*ive got an arc from netgalley all thoughts are mine*


I don't think Freya Marske can ever disappoint me. It's just the perfect blend of fantasy and romance. The stakes were not that high but I still felt the pressure Matti was under. He wanted nothing but help his family and seeing him taking something for himself for ONCE was so freeing.
Luca. Sweet summer child. That man never think before he act and I adored him. I can totally understand why Matti ended up in love with him.

Their banter was so hilarious, I could have read endlessly about their sword lessons.

And don't start me on Luca doing his best to help Matti 🫠

The wedding scene was *CHIEF KISSES*

NOW. MY FAVORITE PART WAS MAYBE THE SUBPLOT WITH MAYA. loved it.


ANYWAY. GO READ THIS!

An engaging read which caught my attention right away and kept me wanting more.

I absolutely adored Freya Marske’s previous series so I was very excited to receive her latest work, and I have to say, if you enjoyed The Last Binding books I would definitely recommend this one.

It has similar vibes and style to The Last Binding books, while holding its own as a different story in a different world. I love the alternate history feel that Marske’s books hold - that out of time but fantastical sense - and I was drawn in immediately by it in Swordcrossed.

Our two main characters are instantly engaging, and I was invested in their stories - which we learn more about as the book progresses - from the off. The way the relationships developed felt realistic and important to the plot without being the only thing that was going on, which I enjoy.

I loved the way the ending came together, it was so cleverly done and left me satisfied with the story’s conclusion.

Overall, if you enjoyed The Last Binding series, or like a queer historical feeling fantasy in general, I would highly recommend Swordcrossed, and I can’t wait to read more from Freya Marske in the future!

I loved all of the Last Binding trilogy by the author and was excited to see what delights Swordcrossed held.
The story is set in a world with its own vibe, carefully crafted by the author. For me there was an edge of the Regency storyline where the heir of a noble, but financially compromised house, has to marry a rich heiress to set the family fortunes straight. All this so that to the world the house continues to appear affluent and maintain societies standards.
Mattinesh or Matti Jay is our heir in need - Jay house has experienced setbacks and new competition in their wool empire. Sofia, the lady who is the solution to all the Jay family problems is a friend, however she already has a suitor who is likely to attempt to stop the arranged marriage by requesting a duel. Common practice is for a family to hire a best man who will duel on behalf of the family and this is where Luca Piere comes in. Luca swindles Matti out of some of his hard earned money and as recompense as well as being best man he is engaged to teach Matti dueling.
So the scene is set for a tangled web of intrigue, deceit and conspiracy to play out.
Sofia is not just a spare wheel in this story., as she has a strength and determination to forge her own path and take what advantages a marriage to Matti could bring.
I enjoyed the storytelling and the relationships that were built and look forward to the authors next book.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC - all views are my own.

If Freya Marske writes it, I will read it (and love it!)

It's no surprise this turned out to be a 5 star (and one of the best reads of the year). If, like me, you're here from the perfection that was A Marvellous Light, then be ready for a book just as memorable. Swordcrossed ditches the historical setting Marvellous Light had in favor of an all-new fantasy world. You can tell the author had immense fun with the worldbuilding, and I loved the concept of Houses and their Gods, but in a much lower-stakes narrative than most high fantasies.

The political intrigue lost me a bit in the first 100 pages (perhaps on account of too much information introduced too soon, I feel like we should have spent some more time with the characters first, so we had reason to care about their troubles), but after that stumble the plot got more engaging and by the end I was captivated.

The romance is, of course, the swoon-worthy Freya Marske type, that I know and love so well. Perfection is the only way I can describe it, there's nobody writing yearning quite like her.

My thanks to NetGalley and PanMacmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was well written and very cosy. I enjoyed the characters and their relations immensely.
While I enjoyed the writing I found the pacing to be a bit slow, which could be a personal preference. I also found the talk of guilds and their economy to fill a bit too much in the book.
The ending was however really satisfying and felt really satisfying both plot wise and character wise.

Thank you to netgalley and the author/ publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

(This review will also appear on my storygraph account)

I absolutely adored Freya Marske’s previous trilogy of magical books and was thrilled to get an ARC of this from NetGalley. The author has created a whole new world to enjoy. Mattinesh Jay must enter into an arranged marriage to restore the fortunes of his family’s fabric business, but plans are derailed by the arrival of Luca, a swordsman who Matti hires to be his best man, (yes, wedding duels are a thing) and who has a part to play in working out what has gone wrong for the business.
There is skulduggery aplenty, and an enemies to lovers theme (there is some pretty steamy queer romance if that’s not your thing), and the world building is brilliant - I particularly loved the descriptions for foods which are imagined but that I could really almost taste! The Jay family are great - loving, accepting and honest, and Luca is a brilliantly drawn renegade.
Really great stuff.

