The Paladin's Shadow

I loved the bigger insight we got into the religion of the world in this one. Fantasy religions are one of my favorite things the dive into when I'm reading and I loved how Lark approached them in this one. I normally don't read books where the deities have an actual presence and impact on the story because I find that often authors make it so they're cruel and controlling and they just hurt mortals for no good reason and I don't like that, but I did like the deities that popped up and got speaking time in this book. It made the plot much more interesting than if they hadn't had a speaking role at all.

Karis and Ronan's relationship was nice. Definitely not my favorite, especially with the whole captor/captive dynamic they had going for a while and the choices that Ronan made sometimes, but I don't dislike them over all. I like where they ended up at the end of the story, especially the scene with them in the altar room. If you know you know. That was VERY satisfying to me personally.

I've really enjoyed this world so far! Can't wait to crack into the final book.

C.A.P.E Rating:Characters - 4/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Plot - 4/5
Enjoyment - 4/5

I enjoyed this a lot. It was fun seeing into the mind of the “villain” from the first novel. And learning about Karis and his secret talents was also interesting. This book also really ramped up the stakes compared to the first novel.