She discovers an enchanted sword containing an immortal swordsman, Sarkis, who appears whenever the sword is drawn. I’m emphatically not a horror person, and it’s a level of darkness I can deal with.)Halla, a widowed housekeeper, has been left her great-uncle’s estate and been locked up by his relatives, who want to control her inheritance. Read moreĪ fantasy romance/roadtrip set in the same world as Clockwork Boys, told with hope and humour and a dash of horror.

Sarkis doesn't think much of the civilization he's found himself in but he does think a lot of good about Halla and wonders how he can manage to create a relationship with her.I enjoyed the read from start to finish and I have a few of the rest of this series on order. She doesn't fight but convinces people to disregard her which is hilarious and also frustrating because you can see the smart shes had to bury to get to the point of survival. The dialogue is sharp and Halla is a lot of fun. They go to the nearest city to get a lawyer to help them and meet Zale, a non-binary lawyer priest who is awesome and has some great dialogue. She is locked into a room with some of her great-uncles's collection of stuff and she decides to use the sword to end it all here.Yeah, but the sword is magical and once she unsheathes it she has to contend with Sarkis who is trapped in the sword and somewhat done with dramatics. Her last marriage was to quite a similar man and she just doesn't want it. Halla inherits her great-uncle's estate and unfortunately her relatives disagree and want to marry her off to her clammy handed cousin-in-law but she doesn't want that. Now I need the rest of this series and almost everything written by her.

Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher