I guess I would describe this as a cozy fantasy romance featuring a middle-aged, widowed FMC. Very little happens over nearly 450 pages, and at a glacial pace, no less! The writing was a little quirky which was fine for a bit but kind of irked me by midway though. (Also, I didn’t know that this is a republishing, the original having come out in 2018.)

~ "Why do you have a sword, anyway?" "To fight with. It's a sword."
"Yes, but you came out of a sword. It seems redundant." He stared at her as if she had lost her mind. ~ 
Hehehe all this and so much more banter straight from the beginning! This was such a wonderful fantasy adventure of a book that keeps you entertained the whole time. Halla is a housekeeper who is taken on an adventure of a lifetime alongside Sarkis... who came out of a sword. Halla is very relatable and it is so nice to finally have an FMC that is actually close to my age instead of being 18  . I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait to read more from T. Kingfisher and of The World of the White Rat series! 5 stars, would definitely recommend!

If you like T. Kingfisher's "The Saint of Steel" Series, you will love this. This book was originally published before that series and is really a precursor to it. That being said, I enjoyed this book about the same amount as that series. It was enjoyable, funny with some romance, it was not my absolute new favorite book but I had fun reading it. It is a very solid 4-star book. This book leans more toward romance than fantasy with low stakes but a fast enough plot. I also always enjoy it when the main character is in their 30s and finds love. Overall with great nonbinary rep and the wonderful fan-favorite gnoles, this was a very pleasant read.

With T. Kingfisher, you never know what the next writing may bring, but I eagerly look forward to these book every single time. From Fairytales , to fantasy, and horror, to everything in between, I swear T. Kingfisher really is a master of the writing craft and I hope you will do yourself favor and find one that feels right for you! This one is a cozy fantasy with romance and I would say, tactful spiciness.

This world opens with Halla and the death of her great-uncle who she's been caring for before his passing. Upon his death, he bequeathed his house and estate to her instead of to his "family" and now they are holding her hostage until she agrees to marry Alver which would keep the inheritance where they feel it belongs.

As Halla is trapped in her bedroom, she decided the best way to resolve the situation of the impending marriage, is to use the sword hanging on the wall to just remove herself from the situation entirely. However, when she draws the sword, a battle worn man appears in her bedroom and she figures she may have another option to get herself out. They go on a bit of a madcap adventure across the countryside to find a temple which should be able to help resole the issue. And I really liked the twisty ending we got as well.

The characters are fun and I loved Brindle who seems to be a furry creature with sharp teeth but does a great job! The rest of the characters are flawed in all the right ways, naive, stubborn, secretive, etc. The dynamic is fun as they make their way across the countryside.

This book has so many tongue in cheek, and stream of though moments. Lots of the things that are often unsaid are said out loud which frequently puts the characters in interesting situations. You will be glad you read it!

*Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing an ARC/DRC for review. All opinions are my own. *

This is my second T. Kingfisher novel, and it did not disappoint. The book begins with 36-year-old Halla, a longtime widow who has spent the last decade keeping house and caring for her deceased husband's grumpy great-uncle. After his death, the will is read, and the loathsome relatives who come out of the woodwork are horrified to find she has been named as the sole inheritor. They hatch a plan to marry Halla to one of her husband's cousins, and when she refuses, they lock her in the attic and refuse to let her out until she agrees to marry him so they can get their hands on the inheritance. Despondent and disgusted at the prospect, she grabs a sword off the wall and contemplates removing herself from this mortal coil, but when she unsheathes the sword, she finds that it is inhabited (genie-style) by an immortal warrior who is sworn to protect the wielder of the sword.

The scene is set, and the journey that follows is full of understated humor any unconventional adventure as our bumbling heroine and her scowling sword-warrior set out to escape and right the wrongs that have been wrought upon her.

Reminiscent of The Princess Bride, the wit and banter between the two protagonists is delightful as their grumpy and sunshine attitudes clash whenever they encounter an obstacle in their path. Sarkis has loyalty in spades, but it deepens from being obligatory to respect (and more) as he wars with his conflicting feelings and hidden past. As their growing friendship unfolds, Halla and Sarkis go from resenting each other's shortcomings to viewing them in a different light as they see beyond their first impressions. They navigate two-timers, power-tripping priests, highwaymen, moving mountains -and luckily, no dragons - unsure of who they can trust, all the while trying keep the secret of the sword close at hand.

Kingfisher's storyline is refreshing, funny, unique and distinct. It's fantastical while avoiding worn-out settings and clichés of the genre. It doesn't waste time on world building and setting up rules for its magic. Its characters are unconventional - and Halla is relatable, her methods and strategies for dealing with nefarious adversaries anything but what one would expect from a protagonist.

