The Painter Knight

by Fiona Patton

Reviewed by Coral

This is the second book published in the Branion Realm series, but the third book chronologically.

Simon is a simple court painter, but his talent earned him a place in the court of the Aristok Marsellus the Third.

Though they are of two different faiths, Simon stands by Marsellus through the grief and madness that follows the death of Marsellus’ wife. But Simon can do nothing to protect his friend from the traitors who send assassins to kill the Aristok. The only thing Simon can do is protect Marsellus’ young daughter. He must find a way to smuggle her from the capitol and find an ally unconnected to the assassination.

But when Simon himself is named as a conspirator in the murder of Marsellus, how can he hope to protect the heir to the Living Flame?

First off, I want to say that I was disappointed that this book wasn’t a direct sequel to The Stone Prince. I also wish that the series had been written in order so that book one was actually the first book chronologically as well, which doesn’t seem to be the case in this series. I think each book is set in an earlier time period than the books before.

I had some trouble with a couple of the main plot points in the book. Why would an assassin suddenly betray her code to reveal details of the assassination attempt to Simon? Why would a man whose visions helped shape the conspiracy against Marsellus turn on the people he was working with when he realized his visions had been wrong? A lot it felt like things were only happening because they needed to happen for Simon to have any idea of what was going on, regardless of if they made sense of not.

Truthfully, I lost interest in the book after the assassin randomly betrayed her code but I kept reading, hoping it still end up being an enjoyable book. Instead, I was left feeling disappointed.

Grade: C