Swordheart by T. Kingfisher – A Fun Cozy Fantasy Romance

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“Even in her most dramatic imaginings, Halla didn’t think she could beat herself to death with the chamberpot.”

Goodreads / Storygraph

Summary

When Halla’s great-uncle passes away, she inherits not only his estate but also his unwelcome relatives. 

Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in his own prison of steel. 

When Halla draws the sword one evening, Sarkis finds himself tasked with defending his new wielder.  Which turns out to be from everything: bandits, inquisitors, and even her own relatives. 

Yet it is the sword itself that might prove to the greater threat. 

Thoughts on the Plot

I think one of my favorite aspects of this book is that the main character, Halla, is 36. She’s not the chosen one of most fantasy novels. 

While Swordheart is more cozy fantasy rather than the epic fantasy I tend to gravitate towards, this one didn’t completely lose me. 

I enjoyed the grumpy x sunshine trope involved and there was a sort of miscommunication trope in this book, but it didn’t feel like it so I can look past it.

The world-building felt a bit clunky and there were so many priesthoods that I wasn’t sure if the author was serious or using it as satire. 

The beginning of the story was enough to hook me, but I found that I started to lose interest towards the middle. 

The journey the characters go on felt a little too long. I also felt the betrayal coming before it happened, even though I was hoping it wouldn’t. 

Either way, let’s move onto the characters themselves. 

Thoughts on the Characters

Like I said earlier, Halla is a breath of fresh air. She’s older, not really in shape or a natural fighter. She doesn’t have any magical powers or any big grand dreams to fulfill.

She’s tired. Of her life, of her in-laws, of the trouble her great uncle has caused with his passing. 

Sarkis, on the other hand, is perplexed upon realizing this might be the easiest wielder he’s had to defend yet. And quite possibly the oddest.

He is very grumpy, but that felt like his primary trait as a character. He suffered from feeling one dimensional, and I didn’t understand why the lore of the sword was so haunting to Sarkis. 

Despite being trapped in a sword for centuries, he didn’t have many stories outside of the story that told us more about him. Rather, the wrong he had done and the bad experiences. 

He and Halla form an interesting dynamic. They aren’t really friends and they slowly develop a more caring relationship with each other. 

Which then, of course, develops into a bit of a slow burn romance. But the romance is definitely a subplot of the story. 

There were a ton of unimportant side characters, but the main side character, Zale, a priest of the Rat, was an enjoyable character. 

I liked his friendship and support of Halla. 

Overall Thoughts

Overall, I think I wanted to like Swordheart a lot more than I actually did. 

This book has been on my TBR for a really long time and while it wasn’t a complete let down, I ended up not quite liking it as much as I thought I would. 

I think the best way to go into this book is expecting a low stakes, cozy fantasy, full of interesting characters and sarcastic banter. 

I’m gonna give Swordheart 3.75 stars out of 5 stars. 

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