I was quite excited to see a new book by Freya Marske and a standalone as well (for now anyway). But unfortunately this book could not quite sell me over. It felt mediocre.

We meet Matti, son and heir to one of the larger families in the city. Unfortunately their family business is struggling. To keep afloat and to keep up appearances Matti is going to marry a daughter from one of the other bigger families. But with the threat of a 'lover' of the lady to sword challenge him at the wedding, he has to hire a professional best man who can possibly fight for him. Unfortunately the only one he can afford is the swindler who crossed his path the day before.

With having read some previous books by the author I had high hopes for the plot and world of this book. Both of them were a let down to me. Calling this a fantasy is such a stretch. It is set in a thought up world but that is where the fantasy ends. There is no magic or anything like that. Just a world much like our own historical world has been. There wasn't anything special about it in anyway. Nothing new or refreshing. No fun combining of elements out of our history.

Adding into that was the plot. It is a little thin. It is clearly just there to set up our two characters. Luca's backstory, why he ran away and he was such a con artist, was so thin. I just didn't care. His family was alluded to being so bad at the start but nothing of that stood by the end. Adding that I didn't actually care too much about the political aspects of the plot with Matti's family business. Fine, I got wanting to down a business because they are in the same business as you are, wool. But the political aspect added was so thin because we got to see absolutely nothing of the city. Having one scene at a factory is not a enough to carry that.

So instead of a strong book I got a medicore and not quite memorable book. It is an okay read but not something I will easily reccomend to another.

I've tried to read a Freya Marske before and I can confidently say that I just don't think her writing style is for me. For people who love really intricate, detailed fantasy that has a historical angle to it and good steaminess, this book will totally schmear your bagel. But for me? It's just not the right fit. I spent so much of this book feeling entirely lost and confused, having had no introduction to key parts of the world and getting lost with Marske's tendency to run into expositional tangents after every other line of dialogue. Not for me, but certainly for someone else.

I loved this, and now I think I need to read A Marvellous Light. While the premise of Marske's debut didn't grab me, I was intrigued by the premise of Swordcrossed, and it definitely didn't disappoint. This was such a rich fantasy, full of political intrigue (a favourite of mine!) and swoon-worthy romance! The leads had fantastic chemistry, and while I enjoyed all parts of the novel, it was the romance that propelled me through the story. Also, I don't feel like it's mentioned enough, but I adored the writing. Marske's prose is self-assured and witty, and I adored it.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Once again an enjoyable read by Freya Marske!
I want to start getting some admin stuff out of the way, which is I don't think it's fair to call this book a romantasy - yes, it is a romance, in a secondary world fantasy setting, but the more magical (and sometimes) adventure elements that people usually expect of romantasy aren't there. There might very well be magic somewhere in this world, but this book is mostly about romance and politics and the wool trade, it just happens to take place in a secondary world. And I don't mind that! I like the world the book is set in, and I didn't feel a gnawing need for dragons or fairies or elves to also be there - but, you know, if that's what you are expecting going in, you might end up being disappointed.
That said, the story is very fun! I like both Matti and Luca, and Matti's family kind of made the book for me - a loving family that end up sometimes hurting each other by being too exhaustingly selfless is honestly a very interesting dynamic to explore.
The romance is... well, it's a Freya Marske romance, and when you have read enough of them you start being able to predict where and when the important emotional beats are gonna happen, but it's a pretty tried and tested formula that flows naturally and convincingly. Insta-lust is not really my thing, but I never had any trouble believing that Luca and Matti actually end up liking each other even regardless of physical attraction,
The plot itself other than the romance is quite loose, and I actually wish we had gotten a little more of that - Freya Marske either did a lot of research on wool craftsmanship or is very good at faking it, because whenever Matti monologued about wool I fully believed he knew what he was on about. It would have been interesting to dive a little bit more into the nitty gritty political aspect of the guilds and the big houses, but novel clearly intends to spotlight the romance over the rest, so I can't be too mad about it.
Overall, while the book didn't quite tick all my boxes, it definitely ticked all of its own boxes, and will certainly appeal to fantasy romance fans.

2.5

Oh well, this was disappointing.
I'm so angry with myself for not liking this as much as I hoped! I was so damn sure "Swordcrossed" was going to be a winner. I love Freya Markse's writing, and I absolutely adored her "The Last Binding" series (I'm still missing book three, but I'm certain that one too will be a winner). Unfortunately, this book did not work for me.
There were some things that I absolutely adored, but all in all, they were not enough to win me over, and especially, they definitely were not enough to stop me from skimming nearly half of the book. I should have DNF it, but I was still curious to see what would happen to Matti and Luca and to see the plot unfold.

