Review: Daggerbound

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read (and own) many of T. Kingfisher's books, but this one is delightful. It's not quite what could be called a "cosy," since it has some fairly high stakes and tense moments, but it has some terrific characters. This is set in the author's previously established "World of the White Rat," with dead warriors bound into magical swords, talking animals (including a giant pillbug, who just about steals the show), and, typical for the author, a wonderful slow-burn romance.

Learned Edmund, a brilliant young scholar associated with the Temple of the Many-Armed God (there are many different gods and pantheons in this world) is delivering some books and artifacts--including the aforementioned magical sword, though he has no idea what it is--when he is attacked by brigands on the road and accidentally releases the warrior in the sword, the Dervish. The Dervish is several hundred years old (being bound to the sword, he doesn't age) and is, as we find out, a walking bundle of PTSD and trauma. This is explored over the course of the book. Learned Edmund is leaving behind his temple because he is tired of beating his head against the hidebound elders there--they think women are inferior, among other things--and does not know what he will do now. But this meeting with the Dervish, where Edmund becomes the immortal warrior's wielder, and is bound to him--will change his life.

This is an adventure story, and a tender romance, but the characters are where it really shines. In particular, the aforementioned talking intelligent pillbug (!), Large Francis, is a freaking delight. (I hope she gets her own book someday.) There is a lot of laugh-out-loud humor in this story, humor based on the characters, not slapstick. It's plain to me that the author had a ton of fun writing this book (particularly Chapter 14), and therefore I had a ton of fun reading it.

Just a sample:

"It-would-be-wise. We-know-that-our-appearance-is-often-startling-to-humans." Large Francis flexed her antennae worriedly. "We-had-encountered-several-in-our-journey-and-they-often-ran-away. I-have-made-a-sign-to-help-but-I-do-not-think-it-worked."

"A sign?" asked Edmund.

"Yes-friend-Edmund." Large Francis reached into her pack and pulled out a length of tightly folded cloth. She shook it out and held it up between two legs, forming a banner.

In clear block letters, it read: I DO NOT EAT HUMAN MEAT.

"Oh no," said the Dervish.

I like stories with layered themes and important observations on our real world as much as anyone else, but sometimes you just need a rollicking good adventure. That's what this is.

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