this is technically a 4.75 star read for me, rounding up since i feel that 5 stars is closer to the experience i had than 4.5 stars.

getting the (very scant, very minor) negative out of the way— i'm just not the biggest romance enthusiast out there, and the tension and buildup of the budding relationship is always more interesting to me than the getting together and resolution of feelings. in this book, that resolution of romantic tension was dispersed out over the last hundred and some pages bc our main couple is one part emotionally stunted and the other part insecure, but in the end it still made the last bits of the romance in the book less intriguing than the earlier moments.

that's it. that's my one gripe. the characters? amazing. the found family in this book features one of my absolute favorite casts i've read in recent history. large francis, i would die for you. please understand this.

also, as always, t. kingfisher's narrative voice is so funny and easy to read. sometimes when authors lean into humor it can come off as anti-intellectual or just crass and stupid, but she avoids this. her worlds are fleshed out and feel real, her characters are multi-dimensional, her writing is sharp. it just so happens that she manages to deliver it all with a sort of casual irreverence that only serves to make it that much more accessible and fun!!!

as much as i enjoyed swordheart, i think daggerbound has absolutely outdone it as a sequel!