It's been a long time since I last read CC's book (probably 8 years) but I've always liked her writing and I'm happy she is moving away from the Shadowhunters universe. This was a quite decent sample and it encouraged me to add Sword Catcher to my TBR list!

I absolutely love Cassandras Clares shadowhunter books.
This is her first book away from that world and it's clear to me how much Cassandra Clares writing has developed and matured over her time writing.
This was a very decent sized "sample", but I can't wait to finish this book to see if I continue to love it just as much!

Title: Sword Catcher
Author: Cassandra Clare

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare is an enjoyable book that, in my opinion, falls slightly short of the author's best works. As a part of an ongoing series, the beginning of this installment seamlessly integrates into the established universe of the story.

Clare's signature writing style shines through in Sword Catcher, with her ability to create richly detailed settings and craft engaging dialogue. The familiar elements of her world-building make it easy for fans of her previous books to immerse themselves in the story. The author's skillful storytelling draws readers in, capturing their attention and holding it throughout.

While I found the book enjoyable, I must admit that it didn't quite reach the heights of some of Clare's other works. The plot, while engaging, lacked the same level of complexity and surprises that I have come to expect from her. Additionally, the character development felt somewhat lacking, with some of the characters not receiving the depth and growth I had hoped for.

However, Sword Catcher still offers plenty of entertainment for fans of the series. It continues to explore the established lore and expand upon the existing storyline, providing satisfying moments for readers invested in the characters and their relationships. The action sequences are well-written and keep the pacing steady, ensuring that the book remains engaging.

Overall, Sword Catcher may not be Cassandra Clare's strongest work, but it remains a solid addition to the series. The seamless integration into the established universe and Clare's captivating writing style make it an enjoyable read for fans. While it may not surpass some of the author's previous accomplishments, it still delivers on the familiar elements that have made her a beloved writer in the fantasy genre.

OMG, guys, guess what?! I totally preordered this book I've been dying to read, and I'm seriously losing my mind waiting for it to arrive! Like, I can't even handle the anticipation! I keep hitting that refresh button every five freaking minutes, hoping to see that magical "shipped" status on the page. Ugh, October can't come soon enough! I'm just so hyped! Ahhh! 🤩📚

I think Cassandra Clare is on to another winning series here. There is a lot of necessary information in Sword Catcher as we've moved to a different area and a new series of characters. From the very outset, I wanted to know more about Lin and whether she would succeed in her dreams. I wanted to know more about Kel and how he really feels about his role as 'sword catcher'. Even Crown Prince Conor may not be as straight forward as he first appeared. Now throw in the elusive Ratpicker King, who appears to be quite self-serving, and the mysterious Prosper Beck and all the ingredients are there for a tale of intrigue and trying to work out who is on which side.
I am now anxiously awaiting the release of the whole book to find out what happens to these characters.
Thank you for giving me something new to lose myself in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read this ARC sampler.

I love all things Cassandra Clare and when I found out she was writing an adult fantasy I was absolutely thrilled — I have always enjoyed immersing myself into the Shadowhunter chronicles so it is incredibly intriguing and refreshing to read more from her.

This sample has made me fall in love with the world of Castellane and its characters. I immediately fell in love with Kel, he is written exceptionally well and is a great character for POVs. I enjoyed the prologue being told from when he was a child as it made his character more complex and enabled me to connect to his emotions more. Kel’s friendship with Conner is great to read as well, they have such a special bond.

Lin’s POVs were also very enjoyable and interesting, especially her dynamic with Prince Conner — I am really looking forward to reading more of their interactions as the book progresses, it was very entertaining.

The Ragpicker King is also a mysterious and complex character, one which I cannot wait to unravel. His introductions to Kel and Lin were brilliantly written, adding more to his mysterious character.

As well as the intriguing characters, Sword Catcher introduces a unique world and magic system. The world building was intriguing to read and the promise of magic enticing! The political system this world offers was also interesting as well as the different hierarchies in the kingdom, I am looking forward to reading more about the Ashkar’s and their magical abilities.

This book is everything you would ever want in an adult fantasy, from the characters, world building, and political system, and I look forward to reading more of this book and series. I preordered this book immediately after finishing the sample and I wait in anticipation for October!

Book Review 📚

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare - 4.5/5 ⭐

Let me start by saying, I have NEVER read a Cassandra Clare book - THROUGH NO FAULT OF HERS. I currently have The Dark Artifices trilogy sitting, unread, on my shelf, and The Last Hours Trilogy sitting unread on my Kindle 🤯 but let me tell you - this sample has not only made me preorder the physical book, but also move CC's books up my TBR list! Ohh I can't accentuate how badly I need to finish this book and quickly!

