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kenleighh13's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
jwells's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
I really enjoyed the character of Halla. She's funny and practical. I like that she's not a badass heroine, but she's very down to earth and brave in her own way.
Great to revisit the world of the Clockwork Boys, though this story is a standalone. I like the people like the gnoles and the rune.
The plot is much smaller scale here, compared to the Clockwork Boys books. It's more of a family story plus a romance, not a save-the-world fantasy.
Great to revisit the world of the Clockwork Boys, though this story is a standalone. I like the people like the gnoles and the rune.
The plot is much smaller scale here, compared to the Clockwork Boys books. It's more of a family story plus a romance, not a save-the-world fantasy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
Genre typical violence for fantasy. Sex scenes that aren't fade to black, but aren't too graphic.katewheels13's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder
ellierumoo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Fantastic characters, immaculate narration, I desperately want a sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and War
alexijai98's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Fun read like the Saint of Steel series! You don’t need to read the Clockwork Boys to read this, though I will be picking the duology up because I’ve become a big fan of this world!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
danajoy's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
T Kingfisher's brand of fairytale is exactly what I want from a fantasy. The characters are charming and imperfect.
Whilst Swordheart is a standalone it exists in the same world as the Clocktaur War and Saints of Steel books, making up the World of the White Rat. I've only read Paladin's Grace but even so it was exciting to see the overlap.
Whilst Swordheart is a standalone it exists in the same world as the Clocktaur War and Saints of Steel books, making up the World of the White Rat. I've only read Paladin's Grace but even so it was exciting to see the overlap.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Racism and Sexual content
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.75
This is an unusual book. First of all, the back cover doesn't actually tell you much about what actually goes on in the book - which is Sarkis, immortal swordsman in the most literal possible sense, is now bound to Halla, a housekeeper trying her darndest to get her inheritance and evade her aunt's attempts to steal it. Considering the majority of the story takes place while traveling back and forth on one particular stretch of road in an effort to set up what is essentially a court case, it doesn't sound all that appealing.
There's also the whole romance angle. It's not even hinted at on the back cover, but it's glaringly obvious from the moment Sarkis enters the story that he and Halla are going to be a thing. And for how much of that angle is some variety of mutual pining, I shouldn't have liked that very much, either.
And yet. And yet I liked this book a lot. Because while boiling this story down to its barest elements does indeed make it sound quite boring, it's the details that get boiled away that make it so much fun. The world itself is, for the most part, a standard rural vaguely-Western-European setting. But with Sarkis being several hundred years old and remembering different things about his homeland and his home time, the world has a sense of having depth and longevity and realness - it may not be teeming with excitement and adventure, but it feels solid, somewhere you could sink your teeth into. (Plus there's that one weird group of hills full of very nasty things that definitely do not stay in one place, which adds some delightfully dangerous whimsy to the whole thing.) And the plot itself, while not on the surface incredibly exciting, is solid. The goals and motivations are clear, the consequences of failure are quite dreadful (though not life-and-death), and the journey, though mostly back and forth on one road, has enough detours and obstacles to never feel truly dull. Besides creepy moving hills, they also encounter bandits, some very unpleasant priests, and a host of other interesting allies, antagonists, and situations that add up to a very entertaining story.
What really makes this book sing, though, are the characters. Halla and Sarkis, obviously, but also Zale, the nonbinary lawyer-priest who Halla enlists to help legally stake her claim on the inheritance and so ends up spending a lot of the journey with them. All of them are great in their own unique ways, and even the more minor characters are engaging. Even with all of that, though, this book could have easily slipped into "well-written and generally fine but overall lackluster" territory - if it wasn't for the dynamic between Halla and Sarkis, which was the absolute star of the book for me.
And most of that was Halla. I love her so much. She's smart, practical, no-nonsense, and incredibly quick-witted. She knows her options are limited as a widow in a patriarchal society, but she refuses to let that stop her, and her humility bordering on self-effacement makes her utterly unashamed to let people think less of her if it moves her closer to her goals. She wields ingenuity and fast-talking instead of a sword and shield, but she's just as much of a warrior as Sarkis. And that's what made their dynamic so good - I loved Halla accepting each new development and figuring out how to deal with it, while Sarkis got progressively more amazed at how this random middle-aged housekeeper was dealing with everything so well and kept falling more in love with her. (The romance angle could easily have been annoying, but I liked their dynamic so much I didn't mind.)
This book is also hilarious. It's peppered with absurd moments and unexpected one-liners that made me laugh. Although I tried reading a few of them to my husband and he didn't find them funny, so I think they're only funny in the context of the book itself. Either way, I thought it was a great touch, and the humor was balanced really well with the darker elements of the book.
This is exactly the kind of book I'm starting to expect from T. Kingfisher - serious without feeling too dark, an uncomplicated but engaging plot, and characters that leap off the page and elevate the story into something great. I'm a little sad that there isn't a sequel to this book (I really want more Halla), but I have more T. Kingfisher books on my reading list, and I hope they're enjoyable as this one is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Excrement, and Religious bigotry
Animal injury/suffering, forced marriage (attempt)directorpurry's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
turrean's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Excellent characters, clever banter, sweet romance, and a jaw-droppingly, absurdly, unbelievably stupid move on the part of the protagonist that leads to the denouement.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
ritabriar's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The main characters are delightful, kind, and a bit snarky. I adore Halla's ability to weaponize questions and the way Sarkis respects her quickly, especially once he gets to know her. (Things do get spicy, though it's not the main focus.) Zale and Brindle are also stars of the book, in spite of their official status as support characters.
These main characters contrast with the various villains, who suffer from a severe inability to take interest in the perspective of others, each in a slightly different way.
The plot is both character- and setting-driven, in the manner of a campaign run by an excellent game master: some things happen not because the characters make them happen, but because things like this just happen here, and they might as well happen now. (To be clear, these events serve the plot or character arcs and I love them.) I'm thinking of the Vagrant Hills, especially, which area piece of geography that grabs travelers if they feel like it. The Motherhood priests probably also qualify.
As you'd expect in a book starring a magic sword, the setting has plenty of magic, which follows definite rules (though the characters don't know all of the rules and sometimes have to figure things out as they go). There are horrific mechanics to some of the magic and magical creatures, though I would not say this is a horror book.
These main characters contrast with the various villains, who suffer from a severe inability to take interest in the perspective of others, each in a slightly different way.
The plot is both character- and setting-driven, in the manner of a campaign run by an excellent game master: some things happen not because the characters make them happen, but because things like this just happen here, and they might as well happen now. (To be clear, these events serve the plot or character arcs and I love them.) I'm thinking of the Vagrant Hills, especially, which are
As you'd expect in a book starring a magic sword, the setting has plenty of magic, which follows definite rules (though the characters don't know all of the rules and sometimes have to figure things out as they go). There are horrific mechanics to some of the magic and magical creatures, though I would not say this is a horror book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Kidnapping
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore, Infertility, Terminal illness, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and War
The first thing that happens is that Halla's relatives lock her in her own room. She