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literaturesciencealliance's review
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story has characters I have met before and I am so glad they exist. This is a story in a familiar fantasy setting where we have an unfair economic system where all forms of justice are handled with sword duels. One of our main characters is in poverty and works for a rich house in these duels and is struggling to better the circumstance for him and his boyfriend. His boyfriend is a neurodivergent student whose parents are rich but don't support him. The crux of the story is watching them survive and deal with the complexities that exist in relationships as they develop through time. There is some magic but its relatively soft magic and the strengths of this story are in the character relationships and decisions made in tough situations. I am very excited to read future works by this author and blew through this short standalone fantasy that I would recommend to character focused readers who don't need high magic or plots to provide the driving force or intrigue to their narratives.
lialeahlio's review
3.0
Thank you to the author and Caffeine Book Tours for providing me with a free ARC of this book as part of my participation in this tour.
Review on 11th March 2021
Review on 11th March 2021
jonnaandherwails's review
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
C. M. Caplan’s debut novel, The Sword in the Street, feels like a very personal diary filled with reminders whenever we experience self-doubt and discrimination. It’s easy to fall into the story because it feels a bit close to home. I mean, people hoping to escape poverty while others (e.g. Hillside individuals and politics) take advantage of them and basically make them fight amongst themselves. Additionally, there are people like Edwin who have hopes in changing the world for the better. Being a university student and receiving monetary sustenance from his parents, he is more privileged [in that aspect] than John which is also maybe why he found it difficult to understand some of John’s actions. They both want to help themselves and others; they just don’t necessarily agree on how they should go about it. Having a lot of differences, it was interesting to read how the complexity of their entire relationship develops throughout book. Yes, it involves A LOT of open communication.
It’s not difficult to connect with the characters either because Caplan gave them qualities that shows just how human they are. There’s one character that elicited high emotions from me, and that is, of course, John. While I understand that he has a different perspective in life which could be the reason why he did all the things that he did, I found myself developing extreme hatred towards him, and hoping that Edwin would realize that he deserves someone better—especially when Edwin said [in a conversation with Aubrey, a fellow scholar], “I don’t see the point in getting mad at John instead of the people who are actually doing me wrong.” As someone who have done their fair share in defending other individuals, what Edwin said felt familiar. I had a strong need to pull Edwin out of the story and into real life so that I could protect him from John and give him the love that he deserves. While I agree that Edwin’s statement does hold an ounce of truth—because John is also a victim of society and politics—, it is unacceptable to use that to justify his wrongdoings. Nonetheless, John does get points for his character development in the last several pages.
I am very much in love with how Caplan wrote Edwin’s character. While we can see Edwin’s autistic qualities, they were never too stereotypical. For example, he included how autistic individuals have difficulty in reading social cues and find patterns helpful, yet Caplan was able to write it in a way that’s informative and doesn’t shed a negative light on autism. As a mental health advocate and professional, I would like to think that autism is represented and written well in this book.
While I appreciate that the book doesn’t exactly end with a cliffhanger, I feel like it needs to have about several more chapters to help readers better understand and delve into their world. It seems like Caplan invested more on the characters and only gave us enough details on the politics and magical system—thaumaturgy—to help us navigate throughout the book. Overall, I enjoyed being able to read this, and I’m excited for the next book in this series to come out!
NOTE: This review is part of Caffeine Book Tours’ #SwordInTheStreetTour. Thanks to Shealea of Caffeine Book Tours and C. M. Caplan for providing me a DRC in exchange for an honest review! Any quote used in this review is taken from the provided copy.
It’s not difficult to connect with the characters either because Caplan gave them qualities that shows just how human they are. There’s one character that elicited high emotions from me, and that is, of course, John. While I understand that he has a different perspective in life which could be the reason why he did all the things that he did, I found myself developing extreme hatred towards him, and hoping that Edwin would realize that he deserves someone better—especially when Edwin said [in a conversation with Aubrey, a fellow scholar], “I don’t see the point in getting mad at John instead of the people who are actually doing me wrong.” As someone who have done their fair share in defending other individuals, what Edwin said felt familiar. I had a strong need to pull Edwin out of the story and into real life so that I could protect him from John and give him the love that he deserves. While I agree that Edwin’s statement does hold an ounce of truth—because John is also a victim of society and politics—, it is unacceptable to use that to justify his wrongdoings. Nonetheless, John does get points for his character development in the last several pages.