I LOVE Kel. I have formed such a soft spot for him and just want to cuddle him. He's bound by duty and honour and he follows it amazingly. This book is everything you want and more in a fantasy and I'm ashamed it's taken me so long to read CC's books. The writing is just beyond effortless with great description so you can easily portray the images in your head. The story itself is told from two POVs (Kel and Lin) and it's easy to grasp who they are as people with such amazing writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read this ARC sampler - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion

I was delighted when I got approved for the sampler copy of Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare! Having read and loved The Mortal Instruments, I was super excited to have the chance to read her high fantasy adult debut before its release!

Sword Catcher is the story of Kel, an orphan who is chosen to become the Prince of Castellane’s body double, and Lin, who is an Ashkar physician, trying to make her way into a world that would shun her because of her magical capabilities. The two become entangled in a mystery involving the Ragpicker King, who rules Castellane’s criminal underworld…

As I received the sampler copy, I only got to read the first 11 chapter of the book. The story had a slow start, and thus was hard to get into, but it got very interesting really quickly! The worldbuilding was amazing, with gorgeous descriptions that really brought Castellane to life. I love the friendship between Kel and Connor, it’s absolutely adorable. I enjoyed that the story was multi-POV so you got to see what was going on with both protagonists. I also love the friendship between Lin and Maryam, and am particularly fond of Lin! She’s such an interesting and complex character that I need to know more about. Hands down, the most interesting character is The Ragpicker King, who is shrouded with an air of mystique that really pulls you in and has you wanting to know more. The moment he was introduced, I immediately wanted to know more and would absolutely read a spin-off based on him🤣

Overall, the book has an exciting premise! There’s a promise of magic that is enticing, detailed worldbuilding and layered characters that pull you in and make you want to read on! There’s elements of enemies to lovers, and a real focus on politics and hierarchies which are super fun to get into! I would definitely recommend this book and can see it easily being a 4 star and above read! I can’t wait for the full release to get to read the ending! 🤍

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read this eARC in return for a fair and honest review🤍

This is the first Cassandra Clare book I’ve read since the City of Bones - I liked this a lot and found it a really quick wee read! Super fast paced. I did think it was very much building up a world for the rest of the series, which is fine, except that I didn’t think too much was happening. It did read a bit like YA rather than adult fantasy but again, not a complaint (I love YA!). I think the next book in the series will be excellent now that the world has been built and the characters established.

I love Cassandra Clare! She has the ability to build such in depth characters and works and it feels like home reading them. I feel so lucky to get to read a sample of this book and am so eager to read the full book.

As a fan of Cassandra Clare’s previous books I jumped on the chance to read a sampler of Sword Catcher and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book!

This book has two different POVs and I particularly enjoyed Kel’s chapters as we follow him being Prince Conor’s “Sword Catcher”, protecting him from harm. I liked how the prologue was set years before the main story to show how it all came about and set up the dynamic between Kel and the royal family.

I thought the world-building was easy enough to follow as we’re slowly told more about the history of the world. The plot seemed very slow to start and things were only just starting to come together into a clear plot at the end of the sampler, hence the 4 star rating as I wasn’t gripped from the start. However, I found I kept thinking about the story when I wasn’t reading it so it was clear to me that I was enjoying it and liked the characters.

From what we’d been told about the world history, I know Sword Catcher could have a world that expands significantly, and the potential for lots of well-developed characters relationships and even some political intrigue between the countries. I know Casandra Clare can create some very interesting and believable characters and I definitely saw evidence of this in Sword Catcher. I am very intrigued to see where the book and the series will go next.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan for providing the arc in exchange for a review, I am very appreciative!

I was given a sampler for this as an arc so my review is only for a start of the novel.

So we have Kel, who is an orphan and his role is the Sword Catcher. He is there to protect Conor who is the Prince and royal heir to the throne. The story follows Kel as he goes through situations "pretending" to be Conor, to make sure that Conor isn't harmed or killed.
We also follow Lin who is a physician who has some other abilities that were only just introduced at the end of this sampler, so I am intrigued to see where her story goes.

The start of the book I found to be very slow, it took til about chapter 8 before I really started getting into the story. One thing that did frustrate me is that the reader jumps from the perspective of Kel to the perspective of Lin in the same chapter. I found myself having to double back sometimes to see who's story I was following. If they were separated in chapters then it would be more reader friendly. I am intrigued to see where this story goes, I do wish I had the full arc!
The world building is good and there are some developments in the relationships that I think I can predict, so it would be interesting to see if I am right. But overall I would say a 3.5 out of 5 stars, but bearing in mind this was just the start of the book and I did find that it took me till chapter 7 or 8 till I finally got into the story.

