T. Kingfisher

Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly inherited her great-uncle's estate... and, unfortunately, his relatives. Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in a prison of enchanted steel. When Halla draws the sword that imprisons him, Sarkis finds himself attempting to defend his new wielder against everything from bandits and roving inquisitors to her own in-laws... and the sword itself may prove to be the greatest threat of all.

Swordheart

I don’t know if it was because I listened to it, but I just had the hardest time keeping track of what was going on. 

Sarah Sammis

** spoiler alert **
           This book has three distinct parts: the journey out, the journey back, and the final confrontation. The journey out serves to introduce Halla and Sarkis and their very different backgrounds. Halla is a middle aged woman who has a set of life experiences and skills that don't overlap at all with swordwielding. Sarkis had a life as a warrior centuries earlier before being enchanted into the sword. Now he's sat for a very long time in deed as a wall decoration and is depressed by how much things have change. And yet, he's duty bound to serve Halla.

The trip back involves a Priest of the White Rat, a gnole, an ox, and lots and lots of theories as to how being an enchanted sword works. It's also an exploration into the worlds' religions, politics, and changing landscape.

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Scarecrow / Minotaur	Home	Cornfield	9966FF

Sandrin

Any angry man stuck in sword for a number of centuries is a baby girl to me.

This being the third book I've read from Kingfisher I can say that they are a master of writing dialogue. Every character had a specific voice which was easily recognizable, funny, and charming. The banter was just the perfect amount - not too much, not too little. 

What I do feel the story lacked is the proper worldbuilding element. The fantasy felt kinda bland and grey. At times it even looked as if it was somewhat in the way, hindering the overall flow of the plot which was also more on the boring side, maybe because the author was focusing on the romance aspect. Fortunately, the characters make up for it with their entertaining shenanigans.

Sweet and funny romantic fantasy adventure

Megan BV

I've had this on my radar for so long, and I'm glad I finally decided to pick it up. Kingfisher has such a way of crafting cheeky, fun fantasy/adventure stories, and I find them so entertaining. Her books are always easy to read. I loved Halla and Sarkis's relationship. It was so funny watching her pepper him with endless questions. Their romance was cute but didn't wow me. Also, I thought there wasn't enough going on with the plot to justify it being as long as it was. It drags in the middle, and I think if it were 50-100 pages shorter, it would've helped the story flow better. It's not my favorite of hers, but it was entertaining, and I'd still recommend it if you're looking for a whimsical but still-dark fantasy.

Heather Harrington

Joycelyn Ghansah

I don't even know what to say about the book. So much happened but I can't remember. All I do remember is that they loved each other.

Amanda

The good parts were good, the bad parts were boring and/or annoying.

The lead was dumb and annoying, the romance was boring, and the first half could have been a good third shorter. Got interesting around the 40% point when the Rat Priest and the gnole showed up, and then got annoying again around 80%. It's hard to enjoy a romance between to characters both filled with so much self-loathing. 

It is what it is. I would have dropped it a third of the way in if it weren't for my book club 🤷🏻‍♀️

Amani Zaha

This was such an exciting read!! I wish there was a term for this particular brand of low-stakes adventure-fantasy-comedy, and especially for this kind of funny, witty dialogue jammed with entertaining banter and one-liners.


"He's not a man! He's a sword!"

"I am actually both," said Sarkis, sounding somewhat apologetic. "First one, then the other."


Our cast consists of Halla, 36 years old, widowed and curious to a fault; Sarkis, some hundred years old with a temperament, bound to a sword by a curse that forces him to serve and protect whoever wields the weapon (in this case, Halla); Zale, a friendly non-binary priest/lawyer of the Order of the White Rat; and a so called "gnoll”, a badger-like (?) creature of few, but carefully-chosen, words. 
Together, they make an entertaining, quite lovable team as they set off on a journey to secure the money Halla has inherited from her late uncle.

To be frank: the ages of Halla and Sarkis (the stars of this book's romance) threw me off initially. Their ages are conveyed through numbers as well as their experiences in life and their appearances - Sarkis, for example, is described as having a greying beard upon his introduction to the reader; Halla being an older, widowed woman is referenced throughout the story. But while I was sceptic in the beginning, it didn't take long for me to be charmed by both characters, especially with the back-and-forth banter between them. Sure, sometimes Halla acted in ways that had me double-guessing whether she really was supposed to be a 36-year old woman who had once been married, but she was still endearing.


