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lovelymisanthrope's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
I received a copy of this book as part of my FairyLoot subscription.
"Sword Catcher" is Cassandra Clare's debut into adult fantasy. Kel was an orphan and a child with a bleak future ahead of him, when he was taken to become a Sword Catcher, a body double for the prince, Conor. Kel and Conor grew up next to each other, and despite the difference in power, Kel thinks of Conor as a brother and would do anything for him. Lin is a member of the Ashkar, a small community that still have magical abilities. Lin has aspired to become a physician, so that she can hopefully find a suitable cure for her best friend's mysterious illness. After an unfortunate attack, Lin and Kel are brought together, and the pair each have their own run in with the Ragpicker King. Now Lin and Kel have to decide what knowledge is worth dying for, and who they can actually trust.
I was blown away with how much I was invested in this story, and I think it is my new favorite from Cassandra Clare. As much as I enjoyed the Shadowhunter world, I really appreciated seeing Cassandra expand her talents into a new world. This book is beautifully written, and it is very evident that the author is an experienced fantasy writer.
I really enjoyed the switching between Kel's and Lin's perspectives. Both characters were equally interesting to me, and I really appreciated getting both of their stories. I appreciated even more when their stories began to converge, and we got to see them come together.
Kel's story is devastating: an orphan who was taken in by royalty to act as the prince so that if there was an assassination attempt on the prince, the real prince would not die. Despite his humble beginnings, I loved seeing his loyalty towards Conor. He could have very easily grown resentful of Conor, but he really believed him to be a brother, and that relationship is so important to Kel. I also think he is a great influence on Conor, and I believe Conor really does care for Kel. Even when they were children, Conor asked if Kel wanted to be the Sword Catcher, because Conor wanted someone who wanted to be there.
Lin's story was incredible. She fought through so much adversity to become a physician, something women could only dream of. Not only did she get to practice medicine, but she was also really amazing at it. Lin's determination to become knowledgeable in the field of medicine was driven by such noble reasons, and it made her all the more relatable and likeable.
This book is rife with action. Just when you think the characters have a moment to breath, there is conflict, and someone's life is on the line. This really made the story progress quickly and helped to keep my attention throughout the entire novel.
The magic is really interesting in this world. I am very curious to learn more about it as the series progresses, because I do not think we got a full picture yet with just this first installment.
I am heavily invested in this story, and I cannot wait to pick up the next book!
"Sword Catcher" is Cassandra Clare's debut into adult fantasy. Kel was an orphan and a child with a bleak future ahead of him, when he was taken to become a Sword Catcher, a body double for the prince, Conor. Kel and Conor grew up next to each other, and despite the difference in power, Kel thinks of Conor as a brother and would do anything for him. Lin is a member of the Ashkar, a small community that still have magical abilities. Lin has aspired to become a physician, so that she can hopefully find a suitable cure for her best friend's mysterious illness. After an unfortunate attack, Lin and Kel are brought together, and the pair each have their own run in with the Ragpicker King. Now Lin and Kel have to decide what knowledge is worth dying for, and who they can actually trust.
I was blown away with how much I was invested in this story, and I think it is my new favorite from Cassandra Clare. As much as I enjoyed the Shadowhunter world, I really appreciated seeing Cassandra expand her talents into a new world. This book is beautifully written, and it is very evident that the author is an experienced fantasy writer.
I really enjoyed the switching between Kel's and Lin's perspectives. Both characters were equally interesting to me, and I really appreciated getting both of their stories. I appreciated even more when their stories began to converge, and we got to see them come together.
Kel's story is devastating: an orphan who was taken in by royalty to act as the prince so that if there was an assassination attempt on the prince, the real prince would not die. Despite his humble beginnings, I loved seeing his loyalty towards Conor. He could have very easily grown resentful of Conor, but he really believed him to be a brother, and that relationship is so important to Kel. I also think he is a great influence on Conor, and I believe Conor really does care for Kel. Even when they were children, Conor asked if Kel wanted to be the Sword Catcher, because Conor wanted someone who wanted to be there.
Lin's story was incredible. She fought through so much adversity to become a physician, something women could only dream of. Not only did she get to practice medicine, but she was also really amazing at it. Lin's determination to become knowledgeable in the field of medicine was driven by such noble reasons, and it made her all the more relatable and likeable.
This book is rife with action. Just when you think the characters have a moment to breath, there is conflict, and someone's life is on the line. This really made the story progress quickly and helped to keep my attention throughout the entire novel.
