s not the main genre I read, but I’m game to try it now and again. Who doesn’t like a HEA after a slow burning sexual tension? However, I’m also not a terribly patient person or reader. So, when the slow burn winds up being repetitive self deprecation and whingeing inner monologues, the quirky supposed-to-be-murder-mystery-slash-fantasy-turned-romance-I-guess becomes more of a chore than a joy. Which I’m honestly bummed and irritated about.
I have begrudgingly DNFed at about 45% of the audiobook. I cannot listen to Grace and Stephen’s pitiful inner monologues about how sad/broken/undesirable they each think they themselves are and also how great/perfect/hot/good smelling the other person is which is exactly why they (Stephen/Grace) will never love them (Grace/Stephen) back. It’s a real shame because the plot that’s in the background and the characters themselves (when they’re not whingeing) all seem very interesting!
A batch of paladin’s that have lost their god and many of their compatriots are just trying to do their level best to keep paladin-ing even without their god, each with their own quirks? Delightful. A service-minded order who has taken them in and is doing its best to care for the community while other orders and the ruler seem not to care (very nonprofit sector coded)? Yes, please. A charming perfume maker and her sassy spy BFF? Hell yeah. Thwarted assassination, mystery decapitations, weird side characters, intrigue, and a world that feels like a D&D campaign? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Unfortunately, for me, the inner monologues are far too loud (figuratively) and repetitive. Maybe I would like this better if I were reading a physical copy – then I could more easier skip the parts that make me roll my eyes? Maybe I would like it better with a different narrator? It’s been a while since I tried audiobooks, and his voice for Grace doesn’t do her any favors. I might give it another go before I have to return the copy to the library. To be fair, I imagine Stephen and Grace will be quite cute together once that finally happens, and I do really want to know what’s the deal with the assassination attempt and the decapitations.
