Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

Low stakes. High heat. Sharp steel . . .

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?

CONTRIBUTOR(S): Freya Marske
PUBLISHER: Tor
YEAR: 2024
LENGTH: 400 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Romance
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Secondary Character(s), Gay/Achillean Main Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Minor Character(s), Trans Minor Character(s).

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

Mattinesh Jay is the oldest son of Jay House, which, due to a string of bad luck, is long on respectability and short on funds. Matti is getting married to an acquaintance from a House whose finances are solid but whose reputation in the city is less firmly established. He’ll marry her for duty, and hopefully find companionship (maybe even love?), but Matti puts his family first without complaint. The trouble is, his intended has a paramour, who is very good with a sword and will almost definitely challenge at the wedding, so Matti has scraped together the funds to hire a Best Man to defend any challenge with steel (as is tradition). The night before he is set to contract a professional for this position, an accident in a bar leaves him short of funds, forced to hire an excellent but unknown and untested swordsman rather than the best of the best... but who turns out to be the one who swindled him out of his money. As recompense for his silence, Jay insists that the swordsman, Luca, teach him in the mornings for the weeks leading up to the wedding. The more they clash with steel each day, the more Jay and Luca are desperate for different swords to cross...

SWORDCROSSED advertises itself with the tagline “Low Stakes. High Heat. Sharp Steel.” Early on, I thought the first part might not be true, because I was instantly very invested in the future of Jay House and their financial trajectory and Matti's happiness felt like high stakes. But, while the stakes matter a great deal to those involved (and to me, goddammit), this is a very cozy and ultimately low stakes story that delivers with erotic scenes and steel. Swords are crossed, literally in morning practices, and metaphorically in physical passion between two cis men. I was delighted by this story which combines two of my hobbies, sewing and swordplay, as the title had only guaranteed one of those at first glance. 

The most stressful parts of this story for me was the tension over betrayal and secrets between Matti and Luca, and the question of whether there was something more going on with Jay House's string of bad luck. Normally, I get very stressed out by books that have lying in relationships, but the way this was handled kept me engaged instead of getting too stressed to continue. There are so many subtle narrative layers, expertly woven, so that by the end an intricate story can be revealed, with dastardly deeds and hidden motivations, while the exact shape of it was obscured until the end. It has the appeal of a mystery story, the heart of a romance, and the swordplay of an adventure novel. All that while delivering on its promise of keeping the stakes low, the passions high, and the steel sharp.

Things I love, in no particular order: Maya (Matti's sister), how the swordplay is discussed, the wedding, Matti's parents, Luca's brother. The characters are vibrant and wonderful. Keeping the important cast of characters small gave room for several people to shine without becoming too many to track in detail. The intricacies of wool and swordplay are described in a manner that threads the needle between infodumping and vagueness, explaining the important relationships between concepts without getting stuck on specifics that would slow down the story. Part of this is achieved by giving information in scenes where one person is new to the information but isn't ready to handle a mountain of details. One of my favorite moments is when Matti innocently asks whether there is more than one style of fencing, and Luca oscillates between stunned silence the impulse to convey the complexity of fencing and its history in a dizzying spiel. 

If you like this you may like:

• ONE NIGHT IN HARTSWOOD by Emma Denny (historical, swords, arranged marriage, gay)
• PETER DARLING by Austin Chant (historical-ish, swords, rivalry, parental expectations, running away, gay)

Graphic/Explicit CW for sexual content, panic attacks/disorders.

Moderate CW for alcohol, cursing, violence.

Minor CW for stalking, sexual harassment.

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