This review is based on early access to a sampler of the book.

I have to say, I am so excited for Clare’s new venture and this sampler has only stirred up my interest more! I love the world-building thus far, of an intricate and in-depth world and city. The characters are SUPER interesting and I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on the final thing to discover what happens to them… Definitely one I’ll be picking up once released!

I was so excited to be given the chance to read a preview of this book and it did not disappoint! I am eager to read the full story when it is released! The world of the shadow hunters had never really appealed to me so I was very excited to see that Cassandra Clare was writing an adult fantasy separate from this world and I can really see why people love her writing.

I would firstly like to say thank you for the sample of this book.

Note- I am giving this 3/3.5 stars due to it being a sample.

Having never read any of Cassandra Clares other books, I was excited to see that she had written an adult fantasy book. The prologue hooked me in and the world building was very extensive. I found this a little too much at times as there was a lot of information. The magic system is unique and you will enjoy it if you like political fantasies. The characters were interesting and I can’t wait to read more about Lin. The book picked up towards the end of the sampler so I will definitely be continuing when it comes out.

Overall a good sample which makes me want to continue the rest of the book.

I was so excited to recieve a preview of this book. I love Cassandra Clare’s writing and this did not disappoint. Lots to think about and lots to look forward to when the book is published.

This sample made me very excited to read the full book once it's published in October. Very different to shadowhunters but same great writing style and great characters.

sword catcher - cassandra clare

what's this? a cassandra clare novel that doesn't involve shadow hunters? yep! this is clare's debut adult fantasy and even if you've not been a fan of her work before, i i implore you to give this one a go - the style, the voice and just about everything else is so different from her previous books, it's a much more mature voice and wonderfully sets up what could be an exciting fantasy series.

i was instantly drawn into this world and am super excited to see how all this plays out - i'm just upset i have to wait two years to find out what happens next!

many thanks to @netgalley for the early copy. sword catcher is out next month and there are some incredible special editions available, so go forth and pre order!

I really enjoyed this exploration into adult fantasy by Cassandra Clare! I thought the plot was fun and gripping and it went by so quickly! I really loved the characters and enjoyed the politics/magic system. But it wasn't anything revolutionary, like the shadow hunters universe grabbed me by the throat and HELD ME and made me want to pick up book after book, with this one I finished it and was like oh okay! Cool maybe I will pick the next one up who knows!

Cassandra Clare is an Auto buy author for me - I can't wait for the full book and have Multiple versions reordered!

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley, all opinions are mine.

So first things first - I'm reviewing a 285 page sampler, so of course I can't give a complete review. But here are my first impressions!

Sword Catcher is a multi-POV adult fantasy with political intrigue, mysterious magical artifacts, and potentially warring criminal organisations as well. I loved both of our main characters! Kel and Lin feel strong, fully realised, and realistically flawed. I'm already invested! In terms of the supporting cast, it's a bit of a mixed bag: I'm intrigued by the king, queen, and Mayesh, but I don't care for Conor that much. I want to like the Ragpicker King, but honestly it just feels like it's been done before? As of this point in the story, it doesn't feel like a fresh take on the archetype.

The worldbuilding is vast and intricate, sometimes beautifully so, sometimes to its own detriment. When it doesn't work, it feels clumsy and takes away from the immediacy of the scene. Inserting descriptive details about the room into a fierce argument about marriage and succession completely drains the tension. It also felt like it took about 200 pages for the story to really get going, which had me perilously close to DNFing a couple of times.

When it works, however, it's evocative, fantastical, a stunning snapshot of this world we've been invited into. The descriptions of food especially feel so vivid I genuinely got hungry! A great deal of thought and care has gone into the creation of the different kingdoms and their cultures, and it really shows.

In the end I definitely have mixed feelings about this one, but now that the plot's really kicking in, and given my attachment to Kel and Lin, I'll definitely be picking up the finished copy!

