Happy release day to ‘Sword Catcher’: Book Review + Exclusive Interview

Happy release day to Cassandra Clare and her debut adult fantasy novel Sword Catcher! We have come a long way since its first announcement in 2017 and I am thrilled to celebrate Cassie and her new book today. Sword Catcher is now available in bookstores and online as an ebook or audio book. The audio book is narrated by Christian Coulson (aka Tom Riddle in the second Harry Potter movie 😉 ) and Fiona Hardingham.
It has been quite some time since I have written a release day article about a non-Shadowhunters book – five years in fact – but I am excited to start again! Happy book birthday, Cassie! ♥
I read the book in advance and I have written a review for you (with one highlighted spoiler). But that’s not all! Cassie also took some time to answer some Sword Catcher questions, so you’re also getting an exclusive interview as well.

In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, the richest of nobles and the most debauched of criminals have one thing in common: the constant search for wealth, power, and the next hedonistic thrill.

Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces. As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos? (x)

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To say I’ve been excited for Cassandra Clare’s Sword Catcher is a pretty big understatement. Ever since her first adult novel was announced in November 2017, I’ve been looking forward to the book. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Cassie’s Shadowhunters books, but I was thrilled for her to spread her wings and write something completely new.
As usual, the review won’t have any spoilers, unless explicitly stated and highlighted otherwise.

Worldbuilding
There is a lot of exposition; a lot to learn about the world and its characters, so that the first half of the book is a bit slow, but I don’t mind. It is a completely new book series after all, and it would have been very weird if there had been no explanations. Our introduction to Castellane was definitely shown, and not told – a huge plus in a (fantasy) novel!
The world is vast, vivid, and vibrant. (Yes, this alliteration was necessary.) I would love to live in Castellane and consume all the food that Cassie mentioned, because these descriptions were simply divine.
You can absolutely tell how much research Cassie put into building this world and the different languages. The many years of working on Sword Catcher definitely paid off!
Because the world is so vast, I am glad to have a really useful map of Castellane that Cassie included in her June newsletter, so you can check there for all the places the characters visited. I hope we’ll also get a map of the continent Dannemore in a future book.

Plot
Cassie and also the official synopsis for Sword Catcher have been pretty vague on what to expect from this first book. We’ve had this graphic as a reference for general themes/tropes, but we barely know anything about the plot. I actually preferred it this way, because for this reason, I went into the book with only one expectation: for Sword Catcher to be a fascinating read.
There are a lot of secrets, scheming and corruption in this world, with many sad and/or pensive moments due to this. Other moments were downright tragic and one thing close to the end broke my heart a bit. The book ended on a rather dire note for some characters, and it remains to be seen how chaotic the world of Castellane is going to become.
The story also has some mysterious elements to it, which I found very exciting and nicely mixed with more mundane elements. I expect there to be even more mysteries as the whole story progresses and I am very much looking forward to it!
Overall, the book is more character-focused in my opinion, which is understandable since it is something completely new and we have to be introduced to everything.
Despite everything, there are some light-hearted and funny moments. Nevertheless, you can tell that Sword Catcher is an adult novel with high stakes, because these lighter moments are rarer compared to Cassie’s middle grade and YA novels.

Characters
Let me tell you right from the start, there are a lot of names – of characters but also countries, cities, and places – but don’t be discouraged when it seems like you cannot remember everything! You’ll get there. Cassie has a pretty handy guide to the characters on her website, so I suggest you save these images on your phone to sneak a peek at them if needed.
Kel is one of our main characters and if you’ve followed Sword Catcher news, then you know that as a boy, Kel was picked to be the Crown Prince’s bodyguard/stand-in. He has since then become an adult and experienced at lot whilst living in the Palace. He is super close and loyal to Conor aka the prince, but some things happen, and their friendship is getting tested. Kel’s heart is in the right place, he is reliable and wants to do what is best for Conor, even if that means doing things he does not enjoy doing.

Lin is an Ashkar physician, a position that she had to fight for because she is a woman. I know you shouldn’t quote from an ARC, but the following was just so significant that I had to include it, SPOILER “for a religion that purports to worship a Goddess, who was once a powerful Queen, there are a great many men making decisions about what I, a woman, can read and do.” END OF SPOILER Nevertheless, the men in the Sault and also outside of it cannot stop her and she is being a confident as well as unstoppable woman with a mission. One scene at the end, though, put a damper on my admiration for her. I hope everything is going to be okay, because I fear the consequences of Lin’s actions can lead to something truly devastating for her.

