Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Dirty Little Town: A River City Novel by Frank Zafiro

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Dirty Little Town: A River City Novel by Frank Zafiro

Scott's Take: Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher (The Saints of Steel series)

Paladin’s Strength by T.  Kingfisher is the second book in The Saints of Steel series that began with Paladin’s Grace. Each book in the series spotlights a different Paladin.

 

In this one, the Paladin featured is Ishtvan, a large man who sort kind of leads what is left of “The Saints of Steel.” Ishtvan and Galen (another character from the previous book) are, allegedly, providing escort for a merchant who is in fear of bandit attack. The real mission is that they are hunting the head cutting off people from the first book.

 

Things are going slow, but predictable, until Clara, a slave who is actually a nun, is won in a duel with the locals. As soon as they have her, Clara says she is not the only nun that has been kidnapped. She and the rest of her fellow nuns were taken away during a fire at their convent. Someone has kidnapped a group of nuns for some reason.

 

Of course, Clara and Ishtvan are hiding things from the other, but agree to work each with each other. Of course, there is some sort of attraction between the two of them from the moment they lay eyes on each other. As they search for the nun kidnappers as well as the folks cutting off heads, they become closer.  And that’s the plot-- can their connection survive each other’s secrets?

 

If you like the first book, this is a lot like it, but with different main characters. Ishtvan here and Stephen from the first book share a lot in common since they were picked by the same God. Their main driving emotions are duty and guilt. Clara is more of an action hero character, than a typical Kingfisher female lead, because of her own secrets. I enjoyed this book, but it has the same flaws as the first book. The fact that the god being dead does not matter and that the read is very predictable as it follows the usual template.

 

The third act has some horror elements that were unexpected. They also did not fit the tone of the book. They were a surprise and did not seem to be a natural outgrowth of the story.

 

The third book in the series is Paladin’s Hope. According to the plot synopsis, Piper is a “lich doctor” (basically a fantasy version of a coroner). He teams up with Galen (the same Galen from this book), to investigate a grisly series of murders. Galen, who suffers from violent night terrors, is supposed to protect Piper while he works. Of course, Galen wants to do more than just protect him or the read would not be a romance fantasy book. But, can Galen control himself?  They are assisted in their investigation by a Gnole. What is a Gnole you ask? Think dog/monkey/goat hybrid thing and far more helpful than the man/bear/pig on Southpark. Yes, Gnoles are also weird.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4fbKEE5

 

 

 

My reading copy came through Hoopla and the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2026 

Scott's Take: Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher (The Saint of Steel series)

 

Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher is the first book in the series,  The Saint of Steel. It is also set in the overarching “The World of the White Rat” universe that covers several different series.

 

Stephen, the main male character, is a Paladin that has fallen in to depression. What is a Paladin, you ask? A Paladin is usually a heroic figure that derives their powers from a god. They are the knights of a God. For want of a better way of putting it, they have a sort of psychic spiritual connection to a god that gives them powers, guidance, and support.

 

The Saint of Steel (a god) is considered dead since his prescence is no longer felt by his followers. Many of those psychically connected followers having lost that connection, became adrift, and could not handle the loss of the presence of the god. Some died in battle. Some went completely insane. Many of them killed themselves.

 

As the book opens three years later, Stephen and 6 others remain, and have united together to survive. Stephen stumbles into an assassination plot that involves a local perfume maker named Grace. Soon Stephen and others are attempting to uncover the truth of what is going on. Additionally, Stephen is also involved in the secondary storyline involving murders and decapitation.

 

This is a romance fantasy book that follows Kingfisher’s usual plot beats. So, you get a lot of character development, action, comedy, romance, and characters dealing with their past. As expected, the read is a fantasy featuring romance type characters in their mid-thirties or so in a medieval style world. Her books are a little repetitive and follow a sort of template that applies across multiple series.

 

It usually takes me to Chapter Five before I start liking the characters enough to stay with the read. Despite what you read on the synopsis on Goodreads and elsewhere, the idea of the god being dead is not a substantial part of the book. Some plot threads lead into the next book, Paladin’s Strength.

 

There are currently 4 books out in this series and 3 more planned. There are also several  other series that tie into this series. So, there is a lot to read if you are interested in this type of book.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3T0RIMw

 

 

I read this in digital format by way of the Libby/Overdrive App through the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2026

Scott's Take: Marvel Tales by J. Michael Straczynski, Will Robson (Illustrator), Bernard Chang (Illustrator), Elena Casagrande (Illustrator), and Leinil Yu (Cover Art)

 

Marvel Tales by J. Michael Straczynski (usually referred to as JMS), Will Robson (Illustrator), Bernard Chang (Illustrator), Elena Casagrande (Illustrator), and Leinil Yu (Cover Art), is a series of one shots (stand-alone single issue stories) collected here that I read through Marvel Unlimited. Most of these are team ups or vs between two characters except for Spider-Man vs the Sinister Sixteen. Rocket Raccoon and Dr Doom team up, Captain America and Volstagg (Thor’s friend) team up, while there is Ghost Rider vs Galactus, Nick Fury takes on Fing Fang Foom (Space Dragon), and other interesting tales.

 

These are fun interesting stories. Some of which are funny. I enjoyed all of them. My favorite was Rocket and Doom’s team up but The Volstagg, Nick Fury ones made me see the characters in a new light. The Spider-Man was the funniest. The plot in the Spider-man has various heroes like Thor, Strange, more trying to share a nice dinner while villains are eating in the same French Restaurant.

 

Each team up or vs are fun reads that shake things up by putting characters together who usually don’t get to team up except for Hulk and Strange. They team up a lot. I think this is a read worth reading.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3XFHGzv

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Throwing Shadows by Claire Booth

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Throwing Shadows by Claire Booth