Book Review: Sword Catcher

I woke them up for this picture so please excuse their grumpy expressions. Photo by Kate Ota 2024

Sword Catcher is the first adult fantasy from Cassandra Clare, of Shadowhunter fame. I enjoy that series from her because of how she can manipulate reader emotions about characters. She's also written the only love triangle that I consider a real triangle (Will/Jem/Tessa). Suffice to say, I think she's a master at character and was excited to see a new world from her. 

Sword Catcher focuses on Kel, the titular sword catcher aka body double for Prince Conor. He steps in where there could be danger and his only job is to die for the prince, if necessary. With a little magic and a lot of coincidence, they look alike. When not on duty, Kel poses as the prince's cousin. Kel discovers a new crime lord has sprung up in the capital city who has eyes on taking down the prince (who is basically a regent due to his father's mental health) and Kel makes some unlikely friends in trying to protect the prince. One such unlikely connection is Lin, the only female physician from the local Ashkar people. Ashkar people are pretty much analogous to Jewish people at certain times in history--restricted movement, specific clothing requirements, no inter-marriage--and are the only people in the world who can use magic. Lin wishes only to save her bff/surrogate sister Mariam from a chronic illness that's about to run its course. But when Lin discovers a magical object that may be the key to saving Mariam, the problem becomes how to make it work, and why it seems to work only when she's called to the palace for some emergency healing. 

The world was very well-built. I understood what was going on, even when only shown a portion of the world. The characters' desires were clear and their actions always made sense in serving those wants. I liked the clear analogy to Jewish populations in the past with the Ashkar people and the LGBT+ friendly world. This kept it from feeling like just another fantasy Europe. There was a lot of diversity in characters from other places and thoughtfully developed languages. 

Unfortunately, there was so much worldbuilding that I started skimming over country names and character names if I didn't think they'd be relevant. Some names were also frustratingly similar, like Falconet and Fausten. The set up of the book also took too long, though I suspect this is because this book is clearly book 1 in a series, so the set up needed to set up the whole series and not just a stand alone. Still, it took a while for things to get moving.

This book is for you if you like Cassandra Clare's characters and writing voice, if you want to read a book with fantasy-Jewish elements, and if you want to start a series with some serious worldbuilding. It's not for you if you want a book that can stand alone, if you need a fast pace from the start, or if you prefer low/urban/contemporary fantasy to high/epic/secondary-world fantasy. 


Have you read Sword Catcher? What did you think? Did you expect two characters to get together who haven't yet? (I did!) Let's discuss in the comments!