I read a few other books between Swordheart and Daggerbound, but since the first book was my last review and I haven’t gotten around to reviewing those other books yet, I figured I’d go out of order and do this one next. I really liked Swordheart, and was excited that there were also books about the other people hidden “inside” swords, so I grabbed this one as soon as I could.

Apparently, however, I have missed out on a Kingfisher novel, because Learned Edmund is a character who has appeared before in her writing (Clockwork Boys?). But you don’t need to know his back story there to enjoy this book simply as the next in the sword stories. Edmund is a scholar, eager to explore, develop, and preserve every stray piece of information (and share those facts exhaustively with all and sundry). He is also an immensely disillusioned priest who is using a felicitous opportunity to leave the priesthood behind: He has been charged with transporting a precious relic from his temple to a scholar in a distant city who has requested to study it, and he leaves with his exceedingly stubborn mule and the ancient sword, intending never to return.

Unfortunately for him, he is set upon by bandits and, with no one to defend him or his load of precious books and the rare artifact, he takes a pretty serious beating until he finds the scabbard under his hand and draws the sword, whereupon a handsome and well-armed man appears and demolishes the surprised thieves. The sword guy is called the Dervish (no other name offered), another immortal warrior trapped in an enchanted sword, and now Learned Edmund is his “wielder.” The Dervish is really mad about the curse that put him into the sword, and he wants to regard his current wielder with the same loathing as those who have exploited him in the past. But Edmund isn’t like them; he’s clever, he’s kind, he’s positively endearing, and the Dervish can’t hate him. He can, however, protect him and get him to his destination…which turns out not to be what either of them expected.

I enjoyed this book almost as much as the last one, although I ranked it slightly lower because I didn’t like the Dervish as much as I did Sarkis. On the other hand, I liked Learned Edmund better than I did Halla, so it mostly balanced out. And what other author in HISTORY besides T. Kingfisher would think of making a sentient nine-foot-long pillbug into a fantasy character?!

She also manages to seamlessly juggle humor, pathos, and social commentary while not bogging down the basic fantasy story at all. I loved the ethical dilemmas almost as much as I loved the romance and the quirky characters and the storyline. All hail Ms. Kingfisher.

And now I need to read the third book in this series and then go back to catch up to the early Edmund in his origin story.