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A review by jonnaandherwails
The Sword in the Street by C.M. Caplan
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.