Book 6 of 2024: Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)

Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3) by T. Kingfisher.

Quick synopsis: Two men fall in instant-lust, spend the book angsting about why they can't be together, occasionally have sex.

Plot: It feels silly to even talk about the plot at all. The plot only existed to give the main characters something to do while angsting.

Piper is a lich-doctor (basically a coroner). Galen is a paladin of a dead god. Both men are gorgeous in different ways. The moment they see each other, they fall into lust at first sight and a week later both love the other. But for completely stupid reasons, neither feels the other wants him.

Then for the 50%-60% middle the book they have sex (yes, really, 10% of it), then they go back to angsting until the end of the story.

The plot involved hunting down a murderer, but it really wasn't believable at all and was secondary to the angsting.

Writing/editing: The writing was good. The editing was good as well (I spotted only two issues).

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: Lord. This book series is just not for me. I read book #1 and #2 a year ago, but waited to read #3 in hopes of forgetting the fact that this author does the Same Damned Thing in every book. Two characters fall in insta-lust, spend the entire book angsting about why they can't be together.

This author can write, I love her other stuff, but I was endlessly rolling my eyes while reading this one. I should have DNFed it, but it was a really fast read so I just kept going.

I LOVE the worldbuilding in this series. I wish she'd write a book without the insta-lust/angst and focus on plot and the world.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: 2. I hate to rate her work so low, but 2 is being generous.