Ah, Conor, Crown Prince Conor Aurelian. I have to be honest, I’m not a fan of him. My friend and I exchanged our thoughts at the end of each chapter and there was a lot of grumbling on my part due to him. He is rich, he is arrogant, he is privileged. Despite these negative characteristics, he has a lot of potential – to improve himself or to get even worse. His development in the next books is definitely something I’m really looking forward to.

The Ragpicker King was a favourite of mine! He is introduced as this criminal, but I’m sure there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Right now, he doesn’t really seem like a bad guy, but I have no doubt that we’ll see a more dangerous side to him. He’s quite charming and knowledgeable of all the things that are happening in the city. Minor spoiler: There’s also an interesting connection to the actual King, but that’s for me to know and for you to find out. 😉

The Ashkar are a religious people living in exile, they are confided to living in the walled-in Sault and are forbidden from doing certain things. This is of course very similar to the Jewish diaspora, which shouldn’t be surprising since they are based on the Jewish people as Cassie herself is Jewish. We find out a lot about the Ashkar and their history and that they are in fact (unfairly) discriminated against by a lot of people in different countries. They are seen as other because they still can do some magic, and it’s obvious that many don’t hold them in high regard. Minor spoiler: The only exception is Mayesh, Lin’s grandfather and counsellor to the King. His role is obviously special, but even Mayesh does have his limits due to being Ashkar.

There were of course a lot of other characters, good, bad and in-between, and I have to say that I have already become quite fond of some.
There is Merren Asper, a young student of poisons, who wants revenge. Mariam, Lin’s sweet friend, who is a dealt an unfair fate, and another friend of Lin’s, also living in the Sault.
Of course there are also completely unlikeable and ominous characters, some I’m very much looking forward to knowing more about. They may be awful, but they are also awfully intriguing. 😉 And then there are also characters I don’t have anything positive to say about, oddly enough (or not in fact), they are all rich nobles who live close to the Palace. They are hedonistic pigs and deserve to be taken down a peg or two.
Another positive thing: kudos to Cassie for including so many queer characters; querness is completely normal in this world and it makes me very happy to see.

Romance
The characters in Sword Catcher are all in their twenties, so we can expect scenes to be more mature. Certain characters have feelings for other characters, but it remains to be seen whether these will turn into a full relationship. The biggest contenders are actually a ship I currently would not be in favour of, no spoilers from me, though. I of course have absolute faith in Cassie that we’ll get amazing love stories, and I cannot wait for more mature relationships to blossom!

Closing words: Whilst still reading I didn’t want the book to end because I was so enraptured and now that it’s over, I’m sad because we don’t know when the sequel is going to be published. Hopefully not too far into the future, although I also want Cassie to have as much time as possible to write another thrilling book. Oh, the struggle of being a reader. 😉 I’m going to try to find as much information as possible about future books and in the meantime, I am going to re-read the book multiple times.
Sword Catcher was a brilliant start to an undoubtedly gripping new fantasy series! Five out of five stars. You deserve all the praise and blurbs for this one, Cassie!

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And now for the interview!

How long has Sword Catcher been brewing in your mind and how did it come to life?

As a lover of giant fantasy books, I’ve wanted to write one since I was a kid. I’ve been working on Sword Catcher in earnest for about five years, though the glimmers of it were occupying my mind for several years before that. The magic is inspired by Jewish tradition and mythology—I knew that would be the case from very early on—and that was the beginning of Lin’s story. I’ve also always been fascinated by doubles, and at one point I saw a documentary about a man who served as a body double for the son of an infamous dictator. The idea stuck with me, evolving and eventually growing into Kel’s story.

What was the most interesting part of researching/writing Sword Catcher and what wasn’t so great?

As a Jewish person, I grew up absorbing a lot of history and lore, but it was great fun to revisit and reread Talmudic wisdom and Jewish folklore and mythology. I also really enjoyed reading about the history of Venice and the Silk Roads. What wasn’t so great? For a while there I was working on a heist. I hate writing heists. Perhaps not surprisingly, it didn’t end up fitting into book one. Will the heist of my dreams/nightmares appear later in the series? It’s an open question. : )

Were there any obstacles while writing Sword Catcher and what do you recommend if writers are struggling while writing?

