Swordcrossed

by Freya Marske

Synopsis:

The cozy, low stakes of Legends & Lattes meets the scorching bodyguard fantasy of Jennifer L. Armentrout's From Blood and Ash in this enemies-to-lovers romance where, yes, the swords do cross.

Mattinesh Jay, dutiful heir to his struggling family business, needs to hire an experienced swordsman to serve as best man for his arranged marriage. Sword-challenge at the ceremony could destroy all hope of restoring his family's wealth, something that Matti has been trying—and failing—to do for the past ten years.

What he can afford, unfortunately, is part-time con artist and full-time charming menace Luca Piere.

Luca, for his part, is trying to reinvent himself in a new city. All he wants to do is make some easy money and try to forget the crime he committed in his hometown. He didn't plan on being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to a chronically responsible—and inconveniently handsome—wool merchant like Matti.

However, neither Matti's business troubles nor Luca himself are quite what they seem. As the days count down to Matti's wedding, the two of them become entangled in the intrigue and sabotage that have brought Matti's house to the brink of ruin. And when Luca's secrets threaten to drive a blade through their growing alliance, both Matti and Luca will have to answer the question: how many lies are you prepared to strip away, when the truth could mean losing everything you want?

I think the title and emphasis on swords might slightly mis-sell Freya Marske’s Swordcrossed, because though they’re a part of it (and how the main characters initially begin to connect), the story is really more focused around Matti and the problem of his House’s slide into poverty. You could take the swords away and make Luca a dancing teacher, and much would remain the same. One does rather contemplate whether Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint had something to do with the swordplay elements here; there are certainly some points of similarity. (Though I’m not saying it’s a carbon copy, by any means.)

I think much of the plot is pretty predictable, but there is some genuine tension built up between Luca and Matti — some of their scenes were pretty scorching (especially the ones where they didn’t have sex). I was less sure why I should think they make a good couple; there’s some “opposites attract” sort of stuff, and Luca getting Matti to be a bit more spontaneous, but… I don’t know. When I look back at the story, I’m not sure they had enough that was real to build a happy-ever-after on — the chemistry is there, but not the understanding of how they’d work on a day-to-day basis.

I genuinely loved the detail around the wool industry, though. That offered a bit of weight and detail to it, though a lot of the other worldbuilding was somewhat glanced over.

I didn’t feel this way at all about A Marvellous Light, and the author’s note says that Swordcrossed was actually written first, so maybe I’m being a little hard on it. All in all, I liked it, but it feels a bit thin when I sit and look back at the experience.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)