Monday, January 20, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Swordheart by T Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)




Swordheart is one of the latest full length novels by author T Kingfisher - also known as children's author Ursula Vernon.  It's set in the same world as her Clocktaur War duology, which I loved as a whole - a fun story with great fantasy characters, often riffing on classic fantasy tropes, with witty dialogue and a great setting as it went from beginning to end.  But Swordheart is a stand alone novel, requiring no prior knowledge to read (it's the start of a trilogy, but works quite well as a stand alone) so I was excited to see it on sale last month...and when I needed a fun read to start my new year, it was the first book I turned to.

And oh my god, is Swordheart so so so so great, and I couldn't have started off my New Year with a better book.  A Fantasy Romance with multiple great characters with a plot that works really well and is full of humor and witty dialogue, to go along with a fully realized world....I have practically nothing bad to say about this book other than I want more.  Readers looking for fantasies epic in scope won't find what they're looking for here, but if you're looking for a book that's just plain fun and impossible to put down....you've found it here.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------------
Halla figured suicide was her best option.  Her late great uncle, who's she'd spent the last few years of her widowhood caring for, had unexpectedly left her his entire estate.....and her horrid aunt and idiot cousin have responded by locking her in a room until she agrees to marry the cousin and give them the estate.  And figuring there was no way she was going to ever do that, Halla figured she'd end her life instead with the only sharp object she could find, an ancient sheathed sword her great uncle had had on his wall.

Except to her surprise, when she unsheathes that sword, a magical blue light appears, and then.....so does Sarkis - an ancient warrior trapped inside the sword years ago, bound to serve the sword's wielder.  But Sarkis doesn't know what to do with this 36 year old widowed....housewife....who won't....stop.....asking.....questions.

And it's not like Halla has any idea what to do with an ancient warrior stuck in a sword.  But as Halla and Sarkis find themselves together on the run from Halla's relatives and then together with a priest-advocate of the Rat in search of a way to settle the matter of her inheritance, they each begin to find themselves enjoying the company of the other.....not that they could ever admit it.  And woe be on whoever - disgruntled relatives, highway robbers, power-hungry priests, etc - tries to stand in their way.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swordheart is told from the perspectives of its two leads: Halla and Sarkis, and I love them both.  Halla is a 36 year old big bodied widow who has spent the last few years as a rural housekeeper for an elderly relative in a small town in the middle of nowhere in this fantasy world, who has little self-esteem but seemingly an endless amount of curiosity.  Sarkis by contrast is a centuries old warrior (stuck in the sword), used to defending warriors and nobles who wield the magic sword, and who bitterly hates himself for the acts of his mortal life and is utterly unused to anything resembling civilian life.

The two could not be anything less alike, and yet find in each other something they can't see in themselves....and their own individual traits result in sheer moments of greatness as they begin to figure each other out.  There's a sequence where Halla and the third major character, a priest/lawyer named Zale (who is also tremendous), begin to use that curiosity to figure out how Sarkis' magic sword works, and it is absolutely glorious (and leads to a hilarious dirty joke later).  But I'm getting off track here: the point is that their opposite character traits make them both a hilarious couple and a really believable one, and the growing attraction between the two is done incredibly well (until it finally ends of course in a solid, if unexceptional sex scene).  If there's any complain about the central romance at the heart of this book, it's that perhaps there's a bit too much dithering about when will the two of them finally admit their feelings to one another, but the book never drags really at any point to the point where it really becomes annoying.

And oh my god, the humor in this book is just tremendous, as the plot throws everything from dimwitted bandits, corrupt priests, deadly magical slime, to annoying family members at our protagonists, who handle it all with a mix of pure insane verbal and physical reactions that will crack you up constantly.  Especially when the book adds its third major character, Zale, as well as the gnole Brindle , to the cast, the dialogue and interplay and the situations that come up just get more and more hilarious.  Kingfisher/Vernon has a way with dialogue in all her books that is absolutely tremendous, up there with any other writer I can think of, and this book might just be her masterpiece.

Overall, I can't really think of much else to say about Swordheart.  It's just tremendously fun fantasy romance with great characters, dialogue, and humor, and ends in a satisfying way.....but with a cliffhanger grafted on to the epilogue to allow the story to continue.  But even if you just want a single book and not a trilogy, you'll be very happy here. Swordheart is just so damn great. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)