Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher

Daggerbound is a follow-up to Swordheart that came out in 2018, and while I didn’t read it until later, the wait has been long enough that I believed Swordheart would end up being a stand-alone. It’s part of the World of the White Rat world that began with Clockwork Boys in 2017. That book introduced Learned Edmund. Already back then I wished he’d get his own book, and finally, he’s the protagonist here.

Learned Edmund is a scholar of the Many-faced God’s temple, but he’s had enough of their ways and inability to change. So, without telling anyone, he’s accepted his last mission, to deliver some books and a sword that can’t be pulled out of the scabbard, and then he won’t return. Even if it means he’s also stealing his favourite mule, Sweetheart.

But soon after leaving, he’s attacked by bandits. He ends up pulling the sword that can’t be pulled, and a man with daggers and silver etchings on his face emerges. No-Longer-Learned Edmund believes he’s an angel. He turns out to be a former mercenary, The Dervish, who’s been trapped inside the sword with magic for a long time, dead but not quite, forced to protect his wielder. That is now Edmund.

The two set out to deliver the books, and maybe the sword, because Edmund has learned that it might be possible to break the curse on The Dervish. But they meet misfortune after another, bandits and a dragon even. They make friends too, a gnole and a giant sentient pillbug. There’s a great deal of attraction between Edmund and The Dervish, a great flirt who believes in his good looks. But Edmund is shy and The Dervish is badly traumatised, and so nothing seems to come of it. Also, it’s difficult to start a romance when you’re in constant peril.

But the existence of the sword isn’t a secret. The followers of the original wonderworker who made the sword want it back. And they’ll do anything to get it. Even hurting Edmund. But they underestimate the sword’s need to protect its wielder—especially if he’s fallen in love for the first time.

This was such a good book, a return to form after The Paladin’s Faith, which I found disappointing. The whimsy and delight were back—and gnoles! Edmund and The Dervish were both great characters with their own issues to go through, though Edmund was having easier time with his decision to leave the temple. The yearning was well done and kept the reader hooked the whole time. Dog Flower the gnole and Large Francis the pillbug were both wonderful additions with proper roles in the story. Some old faces featured too.

The ending was satisfying. The Dervish still has his trauma, but he’ll have centuries to work on them. Edmund emerged from his shell. They made a great pair despite their differences, one attentive and the other sympathetic. Together, they’ll be stronger, and I’m sure Edmund will find a way to solve the problem of the swords. The long wait for Learned Edmund’s book was definitely worth it.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

A Sorcerer Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

A Sorceress Comes to Call is a gothic horror or fairytale complete with ghosts and headless horses. It takes place in a country manor, but the country and time are a bit vague. It mostly resembles early Victorian England, except everyone is Catholic, and it constantly refers to old world across the sea, so maybe New England with aristocrats, country squires and general Englishness. Or maybe it’s an imaginary place of fairytales.

Cordelia is fourteen and deathly afraid of her mother. Evangeline is a sorceress with the power of taking over Cordelia’s body, making her a puppet her mother operates, a horror she has to often endure. Her mother uses it mostly as a punishment, but Cordelia can never be sure what triggers the punishment. She’s timid, barely daring to breathe wrong, has no friends, and little understanding of how the world works. And she’s not allowed to have any secrets from her mother, and no closed doors between them. She can only confide in her mother’s horse, Falada.

Cordelia’s world is turned upside down, when her mother announces she’s going to marry a rich squire who has no idea what’s awaiting him, and whisks them off to his country manor. Cordelia must marry well too, so she has to pretend she’s seventeen. She can barely handle being fourteen and outside her village, let alone living in a large manor with servants who are nice to her. But the most difficult thing for her to handle is the freedom of knowing there are locked doors between her and her mother. It triggers fear episodes in her.

Hester is 51 and a spinster, because a decade ago she rejected the man she loves for his own good. But she’s organised her life the way she likes with her brother, the squire, even if her bad knee troubles her. And then everything is ruined by the arrival of Evangeline. Hester knows even before she shows up that doom is on its way, and is determined to stop it at any cost.

Evangeline sets out to seduce the squire. She can’t use magic, because the wedding rites will dissolve it. Hester is equally determined to stop it, so she fills the house with friends, one of whom is the squire’s former mistress. A bad move. Because Evangeline is not above murder. But the one thing Evangeline can’t imagine is that Cordelia would work against her too.

This was a great book. The atmosphere is perfect for a gothic novel, but not too scary for me. Cordelia with her paralysing fear of her mother was a great character to root for, and it was wonderful to see her open up a little with Hester and her nice friends. Hester had her own story, the romance with Richard and the regrets of her past. And Evangeline was perfectly villainous with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

It’s a fairly long book for the story, but the pace was good and there was never a moment that I would be bored with it. Evangeline with her superior magic was a difficult foe for ordinary people to defeat, but they have the numbers and some unexpected help. The ending is satisfying. All in all, a good read for fans of gothic fairytales with some gory bits.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher

Paladin’s Faith is a fourth book in The Saint of Steel fantasy romance series by T. Kingfisher. It follows the paladins of a dead god who try to find their place in a world where they are no longer needed, set in the same world as the Clocktaur War duology, though a few decades later.

