In recent years, many renowned YA authors have made the transition to adult fiction and mainly fantasy. Examples are Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Veronica Roth and Holly Black. These authors have made this transition with alternating success. Now, it’s time for another very popular YA author to make the same transition: Cassandra Clare. And to say that I was curious for this adult fantasy debut is an understatement. I have been enjoying the Shadowhunter books a lot in general, some being better than others. So, when Sword Catcher first caught my eye, i really wanted to dive into this story. And so, I did!

About the book

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare
Series: Sword Catcher #1
Published by Del Rey Books on October 10, 2023
Pages: 624
ISBN: 9780525619994
Genres: Adult, Fantasy

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.

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.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces.

As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?

My review

Expectations

To say that my expectations were high is another understatement. I didn’t see reviews for this book, partially on purpose. However, I knew Clare’s capabilities and I expected the book to be long, the story to be told from multiple POVs and that I would enjoy it a lot. Well, that’s not completely true. In fact, I felt a little let down, but maybe my expectations were a little too high? I don’t know.

Characters

Let’s start with the positives, because the characters are definitely one. We follow kel Saren and Lin Caster, two different characters from a totally different background. Kel has been stolen as a child from an orphanage to serve the palace as Conor’s sword catcher, after being tested of course. Lin is an Ashkarian physician. For the Ashkar, it’s forbidden to study or work beyond their own community, so the fact that Lin is a physician is unique. The Ashkar ar the only ones still possessing magic and therefore they are feared in Castellane. Lin tries to break with all the barreers her background puts on her and thankfully she’s allowed to work everywhere in Castellane since she’s needed to heal people. Lin and kel don’t meet till about halfway into the book and they actually compelement each other in their mission to discover what’s happening in Castellane. I have to say that I like both Lin and Kel as we get to know them the best. Conor as well, because he and Kel have to spend time together as Kel needs to step in for Conor at any given moment. Throughout the book, Lin shows the most character growth, because she has a lot to fix and deal with. Unfortunately, i don’t like the supporting characters as much. They are quite similar to one another and therefore hard to tell apart.

Writing

Another positiive aspect of this book is the writing. Clare is an experienced author and that shows. She knows how to create complicated worlds and therefore the world building is excellent. It’s easy to picture Castellane whilst reading and contradictory to the charactes and their role, the world is clear. The dual POV narration works – again – very well here. However, I struggled to get through this book, but that has everything to do with the story itself.

Plot

Unfortunately, the plot of this book is a completely different story. It didn’t intrigue me at all, except for the prologue and the first few chapters. Everything still made sense then and there, but that quickly changes when Kels and Lins worlds collide. From that point onwards, this book was triving on politics. It was a bit too much for my liking and it really took away the pace. It’s complicated and unnecessarily heavy, which makes this book more uninteresting by every single page I turnt. For me, there was no direction this story was going into and therefore no goal for the characters. I expected more of this, although I didn’t know what would be going on from reading the premise only already. At times, the books seems to get more exciting, but that disappeared rather quick. The attention span was short-lived continuously, which made me want to quit reading multiple times. The ending is not making me curious for a sequel either.

Final thoughts

Unfortunately, Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare is not what I was hoping for when I first saw it. To me, this book seems a little two-faced. The characters, writing and world building are great, but the storyline isn’t. It’s too heavy on politics, which makes it slow and uninteresting. Since the book is over 600 pages long, this made it feel like a lifetime before finishing it. Unfortunately, the attention span of this book is short-lived and therefore I’m not that curious for the sequel.