Daggerbound (Swordheart #2)[September 1, 2026] > Likes and Comments
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Yanique
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May 21, 2026 10:39AM
Happy Reading!
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Oooh!!IT IS A SERIES!
1) Swordheart (Aug 1) [link]
2) Daggerbound (Sept 1)
(Clocktaur Wars Impromptu Read-a-thon in ]Last Minute BRs Thread]
1) Clockwork Boys
2) The Wonder Engine
This series takes place in the World of the White Rat, same as Clocktaur Wars and Saint of Steel series.
Anyone want to reread book one before this?
Will be there! Love Swordheart!
I will be there for this one so hard. I loved the first one so much.
I made a post over there to knock it up in notifications... Since I'm doing this all from mobile these days...
I thought we only scheduled book two, oops!
Eh, probably my fault for not being on top of my series thread linking posts.
I should be able to start on time in a few more days. I want to finish my reread of the Clocktaur Duology first. Chrissy - leave spoilers! ✨
I left alot of BRs I wasn't feeling, in the past week or so, to run late or on time, instead of reading a week early... done 7 August BRs and 1 September BR in the past few days and have 4 August BRs remaining, before I can start seriously working on the first week of September...So, I'll be here soon, like Mel...
After my last spoiler, I got so completely absorbed in the story that I totally forgot to breathe and take time to comment... Sorry! I'm finished now. Loved it!Some highlights
(view spoiler)
I haven't read Clocktaur War, but I assume that's about Edmund's previous adventure involving the werkblight subplot. I think that makes Daggerbound a much different reading experience depending if you've read Clocktaur War or not. I liked coming into it not knowing and only learning some of the things about Edmund's past along with the Dervish.
Clocktaur War -> Swordheart -> Paladin books 1-4 -> this -> Paladin 5-7 and 3rd Sworheart book unreleased... that's the publication order for World of the White Rat
I still need to do my Clocktaur re-read I mentioned in one of the threads, too...
Can't wait to open those treasure tags! 🤩Yeah, since I heard the Learned Edmund would feature, I wanted to do a refresh. But think about it this way - on the reread you get a brand new experience!
Although if he's aged up a decade or so, then I'm sure starting fresh works just as well. I just knew the half-remembered details would itch, as compared to a blank slate.
If you want to chat about Clocktaur we could use the Last Minute BR thread.
Mel wrote: "If you want to chat about Clocktaur we could use the Last Minute BR thread."Yes please!
And yes, the book totally works for blank-slate reading, but I imagine half-remembering would be annoying. And I'll be so tempted to reread for that new experience! (I'll probably try to wait until next year though and do the reread before the third Swordheart comes out.)
Timelord Iain wrote: "Clocktaur War -> Swordheart -> Paladin books 1-4 -> this -> Paladin 5-7 and 3rd Sworheart book unreleased... that's the publication order for World of the White Rat"My time-oriented mind is really wondering if publication = chronological... I was surprised that Swordheart is maybe only 5 years after Clocktaur, and at that time it seems the events that kick off the Paladin books hadn't happened yet. In Daggerbound, is there any mention of the Saint of Steel having disappeared? Or paladins gone crazy? Overall, it's a much tighter timeline than I initially thought on first read.
If I can squeeze it I think I might try to join for Clocktaur also--I totally forgot everything from the read a year or so ago....
Nirkatze wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Clocktaur War -> Swordheart -> Paladin books 1-4 -> this -> Paladin 5-7 and 3rd Sworheart book unreleased... that's the publication order for World of the White Rat"My time-..."
Since I haven't read the Paladin books, I'm not sure. I don't remember any of that being mentioned. But I may have missed it because it wouldn't have meant anything to me. But Learned Edmund is 27 in Daggerbound, so it must be about 8 years after Clockwork Boys.
I just started this, and damn... Learned Edmund is older and world-weary, lol... all that young optimism has worn away...
This is a nice thick book, longer than Clocktaur War duology combined... lots happening, and still so much left to go...Really liking the new characters/species...
I love that the White Rat world lets these stories overlap without losing their own flavor. The shared setting makes a buddy read especially fun—are people planning to revisit Swordheart or the Saint of Steel books alongside Daggerbound, or keeping this one standalone for now?
We read Swordheart last month (see links at top) and there's a few folks reading Clocktaur Wars in the Last Minute BR thread (I should add that to the top). No plans for Saint of Steel as yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it pops up.
I am one of the folks who did the impromptu Clocktaur Last Minute BR and I'm currently reading Swordheart again and will follow that up with a Daggerbound reread. (Gotta live up to my reputation as the resident instant rereader!) I want to find out how different the experience is with the background of Clocktaur that I have now that I didn't have the week before last when I first dipped my toes into this world with Swordheart/Daggerbound...What I'm also noticing though is that some Swordheart lines hit different after knowing Daggerbound (view spoiler)
I'm sure I'll also want to do Saint of Steel in short order, so if there's interest to schedule something official, I'd be up for it!
Haha, I'm ALSO doing yet another Swordheart reread now. OMG, the Instant Reread is such a mood! I rarely get it, but when I do... It's like the hooks won't let go.
