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A review by nesscoffeee
Sword Catcher - Die Chroniken von Castellan by Cassandra Clare
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I loved this book for its dynamic character interactions - that is what has always drawn me to all the Cassandra Clare books. I occasionally admired the political intrique as well. But would I recommend it? No(t yet).
I read some reviews in advance, saying that Sword Catcher's world was loaded with delicious but complicated worldbuilding. So I meticulously started tracking everything.
Now to the grand reveal: Taking notes absolutely didn't pay off. You get lists of names with mostly no established meaning. If anything, I even lost track of the plot because of it. And I felt betrayed when the book would re-explain concepts. Sometimes even up to three times!
And still, despite all of this: I can only name 6 countries with certainty on the continent of Dannemore (but I have a list of 14 countries??? Which could also be city names. It wasn't explained.)
I needed that world map. Desperately. I scanned the www for it multiple times. Only found Castellan's map - which was cute - but irrelevant.
So, to summarize, knowing that this book is probably the beginning of an epic fantasy series: Sword Catcher was not superb at anything - neither character interactions, plot or worldbuilding- but it also wasn't bad at anything. It was just utterly, devastingly, average.
I hope reading this counts as the admission fee to be swept off my feet by the second book of the Sword Catcher series. I hope there will be a world map. I hope my time will be worth it.
I read some reviews in advance, saying that Sword Catcher's world was loaded with delicious but complicated worldbuilding. So I meticulously started tracking everything.
Now to the grand reveal: Taking notes absolutely didn't pay off. You get lists of names with mostly no established meaning. If anything, I even lost track of the plot because of it. And I felt betrayed when the book would re-explain concepts. Sometimes even up to three times!
And still, despite all of this: I can only name 6 countries with certainty on the continent of Dannemore (but I have a list of 14 countries??? Which could also be city names. It wasn't explained.)
I needed that world map. Desperately. I scanned the www for it multiple times. Only found Castellan's map - which was cute - but irrelevant.
So, to summarize, knowing that this book is probably the beginning of an epic fantasy series: Sword Catcher was not superb at anything - neither character interactions, plot or worldbuilding- but it also wasn't bad at anything. It was just utterly, devastingly, average.
I hope reading this counts as the admission fee to be swept off my feet by the second book of the Sword Catcher series. I hope there will be a world map. I hope my time will be worth it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder