Lonesome Paladin

Lonesome Paladin (A Fistful of Daggers 1) by SM Reine

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This story has a very complicated setting. Apparently, at some point in the past, North America split in two, releasing Hell. Demons enslaved and murdered average Americans, and, I assume, the world. It seems that the City of Dis was placed on the Earth and that demons ran the joint. Then, there was something called “the Breaking,” which led to “Genesis,” when people were sucked into a void, where they died, but, then, some were reborn. A lot were reborn as people, but some became vampires, weres, sidhe, and assorted other paranormal species. In addition, it seems that alternate dimensions - specifically, the Summer, Winter, and Autumn Courts of the Sidhe - have come into existence.

Got all that?

That is some complicated stuff, and not much of it plays any particular role in the story, except to serve as decoration for the story.

The story seems to center around Lincoln Marshall, who was a former deputy of a rural Appalachian town, but who was reincarnated in Reno, Nevada after Genesis. We learn from the story that he was possessed by a demon before Genesis, and it seems that he was saved from possession by his girlfriend, who is called the “Godslayer” because she killed God.

All that happened before this book starts, although it is constantly mentioned without any explanation about how any of it was possible or what it meant for Lincoln.

Lincoln is presented from the outset as an obnoxious homophobe who hates the supernatural people around him. He starts by gay/fairy bashing a pair of were-coyotes, who kick his ass. He is put in the hospital, where he meets Cesar, the undersecretary of the Office of Preternatural Affairs, which covers the supernatural beat. Cesar seems like a decent person, but he is undergoing some surprising changes after being a witch allergic to magic prior to Genesis and then a mere human after Genesis.

This is some complicated stuff.

Cesar's difficulties result in Cesar being sent to the land of the Sidhe, where his sister is - no kidding - the Queen of the Winter Court, because she can help him or so the head of the OPA thinks.

In Fairyland, Lincoln and Cesar meet Sophie who is The Historian, but not much is disclosed about her, except that she knows about gods who existed in prior cycles. Cesar, Sophie and Lincoln have adventures, culminating in a confrontation with a former god. Then, there is some kind of ending where Lincoln - who gets offended when people mention the existence of Gods - is let into a new god's temple, but that's the hook to read the next book.

I actually didn't mind the complexity of the imagined world. The writing moved along. There was enough adventure to keep my interest.

The problem I had with this book is that the author clearly has no sympathy for Lincoln. Although he is presented as a tough dude, he is constantly getting his ass kicked. It isn't even close; his fights generally end up with him failing spectacularly, unless he is rescued by someone or some odd circumstance. (I might give him credit for the unicorns, but he botched his plan so badly that he really deserved to lose.)

There is one scene where Lincoln is given a gelded unicorn to ride, but it trips and he is lifted by the Summer Queen into her saddle to ride double. So, there you are the burly man is rescued by the damsel.

You could see this coming a mile away. Lincoln starts off as a homophobic fairy hater and then he demonstrates that he is a racist by saying that he is not attracted to black women - Sophie is black, which leads to that observation. If the reader is slow on the uptake, Cesar explains that Lincoln is a racist and that Sophie should be careful around him.

Then in the final denouement, we learn that Lincoln is harboring part of the soul of a large-breasted female goddess, which leads other characters to laugh at the burly man with the girly soul.

Weird stuff.

It is hard to root for the hero of a story when that character exists to be a buffoon.

I was sufficiently interested in the story, however, to buy the next installment, so that indicates that story made enough of a sale that the low price was not an obstacle.