Early Review – Daggerbound (Swordheart, Book 2) by T. Kingfisher (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Bramble
Release Date: August 25, 2026
ASIN: B0FMS8TXJZ
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Swordheart series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. Another great adventure for the ages…

But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, in desperation, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, instead of unsheathing a rusty, ancient weapon, an alarmingly handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down.

This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who’s been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel, and is angry as hell about it. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund, just as he has hated every wielder before him.

But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons, and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Swordheart series. I got this on ebook to review from NetGalley.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this and if you enjoyed Swordheart I think you will enjoy this book as well. This is a bit romance heavy, but I felt like the story and world-building were better balanced with the romance than they were in Swordheart. There was a bit too much of the characters talking about how they aren’t worthy of each other (again, less than Swordheart but still a bit much).

Learned Edmund is doing one last delivery of a previous relic to the temple he is an initiate of and then that is it, he’s leaving the order. Unfortunately, he is set upon by bandits on the road. He is knocked unconscious and wakes up to the most beautiful man standing over him. Edmund accidentally unsheathed the sword of the Dervish, an immortal warrior who has been bound in a sword for centuries and is now bound to protect Edward. The Dervish is pissed at being trapped for so long and eager to get rid of Edmund until he realizes how sweet Edmund and how much trouble Edmund seems to regularly get himself into.

I enjoyed this; it has a cozy fantasy feel to it but also a lot of action and adventure. I still like Kingfisher’s Clocktaur War books better, but this is a nice fantasy romance set in that same world. There is a lot of humor and witty banter here as well as some intense sexy scenes.

I liked the cast of characters here. This very much has classic adventuring party fantasy vibes. The adventuring party is formed along the way, and, of course, many things go amiss along the way as well. There is a theme of found family to this and of learning to be proud of your strengths.

I like that this builds out the story about the immortal warriors trapped in swords and that we start to get some resolution around that. I also like the Temple of the White Rat is involved some more and that we get cameos from characters that were in previous books set in this world.

This was very easy to read and engaging; it does a good job of balancing story and world-building with a sweet and spicy romance.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this and happy to see this series continuing. This continues to build out The World of White Rat, and I loved learning more about these immortal sword warriors. This world-building is coupled with a wonderful story and a steamy romance. The romance is very prevalent in this book and is a major part of the story; something that is not necessarily my favorite, but it works for the story. I am very curious to see what happens in the next book in this series because it definitely feels like there will be at least one more book in this series.