I am very behind the times and despite owning 10 Cassandra Clare books; this is the first time I’ve actually picked up a book by this author and I was completely blown away :0

The world building in this book is a whole other level – the first part of the book is a bit slow but it allows the reader to get a real picture of this vast and complex world. The writing is really descriptive and it helps you picture al the details right down to the food the characters can eat. I really liked this and it helped me to picture Castellane as I was reading the story. There has been a lot of thought and attention to detail by the author with the world building and I really appreciated this – it helped the book become a more immersive experience.

I initially found it difficult to keep on top of all the different characters but once I had mastered this and got to know them; it really added to the story (there is a helpful character guide on the author’s website if you need it).

I liked the characters and the interactions between them. As it is the start of the series I’m not yet sure who the main relationships are going to be between but I am looking forward to finding out and seeing if the ones I ship get together.

This is definitely a high fantasy read; the plot is complex but really interesting and I really enjoyed by read of this book. I look forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes.

FYI, I have gone with 3 stars for now because this is a sampler and not the full book.

I'm a massive fan of anything Cassandra Clare and I was really excited to get my hands on this! Her Shadowhunter books are some of my favourites and I was intrigued to see how she was going to enter the adult fantasy world! As expected, Sword Catcher is far from the Shadowhunter world. From descriptive world building to court politics and corruption, this book has everything I enjoy in a fantasy setting!

Always excited for new work from Cassandra Clare, this is no exception. Cannot wait for the full works, have already pre-ordered it.

*Review of Sample*
I will be updating this once the full book is released, so I’m holding back some things for this review until then! Everything here is a first impression.
Even though I had not read anything by Cassandra Clare in years, when I heard she was writing an adult fantasy, something separate from the Shadowhunters universe no less, I was *very* excited.
This high fantasy is set in an imaginary kingdom where a young boy is selected and trained to be a “Sword Catcher” - someone who acts as the Prince’s double in high risk situations where he might be injured, or killed. It’s a great premise, definitely unique and clever, and I found the characters intriguing and likeable. The dynamic between Kel and Conor, and Kel’s complicated relationship to the royal family was what really kept me returning to the story.
However, I found the beginning very difficult to get through. The world-building seems a bit lazy as there were so many things the reader is told instead of shown, and a lot of it felt really insignificant, like it was just thrown in for decoration. The magic system confused me as it seemed to only be there for convenience of the plot and didn’t affect much of the world. For example, the charm Kel wears to make himself appear more like Conor - this defeats the purpose of having to choose someone who looked exactly like the Prince. If this kind of magic is possible, surely it can be pushed further and transform someone entirely? It also takes away from the extremity of Kel’s job. It would have been more exciting if he had to train and teach himself to be absolutely perfect in his imitation, instead of having this to fall back on.
Also just an aside - as an Irish person the name choice “Conor” really bothered me. Every other character has extremely high-fantasy, meant-to-be-exotic-sounding names, and then one of the MCs is called the most basic and common Irish names that there is. Like, is it meant to sound unique and different as with the other names? Why not just give the rest of the royal family Irish names? It took me out of the story a lot.
Those are my initial thoughts. The sample has left off in a very interesting place, so while it’s not perfect I will be picking up a copy to read and continue after the publication date.

I have read and enjoyed the shadow hunters world for years, and this is a new genre and series altogether. I liked the book although I didn’t find it groundbreaking or new. I wish it was faster paced. However, I did enjoy it and would recommend it to other adult fantasy lovers.

I’ve actually never read a Cassandra Clare book (shock I know) but knowing that this book was her first outside of the Shadowhunter Universe it felt like a good place to start rather than an overhwhelming series!

If you have been in the book community for a while like I do, especially in the YA fantasy side of it then you’re excited or at least a bit curious for Sword Catcher. Cassandra Clare is vastly known for the Shadowhunter Chronicles and hasn’t published any other book outside that universe, at least until now.

Sword Catcher her first adult fantasy novel, so it’s a bit different then what we have seen from her, but my main problem with this book (at least the sampler I got to read) is that it doesn't feel new and fresh when compared to others in the genre. It feels like it’s the kind of story that has been done before.

As much as the worldbuilding is well done, I could argue that it was a bit excessive at some points. It dragged the pacing of the story to the point where I felt like absolutely nothing was happening in the plot, which made me kind of bored at first. I wish the whole introduction was shorter since it wasn’t too memorable anyway.

