In Book 2 of the Swordheart series, T. Kingfisher brings us another fun and campy queer romantasy with a group of misfits on a quest of sorts.  Fans of Kingfisher’s Paladin books, The Saint of Steel, and the Clocktaur War series will be excited to meet up with Learned Edward again, now that he’s had some seasoning and life experience under his belt.  Learned Edward is delivering an artifact, a sword, to another scholar when he is set upon by bandits.  When the sword is accidentally unsheathed, out pops The Dervish in a blaze of silver light while wielding daggers.  The Dervish is magically bound to the sword and is obligated to stand between the sword’s wielder and death.

Edward and the Dervish exemplify the sunshine/grumpy romance trope, and it’s so fun to watch them fall for each other in this gentle romance.  Kingfisher always builds great found families, and the troupe here is a motley crew of a disillusioned scholar, a magically-controlled assassin, a rescued gnole (a sort of talking badger), and my favorite, an enormous sentient pill bug named Large Francis the Building, who can speak in Human tongue with the assistance of her magical music box that she cranks the handle on, like a jack-in-the-box. 

Halla, Sarkis (who is also bound to a sword), and my favorite, Zale the brilliant and dry-witted lawyer from the Temple of the Rat, show up again in book 2.  Readers new to these characters will have no problems jumping in with this novel, although I defy anyone who reads DAGGERBOUND to stop with just this one book.  Plenty of danger, many madcap adventures, and lots of yearning pull our characters together on their journey.

DAGGERBOUND is an amalgam of quirky characters, even more whimsical hijinks, and some serious underlying themes.  Those on this quest are looking ultimately for safety and redemption, and to create a solid found family. Unusual novels, for sure, and yet they are the usual fare for the delightfully idiosyncratic Kingfisher.  I always read Kingfisher’s stories with a mix of bemusement and gluttonous glee- gobbling them up as soon as they are released, and returning to them at least yearly to luxuriate in them all over again.  DAGGERBOUND is worthy of the same savoring.