Buckle up, guys. I’ve got the May newsletter recap for you and it’s a long one! We’ve got Sword Catcher art, snippets, pre-order links and more.
Let’s start with the art, here we have “Sasha Coleman’s art of Conor along with a few of his favorite things: wine, jewelry, books, money and secret letters.”

Hello, handsome. I’m intrigued how important that dagger is going to be.
Prince Conor Aurelian is Cassie’s character of the month and we now have loads of new information about him that were given in form of snippets and comments:

Conor is “the first and only son* of the King and Queen of Castellane, part of the Aurelian dynasty. He was born with plenty of advantages, something Lin notes the first time she meets him.” (* Looks like Prince Bram got deleted.)

For the first time tonight, Lin could see the Prince of Hearts in him, the one the city sighed over. Something about it irked her, like being stuck with a pin. Perhaps it was that to be the King’s son was one kind of power, to be beautiful was another, and to be both was entirely too much power for any one person. 

“Kel notes much the same thing. And Kel’s meeting with Conor is pretty dramatic, considering that he has been kidnapped from the orphanage in which he was raised and brought to Marivent, the Palace, to become Conor’s bodyguard. At this point, he and Conor are only ten.”

There was a slight commotion at the door. Kel looked up to a swirl of Castelguards outside, like an incursion of flames. In their midst was a boy, who passed through the door and closed it firmly behind him.
Bensimon straightened up; he did not seem surprised. “Prince Conor.”
The Crown Prince was all in steel blue, just like Kel. He was not wearing a circlet, but Kel would have known him for a prince regardless. He was tall for his age, with his mother’s fine features, and there was a sort of leaping flame behind his eyes and laughing expression on his face that made Kel want to smile at him, which was startling enough in itself. He knew the boy ought to be terrifying—he was royalty—and he was, and yet Kel wanted to smile at the Prince all the same.
Though he had no more years than Kel, Conor seemed worlds older as he crossed the room with a light step and said, “How was it, then? Being me?”
An unexpected ache bloomed like a flower behind Kel’s rib cage. I want to be like him, Kel thought. I want to walk through the world as if it will reshape itself around my dreams and desires. I want to seem as if I could touch the stars with light fingers and pull them down to be my playthings.

It was strange to want something you had never known you wanted.

“Adult Conor — the one we spend the most time with! — has grown into someone for whom the facade of his perfect life is starting to crack. He’s under pressure to get married for the good of the kingdom. He’s stepping in more and more for his father, who is prey to a mysterious illness, essentially doing the work of the King without the support or credit. And some mistakes he’s made in the past are starting to catch up with him in a way that throws him into conflict with Kel — and into the path of Lin who really, really dislikes him”

Prince Conor said, “Before you do. Bensimon said you wouldn’t require payment, but I’d like you to have this.” He slid a ring from his right hand and held it out to her, with the gesture of one bestowing an expensive toy upon a child.
The ring was a plain gold band, set with a flat sapphire. Incised into the sapphire was the rayed sun of House Aurelian. A signet ring.
For a moment, Lin was ten years old again, flinging the gold necklace Mayesh had brought her, with its Aurelian stamp, at his feet. She saw the stony look on her grandfather’s face as she turned away.
She did not reach out for the ring. “No, thank you. I don’t want it.”
He looked taken aback. “You don’t want it?”

If you pre-order Sword Catcher, make sure to keep your receipt because there is going to be a pre-order campaign!
If you haven’t pre-ordered the book yet, there are many editions to choose from. I’ve compiled a list on Twitter a while ago. Click on the tweet below and you can see the thread about the different special editions.

Another topic that Cassie addressed in her newsletter were the so-called Dramatis Personae in Sword Catcher.

So according to Wikipedia, dramatis personae means
“’persons of the drama’ : the main characters in a dramatic work written in a list. Such lists are commonly employed in various forms of theatre.”
They’re also not uncommon in fantasy, which tends to have big casts – and Sword Catcher is no exception! Here’s a link to the dramatis personae for Sword Catcher, which will also be printed in the book itself. It’s a fun way to catch a glimpse of the characters before meeting them and to get a sense of the world.

That’s a lot of characters listed on Cassie’s website, so I’m glad these will be printed in the book! Very handy. 😀

Moving on to Shadowhunters books: A fifth anniversary edition of Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassie’s UK publisher is released on September 14 and you can pre-order it now! The ISBN is 9781398517967.
There’s new content from Cassie and also a letter from Kit to Jace. We got a little sneak peek on Instagram:

There is also going to be a 15th (!) anniversary edition of City of Ashes by Cassie’s other UK publisher Walker Books. This edition is published next month and you can also pre-order it now.

Last but not least, don’t forget about the Shadowhunters merch sale happening right now! It’s your last chance to buy the beautiful Careful Of Books Quote Scarf.

As a little reminder:

• City of Ashes is going to be published on July 6,
• Queen of Air and Darkness is released on September 14,
• Sword Catcher hits shelves on October 10!

Happy Friday and happy summer/winter! 🙂