Swordheart
Ratings66
Average rating4
Always a great storyteller and I stay up way to late reading her stories. Often giggling.
She always has a new angle on the classic tropes - this one being a magical sword and respectable widow on an adventure. Slowly because of Prettyfoot the ox.
A weirdly light-hearted book about a magical sword man and his wielder (who he'd like to be wielded by in a different way...). It was delightful and though the journey could have been cut down towards the end, it was still an enjoyable low stakes fantasy read.
A housekeeper picks up a sword, which turns out to contain a swordsman who is obliged to protect its wielder.
The ending was a bit cheesy but otherwise a wholesome fantasy-romance book.
Another wonderful story from T. Kingfisher. This had great characters and a unique concept. Overall a lot of fun.
There are days when you want a book to be predictable - or at least, predictable in the sense of quality. Like: you know this is going to be good, even before you've even opened it. And that was definitely the case with this novel: I knew it was going to be good, even before I'd opened it, because it was by T. Kingfisher and it was set in the World of the White Rat. And while the story and characters were different from the Clocktaur War duology and the Saint of Steel series, it was still an incredible, feel-good read. Definitely, DEFINITELY recommend to anyone who's looking for a oneshot intro to T. Kingfisher's fantasy novels.
Tad bit more angst, moral grayness and murder than I expected, but overall, fairly fluffy romantasy with enough adventure plot and character development to keep me interested. Frequent bursts of hysterical giggling suggest T. Kingfisher can bring the humour regardless of genre. The HEA's never really in doubt.
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Zale is marvelous non-binary rep, they are simply they/them with no further discussion needed, fully fleshed out as a person, wry and wise - and a priest-lawyer is an invention I'm now surprised hasn't shown up in fiction before.
I gather from the cover promotion this book is set in the same world as other books written by this author, but since I hadn't read them and in no way felt like I was missing anything, I can vouch for the ability to read it as a standalone.
Head cannon: The whole book I couldn't help wondering if T. Kingfisher saw that scene (read that scene?) in The Princess Bride about “there's a shortage of perfect breasts in the world, ‘twould be a pity to damage yours” and just built an entirely different story out of that scenario.
Always appreciate a mature heroine without interest in having children.
Kudos on the truly creepy new forest cryptid.
Not a particularly kind depiction of someone uninterested in sex, or maybe just not interested in sex with a particular individual, unfortunately a situation where we're not getting the experience from that individual's own perspective, just mentioned repeatedly in passing by another, for plot. 🫤
⚠️suicidal ideation
Good, lighthearted and fun book. I think it could have added more character depth while still being as cozy as it is, but overall, if you want something to relax to and feel warm and cozy, this fits the bill.