Swordheart by T. Kingfisher has finally gotten its much-awaited sequel, Daggerbound. While Swordheart focused on Commader Sarkis, Daggerbound is about enigmatic The Dervish. However, if the first book was verging on funny with the older widow and the even older exasperated warrior, Daggerbound is a traumatic episode wrapped in shining humour.

Check out the full review of Swordheart by T. Kingfisher.

I am a T. Kingfisher fan through and through. Having read Swordheart, Daggerbound was on my most anticipated book of the year and long story short, it did not disappoint. If I love Kingfisher’s older straight couples in fantasy fiction, I am in love with Kingfisher writing queer romances in fantasy fiction. This book delivers on that smoothly.

With that, let’s get into it!

Spoiler-free Plot of the new T. Kingfisher Book: What is ‘Daggerbound’ about?

Daggerbound returns the readers to The World of The White Rat universe. Learned Edmund from Clockwork Boys makes his return while running away from his order of the Many-Armed God.

Edmund has been tasked to get a stack of books to the library at Archon’s Glory and a sword to a scholar in the same city. But the dedicate of the God is tired of having his efforts of modernising the order thwarted at every turn. He has finally had enough and when he completes his deliveries, he is not coming back to his order. He has his wits and the mule, Sweetness, to accompany him.

He plans to revive his old contacts in the city and get a job as a scribe. But all of that is bludgeon into the dirt when bandits attack him soon on his journey. As the bandits are stomping around on the books (horrible people), Edmund accidentally draws the ancient sword. He is surprised when what he thinks is an angel with silver eyes appears in a flare of silver light and fights the bandits.

Only, the man with the silver eyes is the farthest from an angel. The Devish has been stuck in the sword for 450 years and would love to pummel Commander Sarkis for the decisions he made and got both the Dervish and Angharad stuck into swords. He is also not too keen on saving his wielders after all the horrific experiments done on him by his last wielder.

The Dervish is sarcastic to a fault, is hiding his trauma of being tortured to an inch of his life under his humour and flirting and he abhors priests. But his new wielder is a former priest and too innocent for him to suspect him of that kind of monstrosity, until he finds out more about him.

Beloved characters from Swordheart make appearances in Daggerbound as some reunions and confrontations take place.

My verdict: Should You Read ‘Daggerbound’ by T. Kingfisher?

For me, Daggerbound was a bigger hit than Swordheart.

I had loved reading about Learned Edmund in the Clockataur War series, he was a closeted teenager who was taught extreme misogyny to the extent that he believed his bowels would turn to water if he spent time with women. Then, there’s the Dervish, T. Kingfisher does not tell us his real name or in fact, very little about him and then very vaguely.

The Dervish has a winning personality and a dashing face. He is hilarious, vain and protective about his own self. The magic of the sword requires him to not harm the wielder and protect them from harm, but it does not require him to do any more than that. He is happy to stick to that plan but as he travels with Edmund, he sees an opportunity to get out of the sword for good. So, he decides to follow the former priest.

There is a journey, teamwork to facilitate a rescue, a daring escape and loose threads tied up neatly that set up the next book Shieldborn.

I did not expect the amount of angst and yearning I was served while going into this book. The pain of severing oneself from an ideology because you find out what kind of people they actually are, is portrayed to perfection in the book. Then there is the Dervish with his secrets, trauma and abandonment issues. The plot is more complex than what it comes off as initially.

I am invested in the lore at this point and looking forward to Shieldborn, expected to be released in 2027.

I recommend the book for readers who like a cozy fantasy with low stakes but still incorporating a lot of action and drama in it. If you are a T. Kingfisher fan already, this is one of her best fantasy works in terms of character sketches and plot, but you would not find the tight pacing of her more horror-leaning works in this book. The story meanders a little but is still entertaining.

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Have you read any of The Saint of Steel or The World of the White Rat books by T. Kingfisher yet? Pick up a copy of Daggerbound here: buy book.

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