Talk to your friends! Ask them to help you brainstorm! My biggest problem with Sword Catcher was that it just kept growing…and growing…and growing. I had to be ruthless and narrow my scope to get it to a reasonable size! In the end, I threw out 100,000 words I didn’t deem necessary. And a few things I had planned for book one ended up being moved later in the series.

Lin is part of the Ashkar, a people whose history mirrors the history of Jews closely, because you are Jewish yourself. Were there any surprises while you were researching, any interesting titbits you discovered, and is there anything you want your non-Jewish readers to know, so that they’ll have a better understanding of Lin’s situation?

There is so much fantasy magic that is built on the pillars of Christian myth, or that is generally a sort of mix-and-match of folklore. Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to write magic that would resonate with people who were raised in Jewish tradition, but also with anyone who is looking for a different flavor of magical history.

Okay, the oddest thing I found out was this enormous mythical bird called the Ziz. It’s so tall that when it is standing with its feet on the ocean floor its head is in the clouds. In some stories it’s said that the Ziz will be eaten at a celebratory feast when the Messiah returns, but I prefer to think the Ziz has a happier future than that.

On a more serious note, the history of the Jewish people is one of diaspora, of persecution, wandering, and forced conversion. I hope this is apparent in the book, but one thing I want people to understand about Lin, about her grandfather Mayesh, about all the Ashkar, is that they are always other — always in a place without it being their home. It informs a lot of what they do.

Everyone needs critique partners, who of your many author friends were helping while you wrote the book? Are there any funny anecdotes you can share?

I workshopped this book with Holly Black, Kelly Link, and Jedediah Berry, but really so many of my friends looked at it at some point or another — Leigh Bardugo, Maureen Johnson, Robin Wasserman, Marie Rutkoski. They all had different comments and insights. I do remember I accidentally sent a friend the wrong file, saying it was the first five chapters when it was the last five. She was like, “I think you may need to ah, work on establishing the story a bit more.”

The city of Castellane is so vibrant and colourful, which cities, because we know you travel a lot, did you draw inspiration from?

Castellane was inspired by the history of Venice and of the Silk Roads. I had come across a book called City of Fortune which charts the history of Venice at the height of its trading powers, and was fascinated by its merchant culture and incredibly backstabbing politics. That eventually developed into the idea of the Twelve Charter Families. The culture of Castellane isn’t based on Italian culture, though, it’s based on the culture of Southwestern France, what used to be known as the Occitan region, which has a fascinating Jewish history as many of the Jews expelled from Spain settled there.

If you were living in the world of Castellane, which Charter Family would you like to be a part of and why?

Hmmm. House Alleyne, which holds the Silk Charter, because I like designing clothes. Lady Alleyne would drive me crazy, but I think I’d have a good time with Antonetta.

We cannot not talk about The Shadowhunter Chronicles (but only very briefly). Who of the characters would get along best with Kel, Conor and Lin and why?

I think Jace would get along with Kel because they have slightly similar baggage, having doubles and being raised to be warriors. I think Lin would get along great with Tessa and Cordelia—they all love books! Will and Conor would cause a lot of trouble together and have a great time doing it. Lucie would love writing about the exploits of the Ragpicker King. Julian and Mariam would appreciate each other’s artistry.

What are some books you’d recommend to (adult) fantasy newbies? And which fantasy books are must-reads in your opinion?

Little, Big by John Crowley, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip, Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, and A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

What are your hopes for this completely new series?

I hope that readers will love Lin and Kel, Conor and Mariam, Merren and Ji-An, Mayesh and the Ragpicker King and all of their friends and enemies! I remember when people were still getting to know Clary and Jace, Will and Tessa and Jem, Magnus and Alec. I hope people will let these new characters into their hearts.

Is there anything you want to tell your readers about Sword Catcher or in general?

Keep an eye on Conor’s clothes. They tell you a lot about what mood he’s in!

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Thank you for the ARC and the interview, Cassie! ❤
Sword Catcher is now available wherever books are sold – happy reading! 😀