Bree T's Reviews > Sword Catcher

I picked up this book last year in a Black Friday sale and it’s been sitting on my TBR shelf ever since. I honestly haven’t heard much about this since it was published, which is interesting. It’s Cassandra Clare’s first step away from the Shadowhunters world and it seems like the reviews are pretty mixed. When I pulled my September TBR prompts, one of them was a book that Hunter (my 16yo eldest son) chose from the TBR shelf. He picked this one because, quote “the cover is cool”. I had asked him not to pick something too big as I had a few other chunky books to get through this month and this one is bigger than it looks, clocking in at over 600p. Despite that though, I found myself getting through it in just a couple of days after a bit of a slow start.

The book opens with meeting Kel, a 10yo orphan who is chosen from his orphanage by an important man, because of his resemblance to the Crown Prince, Conor. Kel is trained as Conor’s “Sword Catcher” – to basically take any hit intended for Conor. With also a bit of a magic, Kel can actually pass as Conor at events. If he’s wearing a medallion, people will see him and think he’s Conor. They’re not identical, but this magic (which is now forbidden except in one tiny part of this city) will cause people to think they’re seeing Conor. As Conor and Kel grow up together, they become close but in a way that is reflective of their roles. Conor is a Prince, heir to a throne and Kel is still the orphan boy employed to protect and serve him. Conor might treat Kel like a friend, like the cousin the Crown pretends he is, but ultimately, their roles are defined and protocol prevents them from blurring too much. Kel is accepted wherever Conor goes as a minor noble but he’s forever reminded that he’d be nothing without Conor and the Royal Family and his loyalty is ultimately, forever to Conor.

The narration is split between Kel and a woman named Lin Caster, granddaughter of the advisor to the King. Both are from a race of people who have been sort of exiled. They’re allowed exist in a certain part of Castellane, but are not allowed out of that part of it without some sort of escort or permission, I was a bit blurry on those details. Lin is a physician, looked down upon because she’s a woman, by her own people although she’s built a small client base who know her skills. Because of her grandfather, who fulfils a very old and important role as advisor to the King, Lin is summoned when Kel is injured and almost killed when someone mistakes him for Conor. This puts her into the path of the Crown Prince, which causes a lot of…..upset for both of them.

Not going to lie, I felt like this had a slow and confusing start. There’s a lot of information presented in not exactly the most reader friendly ways in the beginning and it took me a lot of time to get characters straight in my head – some of Conor’s circle of cronies have similar names and some of the palace roles seem a bit confusing. There’s also a story being told in pieces at the beginning of each chapter that deals with the removal of magic from this realm/land/etc and how that happened as well as the exiling of what are Lin’s people/ancestors. It probably took me maybe 150ish pages to settle into the story and feel like I’d found the rhythm so honestly, people who say it’s too long….there’s something in that, I think. I’m sure the information could’ve been provided in a better way that felt less confusing early on.

However – once I did get into this story, I found myself quite enjoying it. It’s got lots of layers to it and there’s a lot of people that are playing a part and there’s plenty of politics and intrigue. The Ragpicker King (sort of a King of the….underbelly?) was an interesting character and I thought his interactions with Kel had potential. The second book in this series is actually titled The Ragpicker King so I guess he will play a much bigger role and maybe even be a POV character? I also really liked Ji-An.

I enjoyed this but I don’t think it was anywhere near a perfect story. It definitely feels too long and like it takes too many pages to start to get to the point and then the ending feels pretty frantic. It’s the first in a trilogy (I think, that’s what seems to have been announced so far) so of course it leaves you with more questions than answers but a lot of time is spent on drunken shenanigans which gets tedious after a while. Conor’s life is one of excess and Kel is dragged along for the ride, although Conor is as much as pawn in the game as anyone, despite being the Crown Prince. He might seem like he has oodles of freedom because he can come and go but his life isn’t his own either, any more than Kel’s. It was a struggle to like Conor but there were a few glimpses into the person he might not be, without the weight of expectation.

Will definitely pick up book two, I want to see where it goes.