Paladin’s Faith is the fourth book in T. Kingfisher’s The Saint of Steel series. In this book a spy named Marguerite approaches Bishop Beartongue with a request for help and an offer. The request for help is because an trade organization called The Red Sail considers Marguerite to be a loose end (that must be chopped off). The offer involves rescuing an artificer The Red Sail has also targeted because the artificer can create a device that will cut into their profits by a considerable amount. (It involves a quicker way to process salt. Salt is actually extremely important as a preservative and for other reasons that get listed in the book!) Marguerite figures if she can’t get them off her back, she can at least completely ruin them.
Now, the reason Marguerite is specifically asking the Temple of the White Rat for help is because The Temple could use a cheaper source of salt due to their various social support projects, and would be willing to help her with this mission. The other reason is that she wants bodyguards. Specifically, she wants paladin bodyguards, because anyone else might get suborned. (And the Temple of the White Rat is hosting/supporting/supervising the remaining paladins of the Saint of Steel.) Bishop Beartongue decides to support the mission as proposed by Marguerite. The paladins assigned to the mission are Shane and Wren. Shane has issues and no clue of what to do about his attraction to Marguerite. Wren is an overall charming “little sister” character…if your little sister were a berserker.
Paladin’s Faith goes in some interesting and unexpected directions. (Though is it really unexpected when you expect the author to go in unexpected directions?) We get some more clues as to how and why the Saint of Steel died, and encounter a demon with ambition. Shane gets over some of his issues and we have a more or less happy ending. (Happy for Shane and Marguerite, less happy for the Order of the Dreaming God–who apparently have absolutely crap organization in regards to their investigations.) I liked the building relationship between Shane and Marguerite. There was some “misunderstanding because miscommunication” but it was a very organic misunderstanding based in extremely different professions and therefore very different ways of thinking.
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