Shane is a paladin abandoned by two gods, which has given him a huge inferiority complex and a fear of getting everyone around him killed. He’s ordered to protect Marguerite Florian, a spy who is trying to locate an artificer who has created a device that’ll potentially disrupt the economy of the entire world. She’s a resourceful woman with few compunctions about her work and how she gets it done, which doesn’t always sit well with Shane. Naturally, a romance ensues, albeit slowly, as one of them fears he’s not good enough and the other doesn’t really have a need for a romance.

Despite the interesting premise, this is by far the weakest book in the series. The entire first half of the rather long book is basically filler events, with a token attempt made to locate the artificer. The romance doesn’t go anywhere. Things pick up on the latter half, but what was supposed to be the driving force of the plot takes a back seat when a new storyline appears, and is all but forgotten. It’s Shane’s story, and it’s a good one, but it doesn’t really mesh with the romance. That the pair ends up together in the end is because this is a romance, and the book would’ve been fine without.

On top of the weak story, this lacks the charm and delightful whimsy of the earlier books. Marguerite doesn’t make a very interesting romantic heroine and while Shane has his moments, he’s not much of a romantic hero either. Side characters exist to fill the pages, but I suspect their story will come later. And not a single gnol made an appearance. The epilogue promises an interesting story to come though, and even though this was a disappointment, I’ll definitely read on.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Thornhedge is a good retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It’s short, but it has everything a story needs: a sweet, resolute heroine and a hero who believes in her, great emotions and a happy ending.

Toadling is born human, but she’s replaced with a changeling right after birth and brought to the fairy land where she grows up being loved. Then, one day, she’s brought back to the human world to keep in rein the changeling who has replaced her. But it’s easier said than done. Out of options, she spells the changeling to sleep for eternity—until a kind knight arrives and frees them both.

This was a quick read that left me feeling happy. Toadling was delightful, and while Halim was a somewhat forceful character who did what he wanted, he learned to listen to her in the end. I don’t think the story improved for being set in the ‘real’ world instead of a fairy tale land though. The historical references tended to yank me out of the story. But if you want a quick, cute read, this is for you.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

Swordheart is another wonderful fantasy romance by T. Kingfisher, set in her World of the White Rat between Clockataur War and The Saint of Steel books. Paladins and a gnole are featured, as well as the Vagrant Hills and the great people of the White Rat.

Halla has, to her utter surprise, inherited her late husband’s late great-uncle Silas, of whom she’s been taking care for years. His family doesn’t approve, and they lock her in her room until she agrees to marry Cousin Alvar to get the money. He has clammy hands and is very disagreeable too, not to mention her horrible mother, so she’d rather die. The problem is, she doesn’t quite know how to throw herself into a sword. Less so, when a man appears from it when she draws it.

Sarkis is a mercenary from centuries past who has been cursed into a sword, not quite dead but not truly living either, to obey and protect whoever draws the sword. That it turns out to be Halla is somewhat bemusing to him, but since she clearly needs help, he’s there to provide.

Together they flee the house and through the country to plea her case at the temple of the White Rat. It turns out to be a surprising and LONG journey up and down the same road. I’m not entirely sure the book needed all the twists and turns thrown at the pair, a much shorter book would’ve sufficed, but they were entertaining and there was never a dull moment in the book.

And of course, there’s romance. But how is one to romance an ancient sword who might disappear in the blink of an eye? Especially when one is not very experienced in the romance department, despite being a widow.

This was a great book. Both Sarkis and Halla were wonderful, mature characters and they suited each other surprisingly well, despite being the opposites of each other. Brindle the gnole was delightful and Zale the lawyer of the White Rat a good addition to the story. Villains were villainous, though I’m not sure what purpose the priests of the Hanged Mother served other than slowing down the story. They don’t even show up in the latter series.

There’s a promise of two more books in this series, and I wish they existed. But as this one is four years old already, and the author has written several other books since without returning to the swords, I’m not entirely hopeful. I’ll read them though, if they are ever written.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) has an amazing ability to write adult fairy tales that sound exactly like the stories I grew up with. The tone, pace, and tropes like fairy godmothers in Nettle & Bone are all as should for a comforting reading experience, no matter the grimness of the story.

Marra is a princess who has had to watch first the beloved eldest sister and then the second sister be married off to a prince to protect her country from invasion. If the second sister dies too, Marra will be next, so she’s whisked off to a cloister to keep her safe—not from the prince but for him.

