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Swordheart, by T. Kingfisher
Jan. 4th, 2019 07:50 pmA romance novel by Ursula Vernon! I am extremely charmed and delighted. I mean, obviously I was going to be, it is impossible not to enjoy the things she writes.
This is a romance novel about a middle aged woman and an immortal dead guy trapped in a sword. Which like. I AM THERE FOR THE PREMISE but then the execution absolutely backs it up too.
Halla’s been her great-uncle’s housekeeper for years, and when he finally kicks the bucket he leaves her estate to her. Which would be fine and dandy except....the rest of the family does not agree with this outcome of his will. So Halla’s locked in her room to Think About What She’s Done in order to make her marry her cousin so that her aunt can have control over the estate.
And then she discovers that if she draws an old sword decorating the wall in her room she’ll get a strange man showing up in swirl of blue lights! Who says she’s his bearer and he’ll protect her!
Obviously they then run away together in order to find a lawyer to back up the reading of the will. As you do, because Ursula Vernon’s characters tend to be sensible about things.
Road trip time!
And then even more road trip time once they pick up the lawyer, who’s a delightful nonbinary religious person who becomes a major secondary character.
I...I don’t know how best to describe the appeal of Vernon’s writing, but just something about how she approaches writing - the characters, the plot, the descriptions, the sense of humour, etc - just really really works for me. I wish I could explain better why this book is so good and you should read it!
(One of the details though that I really loved about this book was Sarkis’s belated realization of Halla’s protective strategy of acting like a stupid woman not worth anyone's time when she's faced with dangerous men, and how when he first met Halla she was doing exactly that to him. Amazing. I love Halla so much.)
This is a romance novel about a middle aged woman and an immortal dead guy trapped in a sword. Which like. I AM THERE FOR THE PREMISE but then the execution absolutely backs it up too.
Halla’s been her great-uncle’s housekeeper for years, and when he finally kicks the bucket he leaves her estate to her. Which would be fine and dandy except....the rest of the family does not agree with this outcome of his will. So Halla’s locked in her room to Think About What She’s Done in order to make her marry her cousin so that her aunt can have control over the estate.
And then she discovers that if she draws an old sword decorating the wall in her room she’ll get a strange man showing up in swirl of blue lights! Who says she’s his bearer and he’ll protect her!
Obviously they then run away together in order to find a lawyer to back up the reading of the will. As you do, because Ursula Vernon’s characters tend to be sensible about things.
Road trip time!
And then even more road trip time once they pick up the lawyer, who’s a delightful nonbinary religious person who becomes a major secondary character.
I...I don’t know how best to describe the appeal of Vernon’s writing, but just something about how she approaches writing - the characters, the plot, the descriptions, the sense of humour, etc - just really really works for me. I wish I could explain better why this book is so good and you should read it!
(One of the details though that I really loved about this book was Sarkis’s belated realization of Halla’s protective strategy of acting like a stupid woman not worth anyone's time when she's faced with dangerous men, and how when he first met Halla she was doing exactly that to him. Amazing. I love Halla so much.)
