Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for a review. I never thought that Cassandra Clare would write outside of the shadowhunters world, and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of worldbuilding here. I enjoyed Kel and Lin equally as main characters, and I'm excited to see where the rest of the story goes.

After an exciting opening, the rest of the story is a little slow to get going and the sample ended just as it started to pick up. But I really enjoyed both Kel and Lin and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. (Can't wait for the sparks to ignite between Connor and Lin!) An intriguing start…

Thank you to Pan Macmillan for an advanced sampler of sword catcher.
I was so excited to see an opportunity on net galley for Cassandra Clare’s new non shadow hunter book! Being a massive fan of her work I was very intrigued with the concept of sword catcher.
I really enjoyed the characters introduced and each has a very unique personality separate and similar to each other at the same time.
I thought the plot was interesting, giving an overview on the world and building up for the first 200 pages. However I struggled slightly with the places and their names- definitely having a map in the full version will help.
I found in parts that some paragraphs went on describing different things where I thought it wasn’t entirely necessary. Whilst it was a nice edition, I did have to keep going back over to make sure I had gotten all the info.
Very interested to see the full version come out and will not doubt be an amazing new book!!!

I've only read a sample of this book so far (thank you, Pan Macmillan and Tor!) but I'm hooked already. Sword Catcher reminds me of the reasons I fell in love with the Fantasy genre to begin with. Immersive world-building and an underdog main character that's easy to love. Can't wait for the full release!

Such a unique book, I loved the plot, and oh my god the characters were so amazing!! I definitely will be recommending it!!

The story of this novel is portrayed from two incredibly likeable characters' alternating points of view. I adored Kel and Lin in their own unique ways. I'm not sure where to begin since I absolutely loved this book. It has everything you might expect in a fantasy story and then more. This novel is very different from Cassandra's previous works, yet in the greatest way conceivable.

This book is an excellent introduction to the realm of adult fantasy. The author is recognised for her descriptions and character development, and she does not fail here. You could picture yourself crossing the streets of Castellane, smelling the food and spices and admiring the clothes and people who populate the port city. It's imaginative and whimsy, and it's everything she does well. There was definitely a lot of information dumping at the beginning of the book, which is to be expected of any high adult fantasy novel but I think it would all make a lot more sense once the novel is released and I can continue reading on with the rest of the story!

It'll be fascinating to see where the author goes with this story since it's so different from the Shadowhunters universe, and I'm looking forward to seeing her exercise her writing skills and create something engaging, charming, and enriching.

Overall, I enjoyed every minute of this book; it's easily one of my new favourite fantasy books and I cannot wait for October to hurry up and come sooner !!

Cassandra Clare has been a household name for me for over 13 years, and reading her first dip outside the Shadowhunters world was always going to be wild. I really surprised myself with how much I enjoyed this and I will be reading more from her, as always!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cassandra Clare is an immense talent; and Sword Catcher does not disappoint.

A really promising start to what seems to be another great book from Cassandra Clare. The world created within this book in just the first 200 pages already sets out a complex and well crafted setting with interesting characters and a gripping storyline. Cassandra Clare has already proven herself to be a masterful fantasy writer and this new foray into adult fiction is definitely taking her to new heights. I will be very excited for the release of the full book to see where this story takes us.

Thank you Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for providing a sampler to read in exchange for an honest review!

'I am the Prince's shield,' he said. 'I am his unbreakable armor. I bleed that he might not bleed. I suffer that he might never suffer. I die that he might live forever.'

I really like the concept fo this one. Kel's job as the Sword Catcher is to be Prince Conor's shadow - his body stand in. Kel was taken from his home as a youngster and taught to fight, speak, and behave like the prince - and to die in his place if necessary. From what I read in the sampler, this is going to be a multi-pov story of fierce friendship, drama, royal intrigue, and high fantasy in a world divided.

This is Cassandra Clare's first adult fantasy novel, but I'm sure fans of her other series will be sure to enjoy it.

I'm looking forward to diving into the full story when it releases. I'll be sure to update my review when I have!

#SwordCatcher #NetGalley #cassandraclare #highfantasy

Sword Catcher is set in a fascinating world of wealth, power and monarchy, alongside poverty, crime and oppression. Our two main protagonists in this story both come from more humble beginnings than the nobles and royalty they serve. Kel has been raised side by side with the prince, in order to be his body double and protect from danger. Lin is Ashkar, a shunned community that possess the remaining magic in this world, but are trapped and not afforded the rights of the rest of the population. I really enjoyed reading from these two perspectives in the sampler and look forward to finding out where their stories end up.