I am very much in love with how Caplan wrote Edwin’s character. While we can see Edwin’s autistic qualities, they were never too stereotypical. For example, he included how autistic individuals have difficulty in reading social cues and find patterns helpful, yet Caplan was able to write it in a way that’s informative and doesn’t shed a negative light on autism. As a mental health advocate and professional, I would like to think that autism is represented and written well in this book.
While I appreciate that the book doesn’t exactly end with a cliffhanger, I feel like it needs to have about several more chapters to help readers better understand and delve into their world. It seems like Caplan invested more on the characters and only gave us enough details on the politics and magical system—thaumaturgy—to help us navigate throughout the book. Overall, I enjoyed being able to read this, and I’m excited for the next book in this series to come out!
NOTE: This review is part of Caffeine Book Tours’ #SwordInTheStreetTour. Thanks to Shealea of Caffeine Book Tours and C. M. Caplan for providing me a DRC in exchange for an honest review! Any quote used in this review is taken from the provided copy.
diletto_amanda's review
3.0
Read the full review HERE. :)
3.5 very human, sword fighting, heartfelt stars!
Big Takeaway:
The Sword in the Street is a lovely book that takes a nice spin on fantasy by really doing a great job in presenting very real and very believable interactions between a wonderful set of characters. It touches on relationship problems and victories in a way that I never see enough of. It was absolutely refreshing.
I received a copy of this book for free for participation in Caffeine Book Tours :) All opinions are my own.
3.5 very human, sword fighting, heartfelt stars!
Big Takeaway:
The Sword in the Street is a lovely book that takes a nice spin on fantasy by really doing a great job in presenting very real and very believable interactions between a wonderful set of characters. It touches on relationship problems and victories in a way that I never see enough of. It was absolutely refreshing.
I received a copy of this book for free for participation in Caffeine Book Tours :) All opinions are my own.
maisierosereads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Read my full review on my blog!
Thank you to the author for sending me an eARC so that I could share my honest review! How could I resist a book described as having gay swordsmen and angsty disabled scholars?
The main two characters of this novel are John Chronicle and Edwin Gaunt, and the chapters alternate between their perspectives. John is a swordsman surviving poverty by fighting on behalf of Lordess Triumph. His boyfriend Edwin is a bisexual autistic university student with OCD. The Sword in the Street not only follows them as John fights to get out of poverty and Edwin works to improve the structure of their society, it also focuses on their attempts to improve themselves and their (far from 100% healthy) relationship.
Caplan’s writing style is straightforward and action-focused, and I’d say that the overall pacing is medium-to-fast as a result. This style worked particularly well during John’s duels; if you like blow-by-blow structured combat, you will appreciate these.
There were a few aspects of the worldbuilding which I liked. There doesn’t seem to be any societal homophobia – John and Edwin do not hide their relationship and are affectionate in public at times, but this does not put them in any danger. I also really liked the concept of thaumatergy (magic) through sigil work, and how this is potentially linked to the characters’ surnames; I hope this is explored in more depth in the sequel Caplan is currently writing, as it was quite a small aspect of The Sword in the Street. I’ve seen other people compare the worldbuilding in this book to that in Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, but haven’t read Swordspoint myself to be able to talk about the similarities and differences.
Since it was the main thing that drew me to the book, I’d be remiss to not talk about the OCD representation! Through the chapters written from Edwin’s perspective, we see the internal aspects of neurodivergence which don’t always come across in media, such as his intrusive thoughts and the effects they have on him. The nature of intrusive thoughts does mean that this is not always a particularly comfortable book to read, and I would strongly encourage readers to check the content warnings I’ve listed above. Edwin uses a drug called Ash to manage his symptoms, which seems to function in much the same way as an SSRI (the main type of medication prescribed for OCD), complete with risks of withdrawal side effects. One notable difference between Edwin’s Ash and my citalopram, though, is that Ash also leads to the user having a magically enhanced sense of smell – I think it would send me straight into sensory overload, but I completely understand why Edwin takes it anyway! In addition to his OCD Edwin is autistic, which is also clear in the chapters from his perspective. I liked that Caplan included details like Edwin’s special interests (plays). Unlike a lot of autistic characters in adult media, Edwin is also very much not desexualised; he seems to have obsessions and compulsions relating to his sexual relationship with John, and this is one of the issues explored in their relationship.
