Reviewed: July 25th, 2023
Released: June 1st, 2023
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Eleven paladins walk into a monastery. Only one knows it’s a trap.
When Victoriana Greenmantle is summoned to represent her paladin order in an unusual quest, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Having just witnessed the horrific death of her mentor, she is barely a paladin at all. Worse, she has a trapped demon on her hands and if anyone discovers she hasn’t quite managed to cast it out, she will be made to suffer consequences worse than death.
The summoning requires Victoriana to journey to the newly revealed Aching Monastery and there to search for and recover the fabled Cup of Tears on behalf of her order.
But her order is not the only one seeking this relic. And her rivals are stronger, smarter, more experienced and just as motivated as she is. Will this cynical paladin have the faith to find the truth?
When Adalbrand Von Menticure is summoned to the Aching Monastery he is unamused. Far from his holy work healing the sick and injured, this quest seems a waste of his time. But when the murders start and he’s thrown together unwittingly with a young female paladin who keeps breaking all the rules and drawing everyone’s ire, he is forced to confront ghosts of his past. Can he push past his guilt to accept this tempting ally?
Together, these two holy paladins may be the only ones who can discover what or who is killing their compatriots and whether the Cup of Tears is really worth the bloodshed and danger within the monastery walls before time runs out and they are trapped forever.
A complicated mission, you say? Oh, but it gets worse, because forbidden love is slowly stalking them both, complicating everything, and leaving them each more vulnerable than they can afford to be in the face of a danger worse than either of them ever imagined.
Will this pair find strength in their strict discipline and holy orders in time to escape, or will they fall before the twin dangers of a rogue killer and an attraction more deadly than the simple risk of death?
Helen’s thoughts: 5/5
Of Deeds Most Valiant is a complex mix of wonderful prose, epic worldbuilding and intriguing characters. A mix I love!
Victoriana is a vagabond paladin, caught in a difficult situation, having had to kill a beloved master who was possessed by a demon. But her exorcism failed as the demon and the spirit of her mentor both jumped into her dog, and now she is plagued by both of their voices, and she’s having difficulty telling them apart.
Add to that a holy quest she has no choice but to accept and she finds herself in the company of ten other paladins, all more experienced and worthy than she is. But they should never underestimate the vagabond paladin, whether she is proven or not. Victoriana and Adalbrand are wonderful characters, and the chapters flip from one point of view to the other, so it is great to see events from both their POVs.
And so we enter a world of secrets, puzzles, deceit and brutal honesty. I love Wilson’s turn of phrase, her descriptive prose, those emotions she ekes out of the tiniest corners. One to be read a second time, as the motives and behaviours of the paladins, and the switching between their aspects and what their behaviour is supposed to be, means you must concentrate to keep track of them, and I’m sure I missed some nuances. All in all, a very clever magic system and a great read.
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If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series or the Romantic Fantasy SoulMist series. As a new threat against Remargaren is discovered, only one man can wake the ancient guards who can protect them, only he doesn’t know how. Start the adventure and stay for the journey. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
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