Kingfisher, you absolute gem of a human being. I knew I would love this, but I had no idea how much I would love this. It has a quest! It has religious commentary, it has social commentary, it has casual queer representation and inclusion! It has an enchanted sword! I can't think of anything more you could ever want.
When a hapless scholar trying to leave his mysoginistic order of monks, he accidentally becomes the welder of a cursed sword that holds captive a charming, beautiful, snarky warrior who, understandably, has trauma. Edmond (the scholar) and the Dervish (the sword) set off to find someone who may know how to break the curse and end up finding friends, trouble, and meaning along the way.
Kingfisher's characters are the only rival for her plotting and prose.

Learned Edmund is off on another quest... to take a relic from one temple to another. It's an incredibly boring assignment for someone with Edmund's inquisitive mind, but when he's attacked by bandits, he draws the sword relic, and out comes an incredibly handsome angel? The Dervish has lived in the sword for hundreds of years, against his will of course, and he's not thrilled at having to answer to this scholar from a temple he distrusts. Edmund, humble and sweet, decides that he'd like to try to free the Dervish from the dagger, and they set out to find a scholar who may be able to help. Along the way they encounter a few nonhuman companions, lose a mule, encounter a dragon, and swear up and down that they are not each other's type.

T Kingfisher is so much fun to read, and this was a delightful follow-up to Swordheart. Daggerbound features a different set of main characters (don't worry, you'll see Halla and Sarkis!), and a different kind of quest, all set in the same world as the Paladin series. That said, I think the story for Daggerbound stands alone very well. Kingfisher gives us everything we need to know about the world in order for the story to unfold, but the more you know about this universe, the more enjoyment you will find.

This book was all about tone for me. Kingfisher doesn't bog us down with worldbuilding details, but we have a strong sense of the world as we progress on our quest. The tone is light and fun, especially when it comes to the Dervish trying to understand his feelings towards Edmund and to get up to speed on the unfamiliar world around him. Since we are primarily in the Dervish's perspective, we see Edmund as sweet and innocent at the beginning of the book, which shifts as the Dervish gains new perspective on him.

T. Kingfisher's work is phenomenal as ever and I'm glad I got the opportunity to read this one. I used this as an excuse to read Swordheart and both were excellent, flowing into each other superbly. I'm looking forward to the end of the trilogy as well as continuing to catch up on the backlog of excellent titles she's left in her wake.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc.
Daggerbound is the perfect continuation of Swordheart. We were introduced to the Dervish, who was mentioned in Swordheart. He is a mercenary cursed to be a living sword. He falls into the hands of a scholar, Learned Edmund and he isn't too thrilled about it. Despite his desire to be free, he sticks with Edmund and they journey together. They face danger, make unique friends, and stumble through developing feelings together.

Daggerbound is full of humor, heart, and intrigue. I can't wait for Angharad's story and more exploration of the curse and the smith who created it.