Being a huge fan of The Shadowhunters series I was really excited to read the extract of her new book Sword Catcher. This book has a lot to live up to and so far it lived up to my expectations. I have already fallen in love with Kel and so far it looks like it is going to be exciting to read. I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

I've been so excited for Sword Catcher and the sampler does not dissapoint! Cassandra Clare has a talent for crafting such interesting layered worlds and weilding stories full of mystery and magic. I loved her Internal Devices series and hoped she would move to Adult fantasy, and from the chapters i've read from Sword Catcher so far it's been a great move. The story had me interested from the prologue and continued to offer mystery and magic throughout the rest of the pages. At the end of the sampler I was itching to read more. I can't wait to read the rest of the book when it's released and see what develops in each of the storylines for Kel, Connor, Lin & Antonietta, plus to learn more about the mysterious Ragpicker King (is he bad or good... we shall see) and to see how the source stone, the sorcerer kings magical histories and Lin and Kel's dreams all link to the present. Lots of different plots that I'm sure will come together in a grand conclusion.

Admittedly  I have never read any of Cassandra Clare's work before. I tried reading The City of Bones some years ago and I just could not get into her writing and gave up in the first chapter.  But the plot and gorgeous cover of this one caught my eye, and I am so glad it did.  This sample was a really good introduction to the book and I cannot wait to get my hands on a completed version.

The only good thing about this bool is the LGBTQ+ representation. I was send a sample of this book to review. The book contains Cassandra Clare’s usual brilliant writing but I will not be buying the full book. I get world and story building but this book moved at a glacial pace. The world building was confusing as well so it’s not clear and there is a lot of place names thrown about with no clear way in which they sit geographically.
The story direction is unclear as well, I have no idea what the ‘big issue’ is going to be, is it Connors debts, the Ashkar? Is Lin going to be the goddess reborn? The switching between first and last names for the secondary characters is unneeded and confusing. The only character that interested me and I wish the book had focused more on him is the Ragpicker king. The main character have good background stories but other than that I found it boring and hard to read as a book directed at adults. There needs to be more fast paced action and an actual storyline to hold interest. I will not be buying the full book.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for granting me an arc.

This is the new novel by Cassandra Clare and I was privileged to be able to read the first 277 pages.

I read the sample in one day and will definitely be buying the book once it comes out to find out what happens with Kel, Conor and Lin.

Note: I received an e-arc of a sample of Sword Catcher in exchange for an honest review.

I love Cassandra Clare and have read 99% of her books. Sword Catcher unfortunately fell a bit flat for me - I just expected more from her. I started reading the first few pages and I could not get as immersed into it as I usually do with her books - like The Mortal Instruments series or the City of Bones series. The writing is as always, great, the premise interesting, but the way the story weaved just was not fantastic. I would like to try and read it again at some point to see if I have a change of view, but at this stage I don't LOVE this book. It's just ok!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing me with the digital sampler for this book!

It’s excited and somewhat daunting to see Cassandra Clare dip her toes into the non-shadowhunters waters, the whole time you’re curious as to how she is going to tackle this story, will it feel original and refreshing or just a similar kind of story, told differently?

‘When a prince turns ten years old, he is given a sort of- bodyguard. Királar, they call him. Sword Catcher’

This book is a great foray into the world of adult fantasy. It’s rich in description and character, which is something Clare is known for, and she doesn’t disappoint here. You can see yourself walking the streets of Castellane, smelling the food and spices, gazing at all of the fabrics and people that congregate in the harbour city. It’s fantastical and whimsy and everything that Clare excels at.

My one qualm would be the amount of information that is dumped on the reader pretty immediately, it does feel as though I needed to have read a brief history on Castellane and the kingdom and it’s families. This is recovered by having intriguing characters that make you want to know them more, so you are draw into the plot and the history and the people the more that you read and you soon find yourself catching up. It would probably benefit from a re-read once you understand who is who and what they do.

It will be incredibly intriguing to see where Clare takes this story, it’s so vastly different from the Shadowhunters universe and it’s excited to see her flex her writing skills and delivery something that is entertaining, enchanting and enriching. I’m excited for the other instalments in the series and hopefully people can see past the Shadowhunters and see Clare’s skill and fantasy storytelling.

This was a sample of the book. I enjoyed Cassandra Clare’s writing style (always have) but this to me in this sample did not have a lot of action going on? I don’t know if it progresses as the book goes on but this part of the book felt based more on politics and getting to know characters from different walks of life and how taking different paths could change their life (literally).

It’s quite a different type of world compared to the shadow hunter series which I did enjoy diving into a new world. I just hope there’s a bit more action further along in the book.