Swordheart

• Author: T. Kingfisher
• Genre: Romantasy
• Publication Date: February 25, 2025
• Publisher: Bramble
• Series: The World of the White Rat

Thank you to Netgalley and Bramble for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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.

Over the last few years, I’ve read more than a couple of Kingfisher novels, and have loved each one of them. Many of her books are standalone, while others are part of series that I haven’t delved into. I didn’t realize that this was part of a series until I was already into the book, but I haven’t found a Kingfisher book that I haven’t loved yet, and had my standards set very high for this story.

I know this review is being posted on the day after the book was published, but this one took me a surprisingly long time to make my way through. This was one of the rare cases that I didn’t mind it taking me so much longer to get through, because I truly loved the story. My effort to have this book read and reviewed before the publication date didn’t work out very well, as you can see. There really was very little that I didn’t like about the book, but I had a really weird issue with reading it—I’d put the book down and then have to push myself to pick it back up, even though I loved reading it and quickly became captivated by the story each time. Once publication day had passed, I tried switching to the audiobook version I got from the library, and discovered that I preferred this book in audiobook format.

The audiobook is narrated by Jesse Vilinsky, and I loved her portrayal of each of the characters (that I listened to in the second half of the book). Despite the story taking place in an entirely different fantasy world, for some reason she gave Sarkis a strong Scottish brogue, and I adored listening to every minute of the story. Vilinsky made it so easy to differentiate between the characters, voicing different timbres, accent, and range of characters along the spectrum of gender identity and the equivalent sound of the voices of male, female, and non-binary characters.

Speaking of which, I’m really glad that they had a range of gender identity between the major characters who form a found family. Halla is a widow, and was married to a man who was significantly older and it wasn’t a romantic marriage, instead seeming to be one of convenience. Sarkis is, well, he’s an immortal warrior who is cursed to be trapped in a sword and be at the mercy of the wielder. There is another character who features prominently in the story who is non-binary, and in Kingfisher’s signature style, non-binary characters are just a normal part of the world. However, the character does mention in an oblique way that they received similar questions as non-binary or trans people get in our world. Personally, I wish our society was more accepting of others in the LGBTQIA+ community the way this world was. 

It is hard not to love Halla, perhaps impossible. She is one of those people that is amazing to have as a friend or family member, being willing to practically give the proverbial shirt off her back to anyone in need. And people with good hearts always assume the best in others, so it becomes clear very early on that she has been taken advantage of by the people around her, especially as soon as they learned about the inheritance her husband had left to her alone. Her in-laws are furious and lock her in her bedroom, and she happens to discover the sword with Sarkis, which kicks off the most adventurous adventure Halla has ever been on. 

Halla is the most charming combination of brilliant and naïveté. She’s a widow but has absolutely no idea about intimacy, and having only lived on a farm and in her husband’s house, she’s extra gullible. But she’s also very smart in some ways, and I would have thought this combination of clueless and brilliant wasn’t realistic except for the fact that I have a best friend who is exactly like this. And Halla is really funny. She’s the kind of stiff upper-lip woman full of plucky courage and heartwarming charm. It takes a bit to get to know Sarkis and Zale, but once their personalities come out and I had no choice but to love them as well. The three of them team up with a gnole (creatures that speak) who drives the ox that pulls the cart everyone is riding in.

While Halla has very little family, and the only people surrounding her in the house are her in-laws that are determined to keep the house ‘in the family,’ and they treat her deplorably. However, Sarkis helps her escape the house that her in-laws have locked her into until she agrees to marry a cousin-in-law, which she has no desire to do. They enlist the help of a priest from the House of the White Rat, and are then accompanied by Zale, the priest, to navigate the complexities of estate law and find out what is really going on.

The four of them and a slow-moving ox take to the road in an attempt to pull any records kept on the estate. While there is a lot of character interaction and development in the story, the center part of the story was differently paced from the start and finish, although there are some scattered bits of action along the journey, especially once someone they encounter knows about the sword. However, while they are in constant danger from priests of another god, brigands on the road, and dangerous creatures.

Sarkis grew on me pretty quickly. He’s fierce and severe, but he’s actually a cinnamon roll with an extra tough outer shell. The interactions between Halla, Sarkis, and Zale were written in a way that had me laughing, empathizing with the characters, and sitting on the edge of my seat for the parts with action. Once I switched to the audiobook, it was a lot more enjoyable to read this story, and didn’t struggle to pick up a book I enjoyed so thoroughly.

Overall, this is exactly what I’d expect from T. Kingfisher, who constantly writes her own form of multi genre books—cozy horror, and now a cozy romantasy. The stakes aren’t very high in this story, but the characters are really what made this book shine—they each charmed me and won my heart over. The only thing that stopped me from rating this a full 5 stars is that the story got a bit meandering in the middle, with a really slow pace. However, it did allow readers to watch the believable romance build between Sarkis and Halla, as well as the many humorous exchanges between our major characters as they develop a found family bond. But I loved the story, the characters, and even the beautifully rendered world building. All in all, Kingfisher is an author I know I can’t go wrong with reading, and I’m going to have to keep slowly working my way through her backlist.

You might like this book if any of these describe you:

• You already like T. Kingfisher’s writing.
• Enjoy cozy fantasy.
• Like a slow-burn, mildly steamy romance.
• Love found family stories.
• Like to support indie authors whose books are now represented by a publisher.

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