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Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)

Cassandra Clare

Start date: November 1, 2023

Finish date: November 30, 2023

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Sep 26, 2023 Jenn rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2023, books-i-own, 3-star-reads, adult-fiction, arc, royalty

So I was super excited to get my hands on this book at Comic Con. It was one of my goals - and I did it! However, the excitement seems to end there. This book was kind of a mess. And verrryyyyyyy slow.

I've read Clare before. I know she has a tendency to explain things a little too much. Like, we don't need a full page on what a bed looks like. But mostly, it doesn't slow me down or hinder my reading. For some reason, it did here. This book felt like it took me forever to read. And honestly, not So I was super excited to get my hands on this book at Comic Con. It was one of my goals - and I did it! However, the excitement seems to end there. This book was kind of a mess. And verrryyyyyyy slow.

I've read Clare before. I know she has a tendency to explain things a little too much. Like, we don't need a full page on what a bed looks like. But mostly, it doesn't slow me down or hinder my reading. For some reason, it did here. This book felt like it took me forever to read. And honestly, nothing really happened for the first 250 pages or so. It was just info dump after info dump and so many names being thrown around. I mixed up so many people in the beginning that honestly, I still don't think I know who's who. I also read a lot of fantasy so I know that world building needs to happen. But so does plot and character growth. None of that was really found until almost halfway through the book, and even then, it was still weighed down by information.

This book was a combination of fantasy with political intrigue mixed with magic. It follows two main characters - Kel and Lin. One is a stand in of sorts for the crown prince and another is a female of an exiled race just trying to save her friend. When the two of them meet, they become entangled in each others worlds until both are left feeling like they have nothing to lose. But all of this happens in the end of the book.

I've honestly wondered if Clare could write anything outside of the Shadowhunter world. And it definitely seemed like she's trying to distance herself from that in anyway possible with this series. I hate that I liked where the end was going because it was such a struggle to get there. If the rest of the series reads like this, I don't think I can continue it. I'm hoping that with the second book we can just dive into the plot and forget all of this flowery nonsense that really added nothing to the story. It seems like Clare got lost in the multiple story threads she tried to weave and is now left figuring out how they all fit. Here's hoping the kinks work themselves out because this series has potential but is drowning in the facts. ...more

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Jul 21, 2024 Shruti morethanmylupus rated it did not like it

This is one of those books that left me asking, "Why didn't I DNF this?" by the time I got to the end. The story is largely superficial and I didn't find that I was invested in any of the characters. Most of the cultures are clearly taken from existing cultures in a barely veiled way - if the veil was nearly translucent. One main character, Lin, had a background that read strongly like the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Clare has said that she was raised Jewish, and as I was not, I can ...more

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