A fun Cozy Fantasy. The beginning had my full attention. I loved the humor. The middle fell a little flat for me. The ending made up for it. Halla was so chatty and funny. Sarkis was grumpy yet hilarious. The banter was excellent. It was a very easy read.

Halla unexpectedly inherited the estate of the wealthy uncle she's been caring for for the past decade. Unfortunately, money-hungry relatives want the inheritance. As he hides from them, she unsheaths an ancient sword. A man named Sarkis appears, explaining he is an immortal warrior who had been trapped inside it and sworn to protect whoever wields the sword. Sarkis doesn't have to fend off armies, only bandits and relatives, and ignore the threat of the sword itself.

Originally published in September 2024, there is now a special edition! As a childless widow, Halla's inlaws mostly ignored her until the inheritance. They were willing to lock her into her bedroom as a means to coerce her into marrying a cousin to keep the inheritance within the family, but Sarkis appeared and helped get her out of the house. The pair wind up having a hilarious adventure on the road to the city to find a lawyer, who is a priest of the God of the Rat, and the trio makes their way back for the inheritance. Along the way are priests of another god that harasses travelers, paladins of yet another god eager to fight demons, and a stretch of land that wanders about to catch travelers just because it can. Of course, the road isn't a smooth one for Halla, but she and Sarkis complement each other well and we get to watch them fall in love.

This is a great example of T. Kingfisher's writings and is the first of a trilogy of haunted swords. Sarkis' two captains had also been turned into swords, and I would love to see what happens to them, as well.

I loved this! The humor and banter was just so good! And the romance was light but very swoony.

One note is that the errors in this ARC were horrifying. I’m talking whole paragraphs with no punctuation, multiple sentences that were unreadable. It really took me out of the story at times just trying to figure out if something was dialogue or where one sentence ended/began. I know advance copies are not finished with editing but this was insane.

The signature wit and clever observations from T. Kingfisher's characters are delightfully present in Swordheart, where our heroine must figure out how to deal with her toxic family AND the newly summoned warrior she has just freed from a sword.

Halla finds herself in quite the pickle - she has inherited everything from her great-uncle, but his relatives have decided to lock her up unless she marries one of them (a cousin with clammy hands, ew!), so as to keep the money in their greedy little mitts. She unwittingly frees Sarkis, an immortal warrior trapped in a sword, and he is pledged to defend her from anyone and everyone.

I love that Halla is not a young ingenue, but in her thirties, and acts like a grown up. Sarkis is impossibly and sweetly grumpy, but he appreciates Halla and is determined to help her out. And frankly, considering he's been trapped in that sword for ages, I understood his grumpiness. My favorite side character was the priest, Zale, who also knows a little about the law and wants to help Halla get her inheritance.

There is a bit of an open ending so I hope that we revisit this world again, it was heartwarming and delightful to read.

We're dancin' to some fantastical music here.......and every step is a delight.

T. Kingfisher is a favorite hands down. This is my ninth book by her. Have so many more to get to as well. Kingfisher knows just how to sweep away the world and transport her readers into a completely different realm of fancifully strange.

Swordheart introduces us to Halla, a widowed housekeeper. She has more problems than just mice under her bed. She's wrapped in the traumas of the in-laws and the out-laws. You see, Halla is the beneficiary of her great uncle's will. Her great aunt and her cousin have locked Halla in her bedroom. The master plan is for Halla to marry her creepy cousin who will then take over the mansion, the land, and the wealth. Halla gets zero.

Pondering her best escape, Halla unsheaths a silver sword hanging over the bed for years. Upon doing so, a strange man in armor appears. His name is Sarkis and he explains that now he is beholdened to Halla as her protector. Kinda like Genie in the Bottle vibes.

What transpires here on out is an exciting adventure. We'll be taken to the Temple of the White Rat and meet the priest, Zale. We'll also meet Brindle, a gnole, who owns an ox to drive the cart. There's also mountains that move and slimy things that slurp. Non-stop delight and non-stop peels of laughter on the side. The dialog is typical Kingfisher with humorous banter and snarky comebacks. Throw in well developed characters and a snappy storyline and you've got it all here. I'm waiting in the wings for the next one, T. Kingfisher. Write faster.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Tor Publishing and to the talented T. Kingfisher for the opportunity.