Me: Didn't we read this just a few weeks ago?
Mood Goblins: Doesn't matter. Need to read again. Now.
Mel wrote: "Haha, I'm ALSO doing yet another Swordheart reread now. OMG, the Instant Reread is such a mood! I rarely get it, but when I do... It's like the hooks won't let go.
Me: Didn't we read this just ..."
Haha, we should totally also chat about Swordheart then! (And get them BR bonus points) - only question: Last Minute BRs or last month's Swordheart thread? ;)
Let's just continue in last month's thread.
Chrissy wrote: "I am one of the folks who did the impromptu Clocktaur Last Minute BR and I'm currently reading Swordheart again and will follow that up with a Daggerbound reread. (Gotta live up to my reputation as..."😅
Not really surprised... I've been pretty heavy on the re-reads lately, as I struggle with wanting to read new things / BRs...My ratio is creeping close to 50/50 for the year... helped along by all the re-read BRs this year...
right now I'm at 404 new reads, 267 re-reads... so, 60/40 basically... pretty normal for years past, but last year I managed 75/25, reading 642 new books and 218 re-reads...2024 was 327 vs 229... 2023 was 289 vs 230...
Back for round 2:Chapter 2
Oh bookless hells. I am so stealing that swear!
Starting, and yeah, interesting how the overlapping timelines work. With Edmund being 27, that's 8 years after Clocktaur, and 3 after Swordheart. I can't remember the respective timeline for the Paladin books though. Zale and Jorge are in both... but I'll have to do a reread of those too I guess. ^_^;;Chapter 1
Heh, since when did Edmund get so sassy? :P
Of course, he also did not have to deal with Brother Mornan. Possibly demons would be an improvement.
That was unkind. He knew it was unkind. And he probably shouldn’t joke about demons.
Anyway, it’s not as if we can exorcise Mornan. Otherwise someone would have tried it by now.
I had to go off on a tangent to try to find what was meant by a "carefully weighted" door. I think it means a counterweight that goes up and down, as I saw mention of usage in temples.
Last book sent me off researching water pumps, pretty sure that the image of a metal hand pump in my mind is from the 1800s, and fairly modern. So off I go, looking up Ancient Greek Ctesibian pumps, and wondering when the water pump would have become a feature of the market square. You have all those fancy fountains of the 17th and 18th centuries, Trevi fountain, Versailles, etc... but those were aquaduct/gravity powered, not by pumps.
According to A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times: "We simply do not know if piston pumps were part of Dark Age and medieval European technology." *shrug*
Aaaand this is why it can take me an hour to read a single chapter.
Chapter 2Chrissy wrote: "Oh bookless hells. I am so stealing that swear!
Yes, I love it! I also liked the line: "Really, a man who stepped on books could be guilty of anything."
And nice catching that Clocktaur bit. :)
Chapter 3Hehehe, I wonder how The Dervish might commiserate with Halla:
(view spoiler)
One of many things I love about Kingfisher is the desert representation. So many fells and dells and valleys and fens and forests in fantasy. It's unspeakable refreshing to get a desert dweller.
Forests are stupid.That alright, Dervish. I getchu. I didn't know what a willow was either! Or an oak, or rowan, or hawthorn, or hazel... the first time I read of an ocotillo in A Summer in Orcus, I was shooketh!
Having thus judged an entire biome and found it wanting, the Dervish huddled by the fire and did something that was absolutely not sulking.
Chapter 4@Chrissy - Yes, I love his one-sided conversations. :P
And the bedazzling. I think I just love it when male characters in particular appreciate clothes and jewels and flowers and pretty things.
I'm already sensing an avenue of fellow feeling between the Dervish and Edmund. (view spoiler)
Chapter 5
Ooh, makes me curious... (view spoiler)
Finished again :) I love these two so much. And also all of the other characters. I definitely appreciated the nods to Clocktaur War, too. So I'm glad I did this reread with that duology fresh in my mind.
Timeline-wise I'm pretty sure now this falls before Saint of Steel... and it actually says it's 7 years after the Clocktaur War and 2 years after Swordheart. Edmund is barely twenty-seven and I guess he was at the tail end of nineteen in Clocktaur War... There is no mention of the Saint of Steel dying or of Berserker paladins or anything like that. Also Zale have just become solicitor-sacrosanct in Daggerbound and I only half-listened to part of Paladin's Grace so far, but I don't think their promotion is such a recent development anymore there.
Yeah, that sound simpler timeline wise to not have to mesh them together. Although it is kind of crazy thinking how even two years have passed since the end of Swordheart, after that last letter.Chapter 6
"the cynocephalic lands"
cyno = dog, cephalo meaning head... dog headed. So like Set? Ooh, that would be an interesting race to come across. ... Oh, it looks like that's also the scientific name for a flying lemur. But honestly I'd be down for either. 😁
A distinct lack of mule came running.
✨🤌
Chapter 7
If it was the local orphans, they had apparently been orphaned for quite some time. Long enough to grow into disreputable-looking adults, anyway. I love this line. The infantalization. And somehow this filled in the imagery of a grubby band so much more effectively than a simple description.
(view spoiler) Yeah, the logistics of that does sound tricky...