The magic is really interesting in this world. I am very curious to learn more about it as the series progresses, because I do not think we got a full picture yet with just this first installment.
I am heavily invested in this story, and I cannot wait to pick up the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexism, Chronic illness, Blood, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content and War
lawbooks600's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Representation: Asian characters
Score: Five out of ten.
What a massive disappointment.
I wanted to read Sword Catcher to give Cassandra Clare another chance after City of Bones underwhelmed me, and City of Ashes was slightly unnerving. I saw it at a library and decided to pick it up, but not before glancing at the blurb, making it seem intriguing. However, when I closed the final page, I didn't want to reread it.
It starts with the first person I see, Kel, plucked from his poor neighbourhood in Castellane to act as Prince Conor's body double, aka, Sword Catcher. Meanwhile, Lin lives in Ashkari as one of the Ashkar, one of the few remaining people who still use magic. It's a low form, but it's magic nonetheless because after a certain event, all forms of high magic are gone. I liked that before each chapter begins, there's a story within the story, but it felt like a forced info-dump that doesn't flow naturally into the central plot--it's more shoehorned in. The writing style didn't capture my attention since it waffles sometimes with filler words that the author could've removed during the editing process. The pacing is tedious, with the narrative spanning more than 600 pages, but it could easily be much shorter if there weren't any writing blunders. Even the characters failed to capture my attention as I couldn't connect or relate to any of them. The worldbuilding is overambitious but leaves behind plot holes as I couldn't keep up with all the intricacies. There were deities. Different countries. Magic systems. Backstories. Cultures. You get the idea. According to the map, Castellane is on a world different from this one, but some of the settings look like Asian countries like China, India and Korea. That may be a sign of cultural appropriation. Make up your mind, author! Do you want to set Sword Catcher in an alternate world based on this one or create a new one? Nothing happens for the first 550 pages, then some action occurs during the last 50, concluding Sword Catcher on a cliffhanger. I'm not interested in the next part, The Ragpicker King.
Score: Five out of ten.
What a massive disappointment.
I wanted to read Sword Catcher to give Cassandra Clare another chance after City of Bones underwhelmed me, and City of Ashes was slightly unnerving. I saw it at a library and decided to pick it up, but not before glancing at the blurb, making it seem intriguing. However, when I closed the final page, I didn't want to reread it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Full trigger warnings: Blood depiction, attempted suicide, fire, shipwreck, physical assault and injury, military violence and war themeskymboh78's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️
World building: 🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰
Slow burn: 🐢🐢🐢🐢
Violence: 🗡️🗡️🗡️
This is an interesting five star for me.
I didn’t rate it five stars because it was the most amazing book I’ve ever read or because I just couldn’t put it down. I normally rate books based on vibes and just how they make me feel overall.
And don’t get me wrong, this book was a good book. It made me feel good. I was happy with it.
Overall, this was a great read. Honestly, it felt good that I didn’t rush through it and could read it at my own speed. It was nice to not read something that wasn’t “trending” and feeling like I had to finish it super fast so I didn’t see spoilers. The world building was great, the character development was fantastic, although I do wish we saw a little more about Connor and his character development, the story was interesting and although there weren’t crazy omg plot twists, it was still fun.
The book is told from two different third person POV. One follows Lin and the other follows Kel. I enjoyed seeing both sides of the story and how they intertwined. I felt like Lin added a lot of dynamic to the story. I will say there are some things I wish we got more details about but if she gave us everything, it wouldn’t be a series, so I understand.
Some people might argue that it was too slow, I think it was just right. Because of the two intertwined stories (really three, but that third is so closely related to Kel that it’s not necessary for a third POV), the world had to be built up a little more. Clare had to build both sides of the world at once instead of doing one in one book and one in another. That adds a complexity to the writing that was really appreciated.
While it is classified as an adult fantasy, it doesn’t deal with crazy crazy topics. There’s some violence toward the end but not a ton. There’s some suggestive scenes, but nothing descriptive. And I’m pretty sure there was only one swear word, again toward the end of the book.
Have you read sword catcher? Let me know what you think!
Spice: 🌶️
World building: 🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰
Slow burn: 🐢🐢🐢🐢
Violence: 🗡️🗡️🗡️
This is an interesting five star for me.
I didn’t rate it five stars because it was the most amazing book I’ve ever read or because I just couldn’t put it down. I normally rate books based on vibes and just how they make me feel overall.
And don’t get me wrong, this book was a good book. It made me feel good. I was happy with it.
