4.5⭐ "He killed eight nuns and two guards," said the warden behind her. She could hear the glower without turning around. "In fairness," said the prisoner, holding up a finger, "it was three nuns and five novices. And I was possessed at the time."

My reviews of T.Kingfisher's work are always similar: "It's so funny, it's so smartly written, the characters are most wonderfully relatable/life-like, what an absolute delight!" One might wonder why something so... straightforward in terms of plot would require a duology, especially as they're quite short, and I get that, I do understand how someone could think it felt like going off on side quests for nothing instead of advancing the plot and my answer is: if it's well written and funny, I really don't care. I was snickering the whole time, every character is enjoyable to watch and impossible not to love (even the mysoginist priest, how shocking! Now that's a redemption arc!). T. Kingfisher is forever a sure bet for me

"Learned Edmund is apparently afraid that if he sleeps on your floor, your feminine exhalations will cause his genitals to wither and his bowels to turn to water. That's a direct quote, by the way."

4.25⭐ "My eyes find the one thing in this world that matters. Tempestra-Innara. My Goddess. My blood mother. My godsdamned curse. A third choice emerges, one for me alone: the desire to see them fall before I do."

This hits so many marks:

• Explosive start. With a Fantasy with a whole new religion, different groups within it, a 'magic' system derived from it, etc, you could expect a slow start and a lot of info-dumbing, but instead it goes straight into explosive action right off the bat, and spreads out the lore throughout the book.

• Good, funny narrative voice. Lys is cheeky and sarcastic, full of fire while hiding behind humour; and while it's not incredibly novel, it's fun and entertaining to read.

• Steady development of the dynamic between Lys and Nolan. Their pairing up for their mission forces them to develop a wary, fragile trust and makes their dynamic very believable and natural.

• Compelling themes. I love a religious trauma theme, what can I say. The loving facade hiding the violence of forceful conversion, the interpretations of the 'divine words/will' by their followers to justify their evil acts, the beauty of places of worship built upon the poverty of its pilgrims, and above all the dichotomy of Lys's feelings towards her Goddess. She hates her for ripping her away from her life as a child, for the weapon she turned her into, for the violence her faith brings, and wants her dead to get her freedom back, but she also can't help seeking her approuval and basking in her attention and her light. I love the complexity of that relationship although I wish we'd had more time/interactions between them before going off on a mission, to really get into the "possitive" aspect of those feelings.

• Great ending. Even having guessed early on what the twist would be at the end, the circumstances of it and the twists on the way to get there were really done and had be gasping a few times.

The pacing slowed a bit in the middle and the world building could have done with a bit more expanding, but I have high hopes for book 2

"I'm sorry, did—did you name your horse Moritmer?" "Sure did." I cross my arms. Prior Petronilla wouldn't let us name the horses at the Cloister, but she's not here and my new horse friend is. Got a problem with it?" Another probing, quizzical look. But he shakes his head. "Good, because your horse is named Buttons."