Posted by I warned you about the binging. Not only did I read Paladin’s Faith, but I re-read the entire Saints of Steel series because there’s a character in the fourth book that was important in the first book. Although these are all stand alone books set in the same world (apparently my favorite way to write a series) I wanted to go back and find all the little hints, cameos, world building background info I missed the first time. (There’s a lot more to the world of the white rat than books in this series, there are multiple series that co-exist in this universe which is really neat, too). There are cameos from the Clockwork Boys that make into this book as well, and I wanted to go back and re-read those, too, but I have so many books on my TBR that I haven’t read I couldn’t justify it.
This is a story about a spy trying not to be killed by an old employer. Marguerite was featured as a side character in the first book of this series, Paladin’s Grace, where she’s the friend of Grace the perfumer. Marguerite works in the knowledge/spy industry, her source of pay is to find out interesting or leveraging information and sell it to the highest bidder. She’s adept at running in social circles, and had been doing fine up until recently where her old employer has decided she’s better off dead. Now, she’s not a superstar in the industry where everyone knows her by sight and now she’s a high end target. No, it’s more nuanced and painful than that. She’s not quite important enough to send a team to track her down wherever she goes. But if someone recognizes her and is an opportunist, they’ll probably take it. This makes trying to stay safe really difficult. If they were absolutely invested in having her dead right now she could hole herself away and wait for the attack and defend against it, but that’s not what’s happening. Marguerite goes to the Temple of the White Rat to seek help because that’s what they do, the White Rat helps people. They do agree to help but not just because of Marguerite’s issues, there could be larger things at play that could effect the economy of the world.
I do love that Marguerite was a bit different from her typical main characters. Usually T. Kingfisher writes female MCs that are a little more unsure of themselves and they might grow into their confidence later. Marguerite is very sure of herself and she’s very confident in social situations. She sleeps with people at random if it suits her needs and isn’t shy about it. She does question herself from time to time and she does get nervous from time to time, like anyone does, but she’s not anywhere near as insecure as many of her main characters she’s written in the past. She’s also attractive in the conventional sense, in that many men in-world find her beautiful. This is also a change from her norm, where many of her characters are plainer, or not quite as attractive conventionally to most people in-world.
Because there are so many books set in this world, there is an apparent “lived-in” feeling. This author has had a while to develop and think about this world and it shows. There’s a feeling of “deepness” to the world, small details dropped everywhere that hint at much more under the surface. They all interconnect if you’re paying attention which gives it a cohesive sense of realness. For a romance series, I find it really refreshing so much time was spent on setting and world and not just the characters.
For anyone who has read a T. Kingfisher book before, this book follows the same pattern she tends to write. I do sometimes sort of wish they were a little more varied. The love interest here feels very much the same as other books. All these love interests have mild differences, mostly differences in hobbies and surface level stuff. They might have different backgrounds, but the core of their being is still very much the same, which is basically extra polite and respectful. There was a line in here where Marguerite was pining over Shane, and she’s thinking to herself what his dirty talk might sound like, and she basically came to the conclusion it might be along the lines of, “I respect you fully as a person.” It’s funny because it’s true — and it could apply to most of T. Kingfisher’s love interests. I keep reading them though. There’s a certain mood you’re in where you want to be happy, you want to know what you’re getting, and to help you feel warm and fuzzy.
I would actually not recommend starting here for this series, you could start with any of the other three but because this one has repeat characters and some background info that relates directly to book 1, I’d recommend reading book 1 before book 4.
Overall this was a warm read that I’d recommend for any fantasy romance fans.
8/10 or 4/5 stars on Goodreads