Sword Catcher (SAMPLER) by Cassandra Clare

Thank you to NetGalley, Cassandra Clare and Pan Macmillan for a Sample copy of Cassandra Clare’s upcoming fantasy novel Sword Catcher. This is in exchange for an honest review.

Magic, betrayal and secrets…

I have been a fan of Cassandra Clare’s shadowhunter series for many years (read my Book Review of Chain of Thorns) and was really intrigued at the idea of Clare writing a completely new high fantasy world. When I saw that NetGalley and Pan Macmillan were providing an eARC of the first eleven chapters, I was over the moon, I requested the book as soon as I could. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to review this early release.

Sword Catcher is set in the new and vibrant world of Castellane. This world has magic, forbidden knowledge and secrets that hasn’t been explored by Clare before, her upcoming novel follows her main protagonists Prince Conor, his sword catcher Kel and physician Lin with criminals such as the Ragpicker King.

The first five chapters were slow and there was a lot of new information to take in and understand, such as how the magic system works, the hierarchy of society and establish who the novel’s main characters are and how they operate within the story. This slow pace is expected when creating a new world from the ground up and when I first read City of Bones in The Mortal Instrument series, I thought the pacing was slow and required a lot of patience. Introducing this new information is vital to the rest of the story and series, it is through this patience and learning about this new world that I discovered one of my favourite authors and fictional world. Clare crafts a world of vibrant criminal activity, excessive nobles and injustices that help build this world and immerse the reader in magic, mayhem and romance. The richness and hedonistic nobles are expertly contrasted with the poorer and less fortunate members of Castellane that highlights many of the injustices and political discourse to follow. Clare discusses themes of race, class and politics that seamlessly permeates throughout the narrative and very essence of Castellane. The theme of choice is one that is established early on in the novel and I think will play an important role within Kel and Lin’s character arc. The Adult fantasy genre will allow Clare to explore many darker themes without the boundaries that YA fantasy has.

Once the world is set, the characters were introduced and the reader understands the magic system and how it works, the plot moves very quickly and draws the reader further into the lives of these new characters. Clare quickly establishes individual character traits that introduces tense and interesting dynamics. I am interested to see how these traits impact the rest of the novel and how Kel, Lin and Conor interact with each other throughout the narrative. I adore the way Clare writes her villains and criminally grey characters and Sword Catcher is no different. In this sample the reader is introduced to the Ragpicker King, I have been fascinated by this character since Clare released her newsletter revealing snippets and clues to his character. The Ragpicker King is an interesting and compelling character who is shrouded in mystery and despite only seeing a small percentage of him in this sample, I definitely want to explore his character and how he fits into the story. The novel is written in third person and transitions between Kel’s perspective and Lin’s creating an immersive and bigger picture regarding what is happening throughout the novel. I enjoy third person narratives far more than first person as the reader is able to follow multiple stories at once that branch off from the main narrative and characters.

I have already pre-ordered my copy of Sword Catcher due to be published 10 October 2023 and this sample has left me wanting more. I’m intrigued at how this world will evolve, how the story will test these characters and what Clare will do next!

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