Sword Catcher

Product Information

Two outcasts find themselves at the centre of world-altering change in Sword Catcher, the start of a riveting epic fantasy series from the internationally bestselling author of The Shadowhunter Chronicles. After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again. It’s the story of an orphan whose life is stolen in service to the royal family. They must act as a body double to the crown prince, to protect him and die in his place, if need be. Kel and Prince Conor’s relationship is a tangle of love, understanding, and a hint of resentment. Sword Catcher is also the story of a singularly gifted healer whom society won’t let become a physician because of her gender. Only Lin may have the key to more than just curative remedies within her. Many other characters frame the action, from nobles to common folk to criminals, all of it taking place in a fictional city state that seems to come alive with vivid descriptions. The story itself started out strong, and I found myself wanting to continue reading for the first half of it. It felt like things were always just about to really take off, but then…it never did. Something would happen and I would say “Ok, here we go” and then, well, it didn’t go, so I just kept waiting and waiting. I felt like I waited the entire book for the story to really take off, and then the book was over and I was still waiting. Cassandra Clare’s writing has a reminiscence to it. As if those who grew up reading the Shadowhunter Chronicles have been given space to explore the adult fantasy genre in the skin that they have been so comfortable in all these years when following her previous series. Whilst the worlds are vastly different, Clare’s strongpoint across all her work is her characterisations. She has the unique ability of making her readers severely attached to her characters. Kel is a fine young man, and a thrilling protagonist; he is witty, smart and multi-faceted. His struggle with identity takes the centre of his characterisation in this book, as we find he struggles to grasp on to who he truly is and who he is supposed to be. You would expect him to develop a sort of hatred towards the Prince he is to die for, but he is instead fiercely protective of him, which I found quite refreshing. His friendship with Conor falls into the remit of brotherhood (not a theme unfamiliar to Clare), and it is truly one of my highlights of the novel. In a Court of corruption, the love between Kel and Conor is a beam of light. Conor is the most morally lenient of the two; he never truly does anything quite immoral, but he often toes the line. At a Sword Catcher event, Clare stated that ‘loving Kel is Conor’s great humanising quality’, which I think encapsulates Conor’s characterisation well, in that his affection for Kel is what tethers him to the reality of what is expected of him as the Crown Prince. Lin Caster is a fierce character, shunned for what she believes in, a blueprint for many female protagonists in fantasy. This does not make her boring or repetitive; although I do feel as if we have only seen a fraction of her personality in this book. I would have loved to have learned more of her and her Ashkari magic, as the tidbits we are privy to in this book are super fascinating.

The first book barely scratched the surface of the story. So much conflict has just barely been hinted at. What we see at the end of the first book is clearly just the beginning of a war that could very well bring House Aurelian to its knees. As to the question of plagiarism and ripping off Schwab, I think it is a bit unfair. Yes, there is a guy named Kel and there is a kingdom and magic involved but I just think that that is part of the genre and less of a Schwab thing. I thought that the more unique stuff was stolen like the magic system or the plot but that was not the case at all. So.. That didn't work in my favour at all. This was my first book by Cassandra Clare and it was a HUGEEE disappointment. The characters were all one dimensional. I could not understand them at all. Their motives were pretty clear in the beginning but it soon tried to develop into something more and eventually got all messed up.I allowed the book to surprise me, to subvert the expectations I had built. For the first time in many years, I was not sure where a Cassandra Clare book would lead me, so used as I am to her style and patterns. It felt refreshing. It was thrilling. Review: Sword Catcherby Cassandra Clare To sum up, Clare successfully transitions to adult fantasy, but her need to separate herself from YA caused her to overdo some things and as a result, the story suffered. I’m sure I will continue the series, but this first installment isn’t as strong as I had hoped it would be. Castellane is the beating heart of trade in the region, commerce is its lifeblood and it is controlled by the aristocracy who charter certain goods. In homage to the “super diverse” nature of Ancient Rome, Castellane is home to numerous peoples and cultures. “I didn’t want to do something monocultural,” explains Clare who, having previously set her novels in recognisable settings such as London, New York and Los Angeles, describes creating the world as “both refreshing and difficult”. She continued: “You have to remember the whole world. It has to make sense. It has to feel lived in by people and those people have to have relationships that seem realistic. They have to have jobs that make sense to you and the economy has to work in a way that makes sense to you.” I think much is being made of the fact that Clare has finally written what is being marketed as an adult book, but as someone who has reluctantly at times followed the Shadowhunter Chronicles since childhood it really deserves to be underlined that it's just the first book to be marketed to an adult audience. Her middle-grade work aside I think Clare has long ceased writing for an actual teenage demographic, and the price of her books has been on the rise long before the YA category as a whole has seen the slow creep out of books that are readily accessible to every teenager. In some ways this being a non-Shadowhunter book feels more important, and honestly, the more telling factor in whether this was enjoyable. I considered doing that too, (esp. because the writing wasn't much fun) but after 27% or so into the book, things changed, became interesting and stopped irritating me.

I can definitely see influences from Martin’s own A Song of Ice and Fire series (whose editor Anne Groell also worked on Sword Catcher) in the politics of Castellane. You see it in the scheming of nobles and the indifference of the common folk. In the underworld of Castellane I found hints of Ketterdam from Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, and even a glimpse of Rifthold from the early Throne of Glass books by Sarah J. Maas. Yet Sword Catcher feels wholly original, and while I could recognize the things I love about Clare’s writing in it, it’s completely new. For the first time in years with her novels, I truly wasn’t sure where the book would take me or how it would end. I long for its sequel, and I hope Clare continues on this road. The city was inspired from a trip Clare took with her husband which “in an odd way” followed parts of the Silk Road and during which Clare read Roger Crowley’s City of Fortune, an examination of Venice’s nautical and merchant power over a 500-year period. “The idea came to me to write a fantasy novel that was set in an imaginary city that sat at the confluence of both the maritime trade routes and the overland trade routes, that derived all of its power basically from trade.” Politics is a tool, power is a tool and magic is a tool. You decide how significant these things are going to be in your world The worldbuilding was fine, but I really could have used a world map. It’s hard for me to really get a sense of the world an author is trying to build if I can’t physically see the places being talked about. That’s not really the ARC’s fault, though. If there is a map, I’m sure it’ll be included in the finished copy. If there are no plans for a world map (not a city map, I know for sure Clare posted a photo of that), then that’s a real shame.Now, as someone who has finished the whole book, I'd say give it a go if the similarities aren't too bothersome for you. As for my thoughts, I guess, review to come. Clare plunges us into a thrilling world built with precision and brimming with enchantment. Her spellbinding cast of outlaws, healers, royals, and rogues will have you questioning your allegiances with every delicious turn of the plot. This is fantasy at its finest.” —Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hell Bent