Anyway, the good: I adored Matti as a protagonist. If there's one thing I love, it's chronically responsible, anxious messes getting their shot at happiness and setting boundaries. He was the literal best: serious and competent but also so damn earnest and honest and vulnerable and insecure and uGHH, my son, I loved him to bits. I wanted to jump into the book to wrap him in blankets. I also ADORED all the side characters: Maya and Sofia were fantastic, and I wanted to be adopted by the entire Jay household.
I also really liked the plot: I'm a plot girlie through and through, and Freya's already shown us how good she is at crafting well-thought-out stories that manage to keep you on the edge of your seat. I didn't think I'd manage to find myself invested in the intricacies of wool industry, but here we are. The plot was the main reason I wanted to finish this book, alongside Matti's well-earned HEA and the feeling I had about the whole Sofia situation. I was so happy to be right. <3

Apart from these things, the rest of the book did not work for me.
I'm a plot girlie, but also a world-building one too, so I can't believe I have to write this but: the world-building was too damn complicated and convoluted. I'm usually good at keeping up, but damn, I could not, for the life of me, understand what was going on there.
I could have gotten over that if only the other protagonist, Luca, and Luca and Matti's romance, had stolen my heart... and yeah, that didn't happen. I disliked Luca so much. I'm usually all over messy, lying liars with secret damaged hearts, but god, he was despicable. Or not even that, just plain annoying, and his reasons for being annoying and a lying liar were thin at best. I didn't like how he treated Matti, and I didn't buy his sudden interest in Matti's well-being.
I also didn't buy their dynamic. Something felt off about them together, I'm still not sure what. Maybe I would have loved them more if I liked Luca, or maybe they just weren't my cup of tea together. Oh well. I still wanted to know what would happen between them, but I was more invested in the secondary romances.

Like I said, I really like the plot, and I really liked Matti and the cast of side characters. The ending was pretty satisfying too, and I was happy to see how everything wrapped up. I'm sticking with this rating for these reasons alone.
I think this could be a case of "it's me, not you" because the whole world loved this. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset, or maybe they can't all be winners, and that's okay.
If you love low-stakes romances in a low-stakes fantasy world, with a complex world-building and (at least one) complex, lovable protagonist, give this book a go. Hopefully it will work better for you than it did for me!

With this standalone fantasy, Marske confirms that she is a masterful storyteller. Swordcrossed delivered on the low stakes and high heat that were promised, with our protagonists crossing swords on during fencing lessons beyond.

Dutiful and responsible Matti, who needs to enter an arranged marriage to save his family's struggling business, is tricked out of the funds for hiring a duellist to defend him against any challenges at the altar by charming con-artist Luca. Instead of having Luca arrested, Matti hires him to stand as his duelist for his upcoming nuptials and blackmails him into also teaching him swordsmanship.

This novel was full of witty banter and loveable characters, perfectly paced, with secrets and untoward business deals to uncover, and with plenty of clashing swords. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and loved the resolution - definitely a wedding to remember!
I adored Luca's wit and charm, but also his caring side, and I'll give Matti all the hugs he needs! You can expect great representation of mental health issues, diverse characters, and a queer-normative world. And while I'm not a fibre nerd, Marske definitely got me invested in the finer details of the wool trade.

Ahhhh this book was a stunner and I absolutely loved it!! So much fun, mystery, sabotage, drama and two absolutely gorgeous MCs who I loved with all my heart!

Mattinesh Jay, Matti, is heir to the illustrious Jay House - the foremost manufacturer of woollen goods. Whilst his father is acting as a political Guildmaster for the city, Matti has taken on the head of house responsibilities. Unfortunately the family business is haemorrhaging money and Matti doesn’t know why. In a desperate attempt to save his House, he agrees to marry wealthy heiress and childhood friend, Sofia. However Sofia has a scorned lover and Matti needs to hire a duellist ‘best man’ to represent him at the wedding and fight the challenge…

Luca Piere is running; from his life, from his family and he’s running a whole string of cons. Spying an attempt to make money, he agrees to be Matti’s best man, as well as giving him sword fighting lessons… but Matti and Luca quickly realise that crossing swords in the training room isn’t the only way they want to spend their time together.

Ooooh boy, this book was so much fun! There’s a load of political intrigue and scheming - if you like your fantasy with scheming houses, plots, lies and twists this one is absolutely for you! There’s a cultural melting pot of different religions with deities representing the different guilds which I loved, plus all the side characters were a delight! Massive shoutout to Matti’s parents for being absolutely amazing in every way.