The book was getting better by the time the sampler ended and the pacing had finally picked up, so I’m still intrigued and looking forward to reading the rest when it’s officially released. I don’t really think its going to become one of my favorites, but hopefully I’ll like it more and will be able to form a more well-rounded opinion.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an extended sampler of this book. This review is written based on reading the prologue and the first 5 chapters of this book which is approximately a quarter of the final published novel.

Sword Catcher is the first book I read by Cassandra Clare.

I have found the prologue of this book extremely interesting and catchy but, from the first chaprter after that, it didn't hook me much. I found it too slow and too set on world-building, but maybe this is a characteristic of this author's books that I should have expected. I find the magic system unique and cool but overall the story didn't hook me like the prologue did and for this reason, even if I liked the prologue, I didn't continue reading this book past chapter 5.

A huge thanks to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the sampler!

Cassandra Clare is the author of the Shadowhunter books, which are old firm favourites of mine. Her worldbuilding in those books were immense, so it’s obviously no surprise that her worldbuilding in her adult debut is just as good. She handles it carefully, giving the audience enough information without infodumping.

Clare’s characters are intriguing and well-written. She builds backstory and weaves the characters together perfectly. I absolutely adored our main cast of characters, and it was smart of Clare to show two vastly different POVs from two characters who live very different lives.

I DEVOURED this sampler very quickly and enjoyed reading it. This will definitely be a book I pick up. A must-read for people who like multi-pov political intrigue books with an underground criminal gang.

MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS

As someone that's been following Casandra Clare closely for more than a decade at this point, the expectations for this series were high. And instantly there were two controversies I wanted to address.

First of all, I refuse to hear from anyone ever the criticism that Cassie cannot do a proper worldbuilding, and that she's only ever capable of pushing the Shadowhunter universe but not create anything else from scratch. Her worldbuilding in Sword Catcher is intense, incredibly intricate and, perhaps, even excessive. I only had access to the first half of a book, and it felt like such a information-driven half that if felt more like studying for an exam rather than a fun reading experience. Not to say that I did not enjoy it, far from it, that first half has been consumed in just a few days, but considering the wait until the proper release day (and thus the chance to finally enjoy the second half) I fear that most of the information will be forgotten.

The second controversy is the similarity with V E Schwab's Shades of Magic series.. As luck would have it, I interrupted my read of this exact series to jump into Cassie's ARC and kept going immediately after, so I have them both quite fresh in my mind. The name Kel/Kell is sadly too uncommon in fiction not to have it raise a few questions, and the idea of such a character joining the royal family to become a brother/bodyguard to the crown prince felt like a bit of an unlucky situation. My main issue is the presence of forbidden stone in both first books that makes me question things further. However, apart from that, I'd say the characters and universes, intrigue and overall tone are completely separate. All in all, some inspiration or unlucky coincidences might've happened but I'd still consider Sword Catcher its own piece of work.

Regarding the characters, Kel is a lovely protagonist. Headstrong, realistic and selfless, especially when it came to Conor, he is incredibly likeable and easy to root for. I'm still unsure if I'm hoping for him and Antonetta to become a thing, but I know for a fact that I NEED to see a chapter in which him and Merren have some quality time together. Merren is a sweetheart, I adore him already, and their scenes together were my favourite parts of the ARC I was given access to. Regarding Antonetta, she is incredibly complex as a character, often unpredictable in her behaviour, due to the mask she is wearing, but that makes her interesting so far. To finish off, I do hope Conor and Lin will become a thing, their dynamic felt incredibly promising so far, even though I do not like Conor as a character just yet, while I adore her.

Those were my thoughts for now. I shall quietly growl at a wall until the books gets its proper release and I get to read the rest.

I'm a big Cassandra Clare fan but for some reason, I just can't seem to connect with either the characters or the story in this book. It saddens me that I can't give it a proper rating, however, so far the world-building is undeniably fantastic. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it might just be that this story is not the right fit for me at the moment. Hopefully, when the book is officially released, I'll get a chance to read it in its entirety and form a more informed opinion.