The world building of Castellane is beautiful and full of detail. At times, I would say the exposition, particularly of the history of the city, is a little heavy handed, but it is interesting nonetheless.

A fun, action-packed, easy read for fans of Cassandra Clare's works.

Absolutely loved this sample of Cassandra’s new adult fantasy, Sword Catcher! The world building and descriptions of the buildings/food/people were incredible, and really brought you into the story. I love what we’ve seen of Kel so far and am excited to see more of his friendship with Conor and any possible romances. Can’t wait till I can read the entire book!
Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and Cassandra Clare for the opportunity to read this sample! All opinions are my own

𝕬𝖑𝖑 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖌𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖘 𝖋𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕲𝖔𝖉𝖘. 𝕬𝖑𝖑 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖘 𝖋𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝖒𝖊𝖓.

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thanks to @netgalley and @panmacmillan for this ARC sampler of Cassandra Clare’s adult fantasy debut Sword Catcher.

I was very excited to get my hands on this sampler, I love Cassie’s writing and The Mortal Instruments was my favourite series growing up, so I was intrigued to see how she would tackle adult fantasy. I loved it! I did find the beginning to be a bit slow, with quite long chapters which isn’t for everyone. Obviously this may not be the same for the rest of the book as I have only read around the first 300 pages, but I did find a lot of it to be world building (beautifully done!) and character development. I really enjoyed the imagery throughout, it felt very immersive and I could definitely see myself getting lost in the world of Castellane. I loved how queernormative this book is, as it’s not something I’ve seen much of before so it was very refreshing. I also found it super interesting how the focus of this book was on Kings, Queens and Sorcerers rather than fae/demons, as seen in previous works by the author, however I found that I kept getting confused with all of the different charter families and kingdoms so I feel that Sword Catcher could do with a sort of index guide. My favourite part of this sample was the Ragpicker King - such an intriguing character and I can’t wait to read the rest and see how the story plays out!!

Cassandra Clare truly is a phenomenal writer. She has perfected her craft throughout the entirety of The Shadowhunter Chronicles and now offers a sensational, thrilling adult fantasy debut to the world. I am both so honoured to have been approved for this sampler, and gutted at the same time to not know the conclusion until October. The world building was expertly handled, with no overwhelming info dumps or clunky exposition. The sampler ended just as things really started to kick up a notch, so I am SO excited to see where it goes, but if it keeps going as it currently is, it is sure to be a 5 star read.

Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillian for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Absolutely LOVED this. Completely gripped already, and felt that it was just so well written. Roll on publication date!

didn’t sleep last night reading this book. 🙄 let’s be honest about the author signature writing is present in this book , one of my favourite things is her ability to create richly world buildings and characters that are complex and brilliant at the same time . The author's skillful storytelling make you want to read this book on one go, my only downfall is the book start slow and keep being a slow burn for BIG part of the book and I accept this because is the first book is obvious that she need introduce us to this new world, new universe and I like it. There is drama, magic, downfalls, deceit and everything that you can enjoy in a YA book. I love Kel already and I can’t wait to see where the next books take him. The description and ambiance in this book is totally on point as always with this author. The story is tell by two Povs kel and Lin the book for a very interesting and exciting premise so go and PRE order if you are fan of the author books. Big thanks to NetGalley and Pam Macmillian for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As is usual with a new fantasy saga there is quite a lot of world building and scene setting which makes the start feel slow, but the intrigue sets in quite early too and fans of the author will recognise the patterns of what is to come. The machinations of court and the tense, eggshell relationships of the main characters soon draw you in : the females in particular are very compelling and you want to know how their story will end. It doesn't take long for the pace to pick up with much manoevring of position and plot twists which will no doubt lead to a cliff-hanger end! (SO unfair to have a sample only!!!) My only negative observation is that there was little to distinguish this title from the author's YA list so many would want to include for that crossover market too. That said I enjoyed this and will want to read the whole come the autumn.

LOVE.

I need the rest. I really do.

I don't even know what to say. What is there to say? There's drama, and magic that's not magic, magic that is magic, deceit and discovery.

As always, I greatly enjoy Cassie's writing.

This sampler gave a great taste of Clare's new Adult novel and I cannot wait to delve fully into this new world she's created

I was so excited to read this so being able to grab a sample really made my day and it didn’t disappoint!
I felt the story was a little slow at the start but it picked up quickly and as usual, Cassandra Clare’s world building is just brilliant. I can’t wait to read the rest on release!
4.5 stars.