I am absolutely in love with Matti and Luca. Luca is quick as a whip, charismatic, selfish and a total chaos gremlin! He’ll do anything for a good time and can’t sit still for a moment. Matti is his complete opposite- duty bound, stoic and calm, he’s given up on any hope of happiness in order to make his family proud. These two are like fire and water and they bring out the best in each other. Plus the chemistry they have together? Scorching 🥵

Read Swordcrossed for:
✨ Opposites attract
✨ Political scheming & plotting
✨ Breaking into houses, as a couple
✨ Sword fighting as foreplay
✨ Chaotic Good vs Lawful Good
✨ Queer-normative world
✨ Marriage of convenience (almost…)
✨ They’re just two idiots in love
✨ And I love them

I received an ARC from NetGalley but because I’m in love with everything Freya Markse writes I also got a pre-order from Waterstones which came early (bless you Waterstones and your overly-keen dispatch department). It’s out today and you 100% have to read it!

A wonderful, lighthearted, easy-read queer romantasy! Freya Marske does not disappoint. Thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I’m a sucker for loads of longing and pining. Excited to pick up more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley, the author, and Pan Macmillan for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

'Swordcrossed' by Freya Marske sounded like exactly the sort of queer fantasy read I needed this autumn. I hadn't actually read anything by this author before, but have heard great things about her 'The Last Binding' trilogy, and was really looking forward to getting into this standalone novel.

Disappointingly, though, I really struggled to get through it.

Overall impression: this is a really poor homage to - or, less generously, cheap attempt to capitalise on the concept of - the classic 'Swordspoint' by Ellen Kushner (which, while somewhat showing its age, is still a fantastic read).

Firstly, the positives: the quality of the prose was generally excellent and the main characters themselves interesting, though with some elements of questionable classist views that weren't unpacked.

Unfortunately, the worldbuilding was sorely lacking. I was expecting a fantasy novel - low fantasy, sure, but still with some elements of fantasy. Instead, aside from some vague mentions of gods, there were no magical or fantasy elements whatsoever. It felt more like a historical novel set in a vaguely Asian-inspired location with some underwhelming and somewhat cliched cultural components that wouldn't have flown outside of 'fantasy' due to being too derivative; that in mind, this would honestly have worked better as a purely historical romance novel, with the historical world just being queernormative instead of (broadly, historically) homophobic, which feels like what the author was going for. Any fantasy-ish elements felt like a later add-in.

There were a lot of ponderous historical (in relation to the plot) inclusions about guilds and rituals and honestly, these added nothing but confusion and were never alluded to again. Why did we need to know so much about industries, bureaucracy, and commerce when the core plot was essentially about a young privileged guy and a young less-privileged to-ing and fro-ing about getting together, while both expressing as much maturity as one might expect from a light read?

Because of these elements and the rather thin plot, the pacing was tediously slow. Reader, I was bored. Really, truly bored.

Final takeaway: I think this novel could have benefitted from some heavy-handed editing and maybe at least a precursory inclusivity review. I'm afraid I can't really recommend it, but some reviewers will of course love it for many of the things I didn't!

Thank you to NetGalley and NetGalley and PanMacMillan for providing access to an eARC for my unbiased review.

This was one of my most anticipated books of this year, after enjoying A marvellous light so much at the start of this year i was so excited to get a bew Freya Marske book, even more so after seeing it compared to Imagine me and you but i have to say i struggle with it.

The worldbuilding took me 150 pages to even start understanding and even so i was still confused by a few things.
It felt both simple and convoluted and i couldn't fully grasp the importance of some things between the world, like the gods and their importance to the guilds.
I found both Matti and Luca likeable from the start, i could understand why the were making each decision and why they were drawn to each other.
The romance really picked up for around the same time that the world building started to settle.
Overall this was a fun read and i understand why anyone would like it but i found some many parts where i didn't want to pick it up because it was very confusing and i was left feeling bored.

Loved this story and the slow burn romance. The characters were fun to read and now I want more set in this world!

Another excellent novel by Freya Marske! I always love how she fleshes out characters and, in Swordcrossed, how she builds this fantasy world in such a natural way rather than hammering the reader with details early on. The chemistry between Matti and Luca was *chef's kiss* and I'm already looking forward to revisiting this story. Marske is quickly becoming a favourite author for me.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Filled with romance, sword fighting and political/family drama, Swordcrossed is an engaging read. The world is a low-fantasy one, and I enjoyed how real life industrial elements were also part of it (both the good and the bad). A definite recommendation!

Is this fantasy? or is this just a great mlm love story set in an alternate world based on our history?

I would say the second. The setting is based on 17th century European history. There is a focus on things like overseas trading, social status, and class. The world differs from ours, in its customs and religion, but as there isn't any magic, dragons or anything like that, I would call it fantasy. Nonetheless, the world is different enough that it will fulfil a desire for escapism.

For the romance part of the promised romantasy, I have no complaints. The characters have great chemistry and there is plenty of tension between them. Additionally, this book contains spice, which I had absolutely no complaints about.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for giving me access to an e-arc for review consideration. All opinions are my own.