I would have personally liked a few of elements of this book to be explored in more depth for a more definite conclusion in this book, but I can see how this might have been done in order to carry the plot and themes of this book through into the sequel. My other main issue with this book is that while none of the characters are perfect, I found the presentation of John’s patron, Lordess Triumph, very uncomfortable. Her appearance as a physically disabled woman is linked heavily to her personality flaws from the moment she is introduced, in a way which I think could have been omitted entirely or addressed more in the text.
Overall, I think The Sword in the Street is a good start to C.M. Caplan’s debut series, and I am sure it will fit right into many readers’ wheelhouses.
Thank you to the author for sending me an eARC so that I could share my honest review! How could I resist a book described as having gay swordsmen and angsty disabled scholars?
The main two characters of this novel are John Chronicle and Edwin Gaunt, and the chapters alternate between their perspectives. John is a swordsman surviving poverty by fighting on behalf of Lordess Triumph. His boyfriend Edwin is a bisexual autistic university student with OCD. The Sword in the Street not only follows them as John fights to get out of poverty and Edwin works to improve the structure of their society, it also focuses on their attempts to improve themselves and their (far from 100% healthy) relationship.
Caplan’s writing style is straightforward and action-focused, and I’d say that the overall pacing is medium-to-fast as a result. This style worked particularly well during John’s duels; if you like blow-by-blow structured combat, you will appreciate these.
There were a few aspects of the worldbuilding which I liked. There doesn’t seem to be any societal homophobia – John and Edwin do not hide their relationship and are affectionate in public at times, but this does not put them in any danger. I also really liked the concept of thaumatergy (magic) through sigil work, and how this is potentially linked to the characters’ surnames; I hope this is explored in more depth in the sequel Caplan is currently writing, as it was quite a small aspect of The Sword in the Street. I’ve seen other people compare the worldbuilding in this book to that in Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, but haven’t read Swordspoint myself to be able to talk about the similarities and differences.
Since it was the main thing that drew me to the book, I’d be remiss to not talk about the OCD representation! Through the chapters written from Edwin’s perspective, we see the internal aspects of neurodivergence which don’t always come across in media, such as his intrusive thoughts and the effects they have on him. The nature of intrusive thoughts does mean that this is not always a particularly comfortable book to read, and I would strongly encourage readers to check the content warnings I’ve listed above. Edwin uses a drug called Ash to manage his symptoms, which seems to function in much the same way as an SSRI (the main type of medication prescribed for OCD), complete with risks of withdrawal side effects. One notable difference between Edwin’s Ash and my citalopram, though, is that Ash also leads to the user having a magically enhanced sense of smell – I think it would send me straight into sensory overload, but I completely understand why Edwin takes it anyway! In addition to his OCD Edwin is autistic, which is also clear in the chapters from his perspective. I liked that Caplan included details like Edwin’s special interests (plays). Unlike a lot of autistic characters in adult media, Edwin is also very much not desexualised; he seems to have obsessions and compulsions relating to his sexual relationship with John, and this is one of the issues explored in their relationship.
I would have personally liked a few of elements of this book to be explored in more depth for a more definite conclusion in this book, but I can see how this might have been done in order to carry the plot and themes of this book through into the sequel. My other main issue with this book is that while none of the characters are perfect, I found the presentation of John’s patron, Lordess Triumph, very uncomfortable. Her appearance as a physically disabled woman is linked heavily to her personality flaws from the moment she is introduced, in a way which I think could have been omitted entirely or addressed more in the text.
Overall, I think The Sword in the Street is a good start to C.M. Caplan’s debut series, and I am sure it will fit right into many readers’ wheelhouses.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Death of parent
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