Overall, this was a great read. Honestly, it felt good that I didn’t rush through it and could read it at my own speed. It was nice to not read something that wasn’t “trending” and feeling like I had to finish it super fast so I didn’t see spoilers. The world building was great, the character development was fantastic, although I do wish we saw a little more about Connor and his character development, the story was interesting and although there weren’t crazy omg plot twists, it was still fun.
The book is told from two different third person POV. One follows Lin and the other follows Kel. I enjoyed seeing both sides of the story and how they intertwined. I felt like Lin added a lot of dynamic to the story. I will say there are some things I wish we got more details about but if she gave us everything, it wouldn’t be a series, so I understand.
Some people might argue that it was too slow, I think it was just right. Because of the two intertwined stories (really three, but that third is so closely related to Kel that it’s not necessary for a third POV), the world had to be built up a little more. Clare had to build both sides of the world at once instead of doing one in one book and one in another. That adds a complexity to the writing that was really appreciated.
While it is classified as an adult fantasy, it doesn’t deal with crazy crazy topics. There’s some violence toward the end but not a ton. There’s some suggestive scenes, but nothing descriptive. And I’m pretty sure there was only one swear word, again toward the end of the book.
Have you read sword catcher? Let me know what you think!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: War, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Child death
celery's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Animal cruelty, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Sexism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Xenophobia, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Dementia, Genocide, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Vomit, War, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Addiction
bethsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sword Catcher feels different to other high fantasy books I’ve read as its main focus is on the characters and the world’s precarious political situation. While it inevitably does have the shadow of a potential war lingering over the story - something I’m sure we will see more of in the coming books - I really enjoyed the less grandiose elements of the plot and I feel they make it stand apart from others in the genre. At many points, it felt like more of a mystery story than your typical fantasy, which for my tastes, worked really well.
The main issue I had with this book is that sadly, the first half of it is far too bogged down by world building. I do love how Cassandra Clare can create such vivid and fantasy worlds, and it is really important in a politically focused story to have its history be fully fleshed out, but the level of detail felt unnecessary at times and too dense for the first half of the book. I personally think that the first half of the book needed to be edited down about 80 ish pages as it was quite slow going at first. However, once I hit the 300 page mark, the pace really picked up and I absolutely flew through the rest of book.
While I did find Lin’s character annoying at times, overall the character’s were interesting, nuanced, and likeable. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses in future books.
The main issue I had with this book is that sadly, the first half of it is far too bogged down by world building. I do love how Cassandra Clare can create such vivid and fantasy worlds, and it is really important in a politically focused story to have its history be fully fleshed out, but the level of detail felt unnecessary at times and too dense for the first half of the book. I personally think that the first half of the book needed to be edited down about 80 ish pages as it was quite slow going at first. However, once I hit the 300 page mark, the pace really picked up and I absolutely flew through the rest of book.
While I did find Lin’s character annoying at times, overall the character’s were interesting, nuanced, and likeable. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses in future books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Alcohol, Murder, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Drug use, War, Animal death, and Vomit
arrr's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
It took me a few chapters to get into this book. A lot of initial setting up of characters and world building. But it's very worth it! Hope I get to read more about these characters.
Physician confronts systemic inequity and bigotry inside and outside her own culture on order to learn what she needs to save as life.
This struggle is cast against the wasteful leisurely wonderfully queer lives of the royals and the guards tasked with keeping them alive.
The magic is powerful. I want to explore more of this huge world.
Physician confronts systemic inequity and bigotry inside and outside her own culture on order to learn what she needs to save as life.
This struggle is cast against the wasteful leisurely wonderfully queer lives of the royals and the guards tasked with keeping them alive.
The magic is powerful. I want to explore more of this huge world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Classism, and Death
rhi_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Child death
Minor: Xenophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Sexual content, and Blood
atropea's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love this authors books and will read basically anything she writes, but this book was just very slow compared to her others. The world building is amazing but there was a lot that was essentially a setup for the 2nd book that didn't really do much in the first I think. I still liked it and feel invested in the story but it wasn't as good as her other series in my oppinion
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, and Death
Minor: War and Child death
madscientistcat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
A bit predictable but in an engaging way. The characters are fun and interesting and the politics/court intrigue is sufficiently dramatic. I can’t wait for the series to continue!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: War
Minor: Rape
blakeandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Chronic illness, Child death, Violence, Classism, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness and Religious bigotry
Minor: War and Death of parent