I have sung the praises of T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon many times here on Cannonball. Her books are autobuys for me, and I have never been disappointed with them. They are funny, clever, sensible fantasy romps and I love them to pieces. I love her world building and they way that so many of her novels are reactions to other stories. For example, in this book Kingfisher was annoyed by Elric (Michael Moorcock’s Elric? I haven’t read them, I’m not familar) and claimed the real victim was his sword, and from that grew this book and the start of a trilogy.
Swordheart is the tale of Halla, a respectable (and poor widow) who has the misfortune of being willed a substantial amount of money when her late-husband’s uncle dies. This wouldn’t really be an issue, except that the other relatives of this uncle are not pleased by this will and have decided that the most simple remedy is to marry Halla, whether she will or no. After several days locked in her room, for daring to refuse the marriage proposal, Halla decides she’s just gonna kill herself and so unsheathes the sword that had been hanging on her wall. Much to her surprise, this unsheathing unlocks the person in the sword and Hallla discovers that the dusty sword she had hanging on her wall was actually an enchanted one. What follows is a love story between Halla and Sarkis as they journey to find a lawyer and straighten out this family nonsense. This story does take place in the same universe as The Clockwork Boys novels, but you don’t need to read them in order to read this one (I think you should though, those are also awesome).
I found myself laughing quite a bit during the book, and the relationship that develops between Sarkis and Halla is just lovely. I definitely recommend this and I”m looking forward to the next two books in this trilogy.
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