TL;DR: Swordheart is every bit as cosy, comforting, humorous, and charming in the way that I’ve come to expect from Kingfisher’s novels. Halla and Sarkis were wonderful older protagonists who had heartwarming chemistry, and I’m so glad they were joined by Zale and Brindle! The found family element in this is fantastic and I love how their friendships blossom throughout the journey. This was an engaging and well-paced fantasy romance and I can’t wait to read the next book asap!

Are we surprised I loved this? Absolutely not! At this point, I would read Kingfisher’s grocery list because I’m sure she would somehow make it cosy and hilarious. Admittedly, it took me a lot longer to read this than I anticipated, but that’s not the book’s fault at all, just my own mood reading self (and gaming… Definitely blaming gaming)! But I digress.

It seems that the more stories I read set in this world, the more I love it. It has such a vast history and so much lore to explore, and it was so great to learn more about the history of a different part of this world through Sarkis’ perspective—especially given how unique his experiences have been. If anything, I’ve come to loathe the damnable Motherhood even more after reading this! Everybody in that group is trying so hard to compensate for many small things, and it is truly infuriating! 😤 That said, reading about Halla confronting and confounding them with her weaponized stupidity will never not be hilarious and amazing.

As always, I loved our MCs, Halla and Sarkis, so much. The fact that they’re older protagonists (late 30s/early 40s) made them even more relatable, especially when they would groan about their aches and pains, lol. I loved the supporting characters, Zale and Brindle, just as much too! Having already read The Saint of Steel series, I’ve already met both characters, although their page-time was fairly brief, so it was lovely to spend more time with them and to learn more about them. I especially loved Zale and honestly, the chemistry and banter between characters in this group was exceptional! I was so entertained by some of their interactions and frequently laughed out loud because they were just too funny!

Halla was a great sunshine FMC who was easy to root for. Compared to Kingfisher’s other FMCs who have been more knowledgeable and worldly compared to Halla’s “country” background, she was so guileless that it was frankly charming. She wouldn’t even think to think about doing anything to her favour if it meant purposefully discomforting others, which also fits with her being an eldest daughter. Her ability to weaponize the negative stereotypes and people’s perceptions of rural women as being stupid and ignorant was truly priceless—the way she would confound everyone with her acts had me cackling so hard and I came to really admire her for it.

To contrast her sunshine personality (alongside Zale’s semi-sunshine-positivity), we have Sarkis and his ‘doom and gloom’ attitude. Not that I blame the guy with everything that he’s been through. I wished we got a little bit more of his backstory though, especially his relationships with the Dervish and Angharad. It was heartbreaking hearing about some of the things he went through, and even though he might not have necessarily been a good guy in his past, he was definitely a great guy for Halla. I liked seeing him open up with Halla, Zale, and Brindle. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever not have a soft spot for Kingfisher’s MMCs who are stoic, gruff, and grumpy, but have hearts of gold. Call me a sucker for this cliché, but I will eat it up every time!

Their romance was an instant-slow burn. I know that’s contradictory, but while nothing really happens between them until the end, their feelings for each other grew very quickly. I find this to be pretty normal for Kingfisher’s romances, but though I don’t always enjoy the ‘instalove’ trope, I love these characters so much that I really don’t mind it when she does it. They were so awkward and adorable, it was very sweet.

I’m so excited that I don’t have to wait to read the next book (I actually haven’t checked to see whose story it is), and I’m very curious about how much more we’ll learn about the lore behind what happened to Sarkis and his besties.

Have you read Swordheart or is it on your TBR?

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