An immortal warrior bound to a sword who would honestly rather you just let him die is not the traveling companion most people would choose, but Learned Edmund never gets much of a choice in the matter. T. Kingfisher’s “Daggerbound,” the second book in her Swordheart series, picks up the scholarly monk from her earlier “Clocktaur War” duology and drops him into a road-trip fantasy that is somehow both cozier and bloodier than its premise suggests.
Edmund is transporting a mysterious relic when bandits attack him on the road, and with no better options, he draws the sword he’s been guarding. Out comes the Dervish, an immortal fighter bound to the blade across countless owners and centuries, who saves Edmund’s life with a pair of silver daggers while making it extremely clear he’d have preferred not to. The Dervish hates his fate, resents the endless procession of wielders he’s been forced to serve, and has no particular reason to warm to Edmund. He does anyway, slowly, over the course of a journey to Archon’s Glory that picks up a ragtag group of fellow travelers, an opinionated donkey, and a body count of dangerous creatures along the way.
What makes the book work is the same alchemy Kingfisher has perfected across her Nebula and Hugo-winning career: genuine, hard-edged darkness sitting comfortably next to genuine warmth and absurd comedy. The Dervish’s centuries of forced servitude and the cruelty underpinning his existence are not softened for the sake of cuteness, and the novel doesn’t flinch from the trauma of enslavement and the toll it takes. But Kingfisher counterbalances that weight with a found-family travel narrative and a romance between two men who would clearly rather face a monster than say an honest sentence about their feelings to each other, which turns out to be a very effective engine for both comedy and tension. Fans of “Swordheart” will recognize the tonal fingerprint immediately, and the callbacks to Kingfisher’s wider catalog give longtime readers plenty to smile at.
Reception has been largely warm, with reviewers praising the blend of adventure, romance, and Kingfisher’s specific brand of wonderfully absurd humor, and singling out the supporting cast of travelers as a highlight. Some have called it a worthy, cozy-but-never-low-stakes follow-up that longtime fans will feel instantly at home in. Not every reader has been fully won over: a smaller number found the pacing sluggish in stretches and felt the humor landed less consistently than in Kingfisher’s best work, with at least one review noting the middle of the journey drags before the plot reasserts itself.
Taken as a whole, “Daggerbound” is a satisfying continuation of a series built on the tension between grim fairy-tale logic and genuine tenderness, and it rewards patience with a finale that earns its emotional beats. Readers new to Kingfisher might want to start with “Swordheart” first, since so much of what makes the Dervish’s arc land depends on the world she’s already built. But for anyone already invested, this is exactly the kind of messy, funny, quietly devastating fantasy that keeps her readers coming back.
As an Amazon Associate, VIRA Broadcasting earns from qualifying purchases.