Fifteen years of secluded life later, she’s unprepared, at thirty, to deal with the realisation that the prince abuses her sister physically and mentally, and the only thing keeping her relatively safe is to stay pregnant. But that’ll only last until she delivers a boy.

Filled with anger for her sister, Marra sets out to save her with a vague notion that such a heroic act needs a heroic journey and deeds. She meets a witch who gives her three impossible tasks, and then decides to accompany her on the quest. Good thing too, because Marra wouldn’t have survived without her. They are joined by a knight with a death wish and Marra’s fairy godmother who isn’t quite what she seems.

But it isn’t just the prince they need to defeat. There’s a curse on his kingdom, and until that’s dealt with, Marra’s sister and her child are as good as dead.

This was such a wonderful book. Marra was an excellent character, slightly slow and naïve for her age, but utterly determined to see her quest through. In the end, her role in saving her sister was mostly about getting together the people who could do it for her. The two old witches were brilliant and fun, and the knight a mature man who was just perfect for Marra. The language was rich and the narrative delightful, and if the world was a fairly generic fairy tale kingdom, with Christian concepts like christening thrown in the mix, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

Paladin’s Strength is the second book in T. Kingfisher’s (Ursula Vernon) Saints of Steel romantic fantasy series. It’s part of her World of the White Rat series, but with different characters and setting, though I haven’t given up hope that some of the earlier characters will make an appearance in subsequent books.

Istvhan is a former paladin of the Saint of Steel. Former, because his god is dead. It hasn’t taken as great a toll on him as his fellows, but it had left him without purpose until the efficient people of the White Rat god gave him a job as a mercenary. He’s on a mission to escort a merchant across the land, a cover for his true mission to follow the rumours that the Smooth men, the clay-headed creatures of the first book, have been spotted again.

Clara is a lay nun of St Ursa, an order with a great secret (or not so great if you understand even smidgen of Latin, or have sharp eyes to study the cover). There has been a raid against her convent, and all the nuns have been captured, but she was thought dead and left behind. She’s on a mission to rescue her sisters when she comes across Istvhan and his men.

Since their paths align, she joins the group to hunt down her sisters and the Smooth men. Eventually, both paths lead to same place, a weird coast town ruled by sea lords. There’s a lot of action and mayhem before the nuns are freed and the Smooth men dealt with. So much so, that Istvhan and Clara have a really hard time to find a peaceful moment to act on their mutual attraction.

I love fantasy romances, a perfect romantic combination of fantasy setting and romance plot, and this one didn’t disappoint. It is heavy on action, and the romance is slow to build, but once it gets there, it’s very solid.

Clara and Istvhan are both a bit older than romantic couples in romances usually are (36 and 40), but it suits this genre well. It also means that they’ve been around the romance block a few times and they both know what they want and have fears based on their earlier experiences. Clara especially has her secret, which she just knows will drive Istvhan away when he finds out. Only it doesn’t.

They are both great characters. Istvhan has his paladin core that doesn’t allow him to abandon a woman in need, no matter that she’s almost his size and has the strength to match. Clara has had to keep her secret for all her life, and it’s difficult for her to trust outsiders with it, but he’s worth her trust. They are a great match and together they can handle pretty much anything. The book is told in both their points of view, so the reader gets a good understanding of them. Other characters remain a bit more distant, but they are great and well-drawn too.

If I have any complaints, it’s that the book could’ve used an epilogue. The impact of the final romantic moment was sort of lost when it came so soon after the final battle. A few pages of where the two end up at would’ve gone a long way to satisfy this reader. But all in all, a great book, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next one.

 

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

This is the fourth book by T. Kingfisher that I’ve read—pretty much back to back—and the first one meant for younger readers. T. Kingfisher is a penname for Ursula Vernon, who mostly writes children’s books, but according to her afterword, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking was deemed too dark for her audience by all publishers who had shown interest in it, so she published it under her adult penname.

Mona is a fourteen-year-old baker who works at her aunt’s bakery, happily making bread and muffins. She’s also a minor wizard with affinity to baking—and only to that. She can persuade her dough to have the desired density or the bread not to burn in the oven. And she can animate gingerbread men to amuse her customers. She’s also responsible for the world’s angriest sour bread starter, Bob. It eats rats.

Everything is perfect, until the day Mona finds a dead girl on the floor of the bakery. Someone is killing all minor mages in their town. It’s followed by a fearmongering campaign against them, and a call for all mages to register. Angered by this, Mona decides to demand that the leader of her town do something about it, and gets pulled into dangerous political plotting. Soon she finds herself as the only mage left in town and it’s up to her to defend it with magic. And since it’s bread she knows, it’s bread she uses.