An entertaining cozy, romantic fantasy with Kingfisher’s gift for witty dialogue.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

This is the first book in a trilogy according to the author's note. Set in a fictional land where there are more guilds to saints and gods than people have appendages, some not-so-human creatures, and certain artifacts that may contain magic. Our main character, Halla, is being held against her will by relatives trying to force her to relinquish an inheritance bestowed upon her by her late husband's uncle that she took care of until his death. She is so filled with hopelessness that she pulls an ancient sword hanging on her wall from its scabbard, intent on ending her own life, when a magical protector and immortal swordsman, Sarkis, appears. With Sarkis now by her side, Halla flees the Estate and begins a complicated journey to obtain legal representation to enforce the will of her great-uncle.

Halla is an inquisitive character who downplays her intelligence in hostile situations in order to get through unscathed. Sarkis is the typical male character who uses brute strength to get his way. They are in a forced proximity situation, have a grumpy/ sunshine relationship, and start to develop feelings for each other. We also meet some interesting characters from some of the holy sects along the way that play a part in the story. The author did a great job with the world building, Sarkis' backstory, and explaining some of the background of the different religions. I really enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

this was fine but simply not engaging to me. cozy fantasy in general has to walk a thin line between being, well, cozy but throwing enough at the reader that they want to keep reading. this book did not accomplish that for me.

the romance felt very pantomime and i don’t even mind love at first sight. the best qualities of this book (and it receives one star for each) are zale, the hilarious rat priest, and the landscape/world which really does come off the page.

Swordheart is a surprisingly fun read. It’s very chaotic in a way I wasn’t expecting, not only because our main character Halla is a chatterbox who asks a lot of questions, but because this book takes you on a wild ride. I loved the presence and normalization of non-binary people and queer relationships, more books need this!

My main qualm with this book is that I don’t feel this book understood what it set out to accomplish. A lot was added in the last quarter of the book and one of the main issues of the book is never resolved. I can tell by the end of this book that there will likely be sequels, but it feels like a major problem that was present from the outset is shrugged off in the end.

Overall, this was a fun adventure. I would definitely read the other books in the series to see how it all ends!

Cozy. Fantasy. This book was the perfect read for this chilly winter day! T. Kingfisher simply knows how to write fun adventure fantasies - with just the right amount of romance! I absolutely loved Halla. Her wits and deep curiosity was so refreshing. It made her character so complex yet so easy to relate to. Sarkis was the perfect brooding bodyguard for this rather intriguing situation. I didn’t realize that this book was part of an existing universe that Kingfisher has created, The World of The White Rat. While this story can be read as a standalone, I am definitely going to read her prior books in the universe and the series that was published after!

I was thrilled when I read the author’s note at the end and it said that Kingfisher is working on a sequel to this book but then I realized that this was originally published in 2018 so I’m afraid that trilogy has been put on the back burner. I am still holding out so much hope though. I would literally read their grocery list at this point.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Tor/Bramble publishing for this ARC. Please feel free to reach out to me with ANY T. Kingfisher books!

I am normally not a big romance or romantasy reader, but I AM a big T. Kingfisher fan, so I was excited to give this book a read to see if she could make one of my least-favorite genres bearable. And she did! SWORDHEART is a cozy romance that made me giggle and feel fuzzy inside and I really enjoyed it altogether.

This book gave signs early on that it was headed for the classic miscommunication trope, probably my least favorite romance trope (if one good conversation between partners could would prevent the whole plot from taking place, perhaps consider writing a better story). However - without spoilers - if/how that plot point was handled was not frustrating to me. I really liked all of the character dynamics and found myself caring for even the secondary characters.

I do enjoy when Kingfisher writes horror or pure fantasy more, but this proves I will enjoy literally anything she authors. Cozy romance or fantasy readers will likely eat this one up.

Halla is a respectable widow who has been trapped by her in-laws. They want the inheritance she’s set to received. Determine to not have to deal with them any longer she sets out to end her life using a sword. But instead a knight materializes and is shocked by her state.

And thus begins an adventure with humor, a slow burn, vengeance, and great friendships.

I’m a big fan of how dang funny this book is, I hadn’t expected it.

If the new edition of Swordheart caught your eye, you are in for a real treat as the story between the pages is even more beautiful and lovely.

T. Kingfisher crafts a charming fantasy romance where wit, adventure, and slow-burn chemistry shine as Halla inherits both trouble and a warrior-bound sword.

With witty banter, slow-burn romance, and a touch of whimsy, this enchanting tale highlights the best of T. Kingfisher’s writing and ability to create enchanting stories and even more enchanting characters.

Great read! This cozy fantasy draws you in and delivers romance, humor, and adventure. It appears this may have a sequel and I’m definitely read for it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor-Bramble for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This was probably one of the more difficult Kingfisher books for me. I struggled to care about the MC and I felt like a lot of the dialogue was just “eh” to read.