Swordheart

I always love T Kingfisher books and this one was no exception.

Halla is a widow who's been taking care of her late husband's uncle until he dies, leaving her everything. Great you say, but you've never met Halla's in-laws now murderously set on keeping the inheritance in the family. She escapes their clutches with the help of a man trapped in a magic sword but must return to town to claim her inheritance.

This one's going next to The Princess Bride in "I guess it's technically a love story BUT LOOK AT ALL THE ADVENTURE!"

Seriously, it's good, and the travelogue-y bits where we get to know the characters and see them both oblivious to the relationship forming are fun to read. Plus it's T Kingfisher so there's bonus bloody scenes!

Something that needs to be gotten out of the way: There's very clearly a formula at work here. You're going to see the same pattern of how the relationships shake out in all of the books set in this world.

But.

Each one is still a unique story, and absolutely worth reading. The personalities at play, and the specifics of how things shake out are still compelling when you know basically what is going to happen.

This is a fun story (with some angsty bits - part of the formula) and descends into utter ridiculousness at points, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Highly recommend.

Ms. Kingfisher must be trolling us at this point, but somehow I find that I can't complain