I found this an excellent book. Mona was a great character, resourceful and determined, and she grew a great deal during the course of the book. The story was intriguing and stakes were high enough to keep an adult’s interest. Descriptions of Mona’s magic were fun, and the side characters were great; special mention goes to the gingerbread man who was brilliant. I’m absolutely sure that I would’ve loved this book when I was twelve too. Yes, there were dead bodies and evil adults, but so there were in many other books too that I read at that age. Magic is always intriguing, especially when it’s used as imaginatively as it is here, and a child rising to save the day when adults can’t is always appealing. I would definitely recommend this to middle grade readers.

 

The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher

I recently discovered T. Kingfisher’s (Ursula Vernon) adult fantasy and became an instant fan. I started with Paladin’s Grace, an excellent fantasy romance, and proceeded to read the Clockataur War duology that began with Clockwork Boys and concluded in The Wonder Engine.

The two books are perhaps best reviewed together, as they form one story and are told in very uneven parts, with the latter book being perhaps three times as long as the first. They’re set in the same world as Paladin’s Grace, a fairly generic pre-industrial land of city-states with their own rulers and constant wars. Gods are aplenty and they’re very hands-on and real for their paladins, but there are also mechanical inventions and non-human creatures.

Anuket City has declared a war to the Capital, and this time they’re attacking with monstrous clockwork engines that are indestructible. An army of them is marching over the mountains and it’s only a matter of time before they reach the Dowager’s city. After exhausting all options, the ruler sends out a team of criminals. There’s Slate, a forger who’s fled Anuket City a few years earlier after angering the local crime lord. Brennan is an assassin and Slate’s former lover. And Caliban is a former paladin for Dreaming God who was possessed by a demon he was supposed to slay and butchered a bunch of nuns. They’re joined by Learned Edmund, a scholar in search of a colleague who went to study the Clockwork Boys and disappeared. They form a very uneven group, but during the journey to the Anuket City, they become a team—of sorts. The first book ends when they reach the city, rather abruptly.

The second book finds the group trying to learn where the Clockwork Boys come from and how to destroy them. The first half of the book is a tad slow, but it picks up pace at half-point, when the crime lord Slate had betrayed finds her. From there it’s constant action until the mission is completed.

I really liked these books, despite the unevenness and slowness. The characters grew and changed a lot during their mission and I came to like all of them. Even Learned Edmund who seemed insufferable at first turned out to be a compassionate young man with keen eye to smaller creatures among them. There was a love story too, between Slate and Caliban, but it was secondary to the mission, and I liked how the mission and the events of the final battle affected it. The ending made me wish there were more books in the series about the adventures of Slate and Caliban, but I’ll settle with follow-up books to Paladin’s Grace.

 

My reading challenge for 2021

It’s a new year and that means a new Goodreads Reading Challenge. I’ve set myself a reading goal there several years in a row, and I find it a fun way to keep track of what I’ve read and maybe challenge myself a little too. Last year I made a personal reading record of ninety-five books (or eighty-five, if you only count those I finished). This year I pledged to read eighty books, though that may change later.

Every year, I make a list too, of books that I want to read. It’s a guideline more than a mandatory programme; last year I only read ten books from it. But I’ve noticed that it’s easier to keep up with everything I want to read if I’ve listed every book I already own and haven’t read yet, the books on my wish list and the upcoming publications by my favourite authors.

This year’s list contains a whopping hundred and fifty books, mostly because I did so poorly with it last year that several books moved over. It has four sections: books from the old list, new books, books from NetGalley, and books I chance to read outside it—obviously currently empty.

There are fifty-two books from the old list. Some of them didn’t seem so interesting anymore, so I pruned it down to those I already own or definitely want to read. That brought it down to twenty books. These include The Burning God by R.F. Kuang, which was published in November and I got for a Christmas present and didn’t have time to read last year, and Crush the King by Jennifer Estep that I reserved from the local library, but haven’t got yet.

The list of new books filled with everything I bought last year and didn’t have time to read. There are several by Lindsay Buroker, for example, as many of her boxed sets were free or discounted—and she’s published a lot. But there are also many upcoming books from my favourite authors; two from J.R. Ward and three from Nalini Singh. All in all, the list has seventy-nine books, so if I manage to read them all, that’s my reading challenge pretty much covered.

And then there’s the NetGalley section. I’ve already been approved to read twenty-two books, and that’s only until May. A couple of really interesting books there, like Victories Greater than Death by Charlie Jane Anders, which will come out in April; A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, the follow-up to A Memory Called Empire, which will be published in March; The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers, coming out in February, and The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris that will be published in February too.

All in all, a full and interesting list. And there’s still room for surprises, so bring them on. Last year ended with one such surprise, as I picked Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher, a really great fantasy romance, and instantly proceeded to read her Clockwork Boys, which is the first book I’ve finished this year. I’ve already started it’s follow up, The Wonder Engine. So the reading year is on to a good start. Follow this blog to find out how it proceeds.