If I had to describe Freya Marske’s latest novel, Swordcrossed, in one word it would be, I’m afraid, ‘disappointing’. Having really enjoyed her Edwardian-set The Last Binding trilogy I was looking forward to this standalone fantasy romance that promised secrets and intrigue and swordplay, and that gorgeous cover spoke to me of swashbuckling and adventure. (This is one of those times when judging a book by its cover will definitely lead to feeling let down). I suppose there are secrets and intrigue in the story, but the duelling I expected… not so much, and the romance, while enjoyable, is a bit insta-lusty and ultimately forgettable.

The book is billed as a fantasy, but if you’re expecting magic or dragons, you won’t find any here. The setting has the feel of a Venetian or Low Countries Renaissance era, with a social hierarchy built around Guilds of various different tradespersons and family ‘houses’ within them. Twenty-four-year-old Mattinesh – Matti – Jay is the scion of Jay House, one of the wealthiest families in Glassport, whose fortune has been made in the wool trade. Ever since his father was elected to the leadership of the Spinners and Weavers Guild, he devotes his time to Guild business and serving on the city’s ruling council, so Matti has taken over the running of Jay House’s business interests. It’s a huge responsibility and Matti is bearing it completely alone, working as hard to insulate his family from the true situation as regards the state of their finances as he is on business matters, and he’s fast working himself into the ground. For the past five years or so, Jay House has been struggling, and the final nail in the coffin has been the loss of one of their ships carrying a high-value cargo. Its loss has left Matti with only one alternative – to make an advantageous marriage that will pump funds into Jay House’s coffers. To this end, he’s made an offer to Sofia Cooper, the daughter of a wealthy vintner, and their marriage will take place in a few weeks. Luckily for Matti, Sofia is a clever, sensible young woman who is well aware of the reasons for Matti’s proposal, and even though Matti is not the slightest bit attracted to her, they’re friends and he hopes they will do well enough together.

Luca Piere has just arrived in Glassport, having travelled there with plans to re-invent himself after a stunt-gone-wrong in his home town stirred up a lot of trouble, and intends to ply his trade as a swordsman. To get himself a bit of cash to live on while he waits for his first job, he plies his other skills – as a con man – when in a tavern one evening, and bilks a handsome, well-dressed young man out of a large sum of money. It’s not a bad haul for a few minutes work. Next day, Mr. Tolliver, owner of the city’s only swords-for-hire agency, calls Luca to meet with a potential client, who wants to hire a Best Man for his wedding. It’s quite common for the ‘if anyone knows why these two may not be joined, speak now’ moment in the ceremony to result in a challenge, so prospective grooms usually hire a duellist to fight the challenger. If the Best Man wins, the wedding proceeds; if not, it does not, the defeat proving that the gods disapprove of the match.

Of course, the client is none other than the man Luca had conned the previous night, Mattinesh Jay. Needless to say, Jay is angry, but he’s also badly in need of a Best Man and, thanks to Luca’s con, doesn’t have enough money to pay the tip-top rates that would guarantee him a highly experienced one. Luca manages to persuade Matti to take a chance on him – and in return, Matti asks (demands, really) that Luca give him fencing lessons. It’s an odd request, but Luca is intrigued by Matti enough to agree to the proposal. That Matti is gorgeous and just a bit endearingly awkward doesn’t hurt, either.

After an inauspicious beginning, Matti and Luca begin spending time together each morning, and a friendship starts to develop between them. It’s an opposites attract situation; Matti is serious-minded and responsible whereas Luca is chaotic and impulsive, with crazy red hair and a mysterious past he’s keen to hide. He’s also observant and able to read between the lines, realising that Matti’s life has never really been his own and that while he’s outwardly straightforward, he’s as much a deceiver, in his way, as Luca is in his, because he spends so much time not telling his family how bad things have become. I liked the insight they have about each other, both able to see sides of the other that others do not. As the days pass, Matti begins to open up a little more about the financial difficulties Jay House is facing, and Luca begins to join some dots that start telling him that the bad luck that’s befallen Jay House is not bad luck at all, but a carefully orchestrated plot to ruin them.

I had high expectations for Swordcrossed which, I’m sad to say, were not met. I liked Matti and Luca and I liked their romance – the author does a nice job with the mutual pining – but the early scenes between them during the fencing lessons feel a bit repetitive, and it’s so low stakes that there’s practically no conflict; the one issue that crops up in the second half (which is easy to guess at) is easily resolved. I suspect that some readers may be put off by the fact that Matti is falling in love and falling into bed with Luca while he’s engaged to be married to Sofia (even though he’s not in love with her and this is regarded as perfectly fine in this society – as long as it ends once he’s married). I liked Matti and Luca working together to find out who is behind the plot to ruin Jay House and why – that part is really good and held my interest, but it doesn’t get going until around the sixty-percent mark, and although it’s quite simple, it feels very convoluted at the same time – possibly because of the amount of information that is thrown at the reader in terms of names, houses, trades etc. – which leads me to my next point.

The biggest problem I had with the story overall is that it’s too bogged down in minutiae. Freya Marske is clearly very talented when it comes to worldbuilding, but she gets so caught up in it that it seems like she doesn’t know when to stop, because it’s information overload. She’s created a whole new universe from scratch, including a complex, polytheistic religion in which different gods and goddessses are patrons of different merchant guilds. Some guilds swear by one god, another guild by another, and honestly, I lost count of how many are mentioned. There’s a complicated system of governance that is explained in more detail than is necessary, as are some aspects of the wool trade, silkworm farming, food, clothing, topography, geography… I applaud the author’s ability and scope, but it’s just too much detail for such a simple plot, and I found myself skimming chunks of descriptive prose while I waited for something to actually happen.

Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the strapline – “Low stakes. High heat. Sharp Steel…” – although to be honest, that’s misleading as well. The story is definitely low stakes, but the heat level is no higher than the vast majority of the other m/m romance novels I read, and as for the “sharp steel” – seeing as the duelling is either ceremonial or instructional and there is no danger of anyone being killed or injured, I’d say that ‘blunt steel’ might be more accurate.

I’m on the fence as to how to grade this one. The writing is good, the characters are appealing, and if you’re in the market for a low-conflict, cozy fantasy romance with a bit of intrugue and a lot of very detailed worldbuilding, then perhaps Swordcrossed will work better for you than it did for me. But I don’t think I can, in all honesty, offer anything other than a very qualified recommendation.