Reviews with content warning for Blood - Swordheart

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

27 reviews

cadimy's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

A cute and funny cozy fantasy! I loved the paladin series, and this one is just as great.

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lisibee815's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

I really liked it, I understand now why I had to wait so long for my library hold! This book is set in the world of the Clocktaur War and the Paladin series (the World of the White Rat, Paladins, and gnoles make appearances, as does the Vagrant Hills). But it felt much lighter in tone and was more humorous overall (although some decidedly non-humorous things happen). The book felt more rooted in romance than the other books, which is partly why I enjoyed it so much. Sarkis and Halla were fantastic together and nicely complemented one another. They give great mid-life representation, although I vehemently object to Halla considering herself "old" at 36. (But the vibe is that their world is Middle Ages-ish in industrial development so I guess that fits for life expectancy.) The main storyline resolved very nicely but the fate of the other two swords was left on a cliffhanger. I'm hoping that means there will be more books but this one was published 7 years ago which is not encouraging. (Although on the author's website she says she's hoping to do a sequel someday so fingers crossed!)

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gondorgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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sadetanssija's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.75

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auraofdawn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense 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

What a ride! I’ve already devoured and adored the Saint of Steel books and was so happy to discover this one going on right beside it! Kingfisher’s world is so vast and astounding, that despite being familiar with this one, there were still new mysteries and locales that had me captivated.
Halla herself is quite removed from the Paladin’s heroines, who are usually quite capable and independent, but that does little to hold back her capacity for such. It’s brilliant watching her come alive alongside Sarkis, which, intended or not, really gave their relationship such a warm, genuine tone. She’s a naive, curious goofball

with a level of sex education that only red states would enforce.

He’s a good-hearted, steadfast warrior,

and what he lacks in faith, he makes up for in tenacity.

Together, they have so much more depth than your typical bodyguard romance, it’s almost painful to watch them fight against it for so long.
And none of this is even mentioning the wonderful Zale and Brindle! Gods!! Together, this whole group makes up my favorite Kingfisher group to date, they have such the perfect balance of humors; Brindle’s dry, straightforward zingers, Zale’s scholarly yet lighthearted wit, Halla’s decadent southern charm, and Sarkis’ sharp tongue and outdated nature. They truly live up to the best found families I’ve read

right up to all of them being there for the wedding :,)

There are some very strong content warnings for this one, mostly for things of violent nature, but personally, I never felt that it was enough to completely quashed the cozy nature of the overall narrative. Could not recommend enough!

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purrson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The narration is absolutely delightful, as is the book itself, and made me laugh out loud multiple times. The main characters are firmly adults, in their late thirties, which I appreciated, and flawed in their own ways but super lovable. I anyways enjoy Kingfisher’s world building, and this is no exception.

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ellierumoo's review against another edition

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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.

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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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.

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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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

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turrean's review against another edition

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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.

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