First published in 2018, SWORDHEART is a glossy new release hardcover by Bramble featuring turquoise sprayed edges, a foil stamp on the casing, and custom endpapers. This engrossing tale is set in her World of the White Rat between Clockataur War and The Saint of Steel books. T. Kingfisher is the pen-name of Ursula Vernon, an amazing author who has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, and Ursa Major awards. She is an auto-buy author for me. I adore her deadpan humor and her bizarre fantasy worlds.
Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly and unexpectedly inherited her great-uncle's estate… and, unfortunately, his relatives. She is an absolute delight. She pretends to be a flighty and nonsensical woman to protect herself from those around her, but glimmers of her strength and wit pop through in her interactions, leaving me in stitches. She is cheerful, resourceful, and intrepid. Just the kind of person one would like to adventure with if it weren’t for her seemingly flighty nonsense. There is a great sword on the wall in Halla’s room, and she decides to use it to kill herself while locked up, rather than submit to being forced to marry her gross cousin. Except, when she draws the sword, there’s a sparkling blue light and a gorgeously rough-hewn man appears in armor and holding his weapon.
Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped for hundreds of years 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. Sarkis falls in love with Halla, and she with him, but it takes them a while to admit to their feelings and come together. Halla treats Sarkis like a real person, not just a genie in a bottle (sword). She keeps him out of his sword long enough for him to experience life, including novel things like sleeping and being out long enough for his bladder to fill.
Sarkis and Halla travel for quite some time with Zale, who is a priest of the White Rat. Zale is helping Halla defend her newly inherited estate from her grasping and evil relatives. Halla and Zale come up with all kinds of experiments to discover the limits of Sarkis’ imprisonment in the sword. These often prove to be quite smart and yet oh-so-funny.
SWORDHEART is a marvelous mix of science fiction, quest, and romance by Sci Fi doyenne T. Kingfisher. As always, Kingfisher’s world-building is immersive and gratifying. SWORDHEART is a book I will return to when I long for sly wit and hilarious fantasy.
*This beautiful hardcover edition features turquoise sprayed edges, a foil stamp on the casing, and custom endpapers.*
Halla has unexpectedly inherited the estate of a wealthy uncle. Unfortunately, she is also saddled with money-hungry relatives full of devious plans for how to wrest the inheritance away from her.
While locked in her bedroom, Halla inspects the ancient sword that's been collecting dust on the wall since before she moved in. Out of desperation, she unsheathes it—and suddenly a man appears. His name is Sarkis, he tells her, and he is an immortal warrior trapped in a prison of enchanted steel.
Sarkis is sworn to protect whoever wields the sword, and for Halla—a most unusual wielder—he finds himself fending off not grand armies and deadly assassins but instead everything from kindly-seeming bandits to roving inquisitors to her own in-laws. But as Halla and Sarkis grow closer, they overlook the biggest threat of all—the sword itself.
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