The Fallen Paladin's Riddle

by C. Y. Russ

Xiomara was a Paladin of the Quill, a holy order dedicated to protecting the borders of the land with runes and her own body. When the Creeping Darkness threatened a Sanctuary, she gave everything that she had to contain it. Now, alone and bitter and lost, she receives a book from her mentor detailing a legend that may just have the power to save her if she can pull it off.

Rhyland is Outcast, from everything that he knows and his only company is the strange visions that have lived in his head since before his memories.

So when a portal opens, when a promise is offered, will two hurting, broken people find the courage to walk side by side and discover how to mend both the scars left by the past and the Creeping Shadow that threatens the future?

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

144 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2023

Reviews

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had good bones, an original idea, but the writing was amateur hour and it was full of typos. The author has not mastered the art of “show, don’t tell.” There is very little action or dialogue, and whilst the scenery in the corrupted land was well described, the non-corrupted locations were not given nearly as much attention to detail, so it’s missing that contrast. Most of the book reads like the narrator is already bored by the plot and just trying to get it over with so we can get to the next point. The emotional highs and lows didn’t pack much of a punch.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the prose in this book and the characters were really intricately crafted.

I felt a bit disoriented, though--I had to go back and reread a lot to see if I had missed something, because there was a lot of information that I think simply wasn't really presented on-page. It felt like it was a piece of a longer story--I think because it started after Xiomara's exile, so I always felt a bit like I'd missed something, even if I hadn't actually missed something in the story itself. This feeling faded over time but it did make some areas more confusing for me.

Overall though I found this story really inventive and interesting and I wanted to know more--never a bad thing.