Phenomenal story, just the beginning.

Great imagination creating characters you come to care about (& dislike). A kingdom of many cultures. Great depth to the story and I suspect, just the beginning of a great saga. I loved the Shadow Hunter books, but this is written to a whole other level. A really good and engaging listen.

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Good world building, not enough reveals

The two performers need to coordinate better, characters had different accents depending on who was speaking. Enjoyed it overall, interesting story and characters but there were not enough reveals at the end of this book to make me excited for the next - I’m basically just completely in the dark about 8 things and feel they could’ve clued us in about something.

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a must have

i never knew how much i needed this book in my life. excellent workd building in just one book the cultrures and mentalities of so many characters with such depth.
even to go as far as differnt languages, customs and traditions. so fascinating a new but a well travelled journey into this new world cassandra claire created ive got 6hr left on the book and i dont want it to end 😢
wondedful work hope there is book 2 the options are endless

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Re - review

I apologize to Cassandra Clare for my previous review. There is a second book. It does not appear on the title details page unless you click on the one book appearing under included in the series. It is not yet available on Audible, perhaps soon 🙏

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Well-imagined, immersive and intricate storytelling

Having loved The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series as a teen, I was tentative (albeit excited) to see how Clare's YA romance writing would transition into an adult politic fantasy. I was very pleasantly surprised.

Compared to most fantasies, Sword Catcher is slow to get going and can be 'exposition-dumpy' at times, though the world-building is truly great. Kel and Lin are shrewd, intriguing narrators who occupy liminal spaces in their respective spheres. Kel straddles his insider-outsider position in court life; Lin balances her role as an ostracised female physician in Ashkari society.

Fans of Cassandra Clare will find much to love, though may be disappointed by the lack of romance which is hinted towards but rarely acted on. There's glimpses of Will Herondale in the witty but tortured prince Connor; shades of Clary and Tessa in the flame-haired sorceress Lin; and a hint of Isabella in Antonetta's subversive female charms. Parabatai runs strong in Kel and Connor's brotherhood - a recurring theme in Clare's novels.

But there is newness too. Clare tackles the seedy underworld of Castellane with two intriguing criminal masterminds. I enjoyed this aspect and the characters interactions with such figures, but was left feeling more could have been done with it - more mystery and breadcrumbs.

All in all, this is a strong start to the series. It's definitely more of a slow burn set up. Readers won't get answers to any questions until at least the next book. I hope the romances introduced in the last 200 pages will become more central in the next books; they were an exciting, well-written and developed aspect of the novel. The narration was excellent too. Excited for the future of this series!

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so so good

loved every second of it but I knew I would. the narrators do a great job as well. I'm so happy the narrators are British too, really grates on me when American narrators are used in a setting that is not appropriate.

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2 people found this helpful

Excellent read

Brilliant story, engaging characters, interesting world. Looking forward to the next installment to see where it goes next!

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A good listen

I enjoyed the story: the setting, the complex mix of politics, people, romance and the mystery. Narrators were good, and brought the people and their often annoying personalities to life. However, why are so many fantasy heroes arrogant, defensive, and frankly annoyingly immature? Perhaps it is to build romantic tension, or to move the plot into moments of high tension, but starts to feel artificial when at no point in the story does either the hero or heroine think that they might have acted differently or said the wrong thing. But if you do not mind this plot artifice, it is an intriguing story.

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Another good read from Cassandra

Once again Cassandra draws you in, I was a bit dubious about a whole new world away from the shadow hunters but she hasn’t disappointed!

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Mistborn vibes

It was ok, I'll probably continue with the series but I'm not excited about the next one

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