I can’t say the pacing of this book was off because there wasn’t much to pace. There wasn’t much going on to really move the plot forward. Halfway through the book, I started feeling like I wanted things to wrap up so I could finish reading, which isn’t a fun way to feel while reading a book, especially one I was so excited about! In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, the richest of nobles and the most debauched of criminals have one thing in common: the constant search for wealth, power, and the next hedonistic thrill. If you enjoyed The Final Strife, The Mask of Mirrors, or City of Brass, I would recommend this book! Eleven years on, tensions are growing–both personal and political. Conflicts with the neighboring countries are high, and Conor’s betrothal might be the only thing to calm the waters–an idea that Conor is furious about. And Kel is starting to chafe under the restrictions of his position, realizing as he grows how very many of the things he wants–like love and stability and a place to call his own–are simply not possible. But it is not until Kel catches an assassin’s blade meant for Conor that things really begin to escalate, for it is then that he meets Lin–a young physician and a member of the only people in the world still to hold a trace of magic. An outcast from society like Kel, Lin has her own ambitions and desires, and this fateful meeting is about to set a chain of events into motion that could alter the very fabric of both of their worlds.

I was so excited when Cassie announced a new series that she is working on that is actually not in the Shadowverse and is adult fantasy. My pre-reading review said that I am so ready to read 20 novels in this world. The book came out and then there were accusations that she ripped of Schwab this time -who is also one of my favorite authors- and after getting my hardcover copy, I was having second thoughts, and my excitement was waning. I could not write this review without mentioning how brilliantly detailed Clare has written out this world. Her depictions of various settings, from the courtyards to the ballrooms to the street markets is truly brilliant – you can almost see, smell and taste Castellane. My personal favourite descriptions have to be the ones of Conor’s attire, which were never short of spectacular at all times!

Creative Play

spoilers will only be *between red exclamation marks* I'm only sharing this to help you (as someone who doesn't mind spoilers) decide whether you'd like to continue reading this book even after all the similarities between both the books end: 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. 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. Cordelia Carstairs has lost everything that matters to her. In only a few short weeks, she has seen her father murdered, her plans to become parabatai with her best friend, Lucie, destroyed, and her marriage to James Herondale crumble before her eyes. Even worse, she is now bound to an ancient demon, Lilith, stripping her of her power as a Shadowhunter. The Shadowhunter books succeed in the scaffolding that they are able to do, never really set in the fictional country of Idris aside for plot-related excursion, they are able to enjoy the fantasy tidbits while existing in very real metropolitan locations like Los Angeles, London, and originally New York. So when tasked with creating a world of her own to set the story in, it falls flat. Once again she seems to look to the Bible for some inspiration, and who can really fault her when so many fantasy authors have done the same. The titular book in Brandy Sandy's The Way of Kings is very Bible coded, Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire is very much a horny fantasy Catholic France. It's a cute little tradition for the fantasy girlies. In Clare's world though things simply just don't add up. Information often contradicts, which is actually pretty par for the course given the genealogy issues she had to retcon in her most recent Shadowhunter works. So while playing with a well travelled path the ideas never really came together for me.

Cassie's strength is usually her characters. In the Shadowhunter books, she almost always made me care about all the characters and it was less the situation here. Kel and Conor are good characters. Lin is even better, and it was nice to see a female doctor in a fantasy setting which was refreshing. However, the rest of the characters were not as exciting.Sword Catcher is the first adult novel by Cassandra Clare. After almost two decades of urban fantasy Shadowhunters novels (and other teen and young adult stories), Clare is finally trying out a new genre more akin to epic and high fantasy with Sword Catcher.

I loved learning about Kel and seeing the world through his eyes. An orphan raised in the shadow of a prince. He’s constantly being told where his loyalties should or shouldn’t lie by different factions, pulled in directions by both his past, present, and future. I for one must agree with Martin on every point. Clare’s first high fantasy novel is set a wonderfully built world that’s introduced bit by bit, something fantasy often forgets to do. Moreover, Sword Catcher finds a triumphant balance between plot and character, but more on that later.Like many high fantasy series, Sword Catcher may feel like it’s set in medieval Europe, but it’s not that easy to pinpoint. On one hand you have the systemic misogyny and the historically realistic segregation of a religious minority, on the other you have the utopian widespread acceptance of sexual freedom, with queerness being normalized without question even in the royal family. Diversity may seem welcome but Clare did not set out to create a perfect fairy tale world; she built one that is different from ours and yet similar at the core. Like us, Castellani hate what they don’t understand. Sword Catcherrepresents a new horizon for Cassandra Clare As a scholar once said, the only difference between a poison and a remedy is the dose. The deadliest poison is not fatal in a single grain, and milk or water can be lethal if you consume too much of it.” Or, perhaps more accurately, the theft of a boy’s life and future. Young orphan Kellian could never have expected a grand life in the vibrant port city of Castellane if fate had not intervened, but fate did. At the tender age of 8, he is removed from his orphanage and offered a unique position: to become Sword Catcher to Conor Aurelian, Prince of Castellane and heir to its throne. Kel will be raised in luxury in the palace alongside Conor, trained and educated as befits a royal, and given every advantage in life–with one notable exception: His life will never be his own again. Bespelled to resemble Conor, Kel essentially becomes Conor for any occasions where the prince might be in danger, or at which he would rather not put in an appearance. He is Conor’s double, his shadow self, tied forever to a person he both loves and resents–and from whom he might never be free. Bestselling YA author Cassandra Clare spends a large amount of Sword Catcher, the first book in a fantasy trilogy and her first work for adults, building out the city-state of Castellane while Kel and Lin shed their naivete and expand their worldviews. Kel begins to see that Castellane has secrets which even he is not privy to. And Lin, having fought to be the only female physician among the Ashkari, discovers a stone of secret, magical history that could be the key to curing her terminally ill friend. Throughout the story, Kel and Lin’s paths rarely cross; their stories run parallel but for a few chance twists of fate. all things similar between ADSOM and SC that i couldn't stop thinking about, and that annoyed me [ spoilers for both the books ]❗️

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 If you have read A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab, this might not interest you much, and if you also love that book (series), you might even end up dnf-ing this one due to all the similarities you might find.Character wise, I really liked Lin. I wanted to like Kel more, but he ended up being a bit bland. And maybe that’s due to the nature of his position at court where he’s meant to mirror Conor, but I was expecting an overly charming, charismatic person. He was capable and smart, but not particularly special. I look forward to seeing how he grows in the next book and if he will start to become more of his own person. Conor was fine. He was there to do just enough stupid things to cause some problems. But overall, the characters were fine, but they weren’t particularly compelling. There is a tiny bit of romance in this book, and I do mean tiny. Even with that, I didn’t really feel the connection between the characters, so if you’re reading this book for romance, you need to look elsewhere. The book even states “Forbidden Romance” as something you’ll find in this book, and I think that’s a stretch. In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, a young orphan named Kel is stolen from his old life to enter a new one of luxury and peril. He’s to become Prince Conor Aurelian’s body-double, shielding the Prince from all dangers. As his ‘Sword Catcher,’ he and Conor become close as brothers – yet Kel lives for one purpose: to die for Conor. Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.