Swordheart
by T. Kingfisher
read by Jesse Vilinsky
Tantor Media, 2021. 14 hours, 32 minutes.
Review written December 9, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Here’s a fantasy tale with a self-described middle-aged widow as the main character! That alone would have made the book delightful. (She turned out to be in her late thirties, but still.)
As the book opens, Halla has been locked in her room by her dead husband’s relatives until she’ll agree to marry a cousin with clammy hands. This is all the fault of great-uncle Silas, the only one who’d been willing to take her in after her husband died. After years of caring for Silas, when he died, he left all his money to Halla. Now the relatives insist that she marry the cousin to keep the money in the family.
Locked in her room, Halla realizes that if she kills herself, the money will stay out of their hands and go to her nieces and give them nice dowries. But how does one, in fact, kill oneself? Well, Silas collected artifacts, and there’s long been an old sword hanging on her wall.
But when Halla unsheathes the sword, a warrior appears. His name is Sarkis, and he was bound to the sword over 400 years before. But he’s never had a wielder quite like Halla.
After breaking Halla out of her own home, they go on a quest to get help from the temple of the Rat God, whose priests are sworn to help people in legal trouble. But the journey, both there and back, is full of obstacles and unexpected challenges. And it’s no surprise to the reader that Halla and Sarkis begin to have feelings for each other.
This book was delightful all along the way. Halla is a wonderful character, full of curiosity and always asking questions, sometimes as a way to disarm people who would otherwise be threats. Sarkis, quite naturally, is used to solving problems by cutting off heads or burning down villages. He’s voiced with what I think is a Scottish accent (might be Irish?), and his perplexity with Halla is great fun to experience. And a strong reason I’m recommending the audiobook as a wonderful way to experience this novel.
The priest of the Rat God who travels back with them is a nonbinary person, and it was refreshing how everyone in that medieval fantasy world uses they/them pronouns without batting an eye.
Some of the obstacles they encountered made the story feel a bit circuitous, but in the end I was happier to have that much more time in this world. Although I’m coming to the book four years after publication, I see that a sequel is expected in August 2026, so I feel like I’m right on time.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/swordheart.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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