"Oh gods, it's Aunt Malva." Halla looked around wildly. "Hide! You have to hide!"

Sarkis drew himself up to his full height. "I'll not hide from—"

"I will get in trouble if there's a strange man in my room!" Halla looked around frantically. Could he fit under the bed?

"Oh. A question of honor. Of course. Forgive me."


The merits of this book lie foremost in the interactions between the main characters, and the wacky, often nonsensical situations they find themselves in. I loved the matter-of-fact way in which magic and creatures like gnolls are introducted, and the genuine, heartfelt bond between Halla and Zale. Sarkis' backstory was very compelling, and especially so the emotion conveyed when reminiscing about his old friends. I'd suggest reading this primary for the characters and the dialogue, and not for the plot (which is fun! But not the highlight of this book).

(I will also say that Halla being "well endowed" did not need to be mentioned as many times as Kingfisher apparently considered necessary when writing this? Once is fine. Twice is understandable. Thrice is starting to push it, and that's maybe half the amount of times it's brought up in the first few chapters. So, uh.)

Mild spoiler regarding end of the book (particularly Halla and Sarkis' relationship).

(view spoiler)[In my review of Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis I mentioned my dislike for the romance trope where some sort of minor misunderstanding between the characters occurs in the final act, and instead of being reasonably handled, is blown out of proportions, mostly at the cost of characterization. All for what - a more satisfying resolution? A final proof of the hero's unconditional, unwavering love for the heroine? Because when Halla storms out after discovering something about Sarkis that, really, I thought had been obvious or at least hinted at, I was only surprised. And then mildly annoyed when they inevitably had to be driven apart because of this Very Serious Thing. And then impatient for it to be over. Mostly just seemed very childish lol. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, this satiated my appetite for a book with a dynamic like that of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, more so than Cress did (the plot of which is loosely based on the story of Rapunzel). Definitely will look into more of Kingfisher's works!

Janice Hopper

This is a kissing book. (I use "kissing book" in the Princess Bride sense, as a book where there are adventures, romance and, yes, kissing.)

There's nothing at all wrong with that, especially if you LIKE kissing books. I'm not a big kissing book fan for the most part, for Reasons Specific To Me. There's nothing wrong with romance books. They just generally don't do it FOR ME.

Halla, the protagonist, is a good character. She's a Respectable Widow who's been taking care of an uncle-by-marriage through his last illness. When he passes, she finds he's made her the beneficiary in his will. The rest of the uncle's family is ENRAGED by this, and determined by whatever means necessary to get the property back in THEIR family. Even if it means marrying Halla to clammy-handed cousin Alver. 

In the course of deciding that she'd literally rather be dead than forcibly married to the odious Alver, Halla finds herself suddenly in possession of an immortal warrior who is bound to an old sword the her uncle owned. With Sarkis the warrior's help, she escapes her imprisonment and heads off to the city to find a lawyer to get her property straightened out. As you do. Thereafter follows lots of traveling, some adventures, and Halla and Sarkis falling in love. But Sarkis has a secret that might spoil everything.

This book reminded me of some of Lois McMaster Bujold's books. That's a GOOD thing. OTOH, there's a shift towards the end that seemed a little jarring and didn't QUITE convince me. There was a lot of dithering between the two romantic interests that I found a bit annoying. Maybe I've just been in one relationship too long to remember how it was before.

Anyway, 3.5 stars, if .5 stars were a thing here. A worthy effort, and always a pleasure to read T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon. I'm an unrepentant fangirl of hers. :)

Magnus Dahl

Such an intriguing read about a woman who attempts to kill herself, to free her from her nasty relations and a forced marriage, which accidentally frees a man with immortality from an enchanted sword and binds him as her bodyguard. Halla is hilariously charming, and Sarkis is very broody and wants to kill everything. They form an unlikely attachment to each other, and it is quite slowburn with very little steam. The plot dragged on, but in a series of funny but unfortunate events. The side characters were great. The non-binary rat-priest Zale was an especially hilarious character when teamed up with Halla. I would say this is a very slow read, yet funny with a bit of romance. It might not have been the perfect writing style for me, but I do highly recommend it.

Kelly Casey

Might come back to this at some point but not fitting my mood right now. I also didn’t like the unaliving stuff at the very beginning.

Emma Miller

not a big fan of journeying books but zale is my new bff

Saayan

Kliosflower

Great Story, but I wasn't too fond of the last part of the book. It just felt... Forced. Nonetheless a great, fun and very entertaining reading experience!

Swordheart

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