Sword Catcher

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Significantly, in the vein of George R R Martin’s Game of Thrones series, magic no longer exists as an immensely powerful force in Clare’s world. The Ashkar, including Lin, still possess the ability to use magic, known as “gematry”, but it is “low magic” primarily performed using amulets and other objects to help with small tasks and healing. It was an intentional decision to craft a world “where magic was mostly gone” to explore what would happen in this power vacuum. “We’re developing a more flexible definition of fantasy and the magic is less numinous,” says Clare. “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.” More of a practicality than an epic miasmic force, the treatment of magic in Sword Catcher is an example of the “evolution of how the fantasy genre works”, explains Clare. “I was interested in a more modern approach where we talk a lot about cities, about trade, about power, about machinations, treachery, betrayal. I want the characters to drive the story not the magic.” Branching out Power is an illusion. Power exists because we believe it does. Kings and Queens—and yes, Princes—have power because we grant it to them.”

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: Then there is a character named Lin who is given a strange, magical stone by someone in a manner of passing just as Kell was given one, being known for his travels between the worlds.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 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.

The characters in Sword Catcher are vibrant. Their relationships are well-crafted to a degree rarely seen in YA/NA books nowadays. The book is narrated through the points of view of two characters: the eponymous sword catcher Kel Saren and Lin Caster, an Ashkari physician. The other main characters, including Prince Conor Aurelian, are seen through Kel and Lin’s eyes, so we get their biased perspectives. It’s clear to see there is more than meets the eyes to most of them, but only time will reveal their true colors. If you enjoyed The Final Strife, The Mask of Mirrors, or City of Brass, I would recommend this book! 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. The Last Hours is a Shadowhunters trilogy set in 1903 in Edwardian London. It follows the children of characters from The Infernal Devices, though you can certainly read it without knowing those books. Now is a great time to start catching up to be ready for book three!If you're part of the newsletter, you've probably already seen this, but Cassandra Clare announced the release dates of her next two books. The info dump that was done throughout the book paired with long chapters kept making me zone out. Idk what the author was trying to achieve with such useless information at times. From the world building to the color of a wall, everything is being dumped. Trust me this book needs like two more edits. I was skimming in the second half.

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. Lin on the other hand, is brash and bullheaded, burning bridges faster than she can build them. Orphaned as a child and abandoned by her grandfather, Lin has had to fight for everything, learning medicine with significantly less resources than her male peers within the Ashkari or the malbushim (the Ashkari word for “outsider”) doctors in Castellane. Like Kel, Lin has an understandable but extremely narrow perspective: She does not immediately recognize imminent danger to one of her clients, and accepts invitations from curious people in terrifying carriages. (Kel does this as well; apparently “stranger danger” is not a commonly taught concept in Castellane.) However, also like Kel, Lin’s adolescent perspective is amusing rather than grating. These two storylines intersect much later in the story than I might have expected, but there’s an instant connection between the characters - hostility, animosity, and intrigue. You’ll have to read to find out who feels what, and why. 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. 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 ClareI have seen many people worried about the similarities of this book to A Darker Shade of Magic. Whilst the names sometimes felt similar, and certain personality traits cropped up, I didn’t feel there was any copy. When coming to write any piece of work, creating something totally and completely new and unique is impossible. People are going to compare these two series and I think that’s unfair to both authors involved. Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).