Cassandra Clare might very well be one of the most influential authors of my youth. I fell in love with her The Mortal Instruments series when I was a teenager, and my partner and I watched the film City of Bones during one of our first dates. Safe to say I was excited to hear she was starting a new series, The Chronicles of Castellane, although I was hesitant when I heard it would be an adult series (seeing that I prefer Young Adult and New Adult).

Attention:  I will be reviewing all books of the series in this post (gradually), but everything apart from the first book will be hidden so that you will not see any spoilers for the rest of the series (unless you want to, of course).

Book 1: Sword Catcher

Sword Catcher introduces us to Kel, a young orphan who is chosen to join the court of Castellane as the body-double of the crown prince. His mission becomes to be Prince Conor’s body guard and to die in his place if required. They soon become close friends though, and Kel finds himself willing to do about anything to keep Conor safe.

The second main character is Lin, a healer who possesses limited magical abilities and who is desperately looking for a cure to safe her best friend. When she is called to the palace to heal Kel after he’s been attacked, she becomes forced to mingle with the nobility, whom she has despised all her life.

And then there’s the mysterious yet charismatic Ragpicker King, the leader of a criminal network, who draws both Lin and Kel into his dark world.

An unexpected breath of fresh air

As I mentioned, I was rather hesitant to start this book, as it is marketed as Adult Fantasy and looks quite daunting with its 600+ pages. However, as from the prologue, I felt myself drawn into the world of Castellane and I was more than a bit reluctant to leave when I reached the end. While the worldbuilding took some time to get used to and the chapters were fairly long, I fell in love with so many of these characters that I cannot wait to return to them in book two.

The writing style is similar to the style of The Mortal Instruments, although the characters are clearly more grown-up and the world is more elaborately carved. Personally, I would classify this book as New Adult rather than Adult, given the age of the main characters and the still easy-to-read and fast-paced style. I also adore the ease with which Clare creates worlds in which sexual orientation is not a basis for discrimination. She can be considered a pioneer for LGBTQ+ representation thanks to her earlier YA series, and I was so glad to see she continued writing diverse stories in her newest books.

Sword Catcher is a book filled with court politics (LOVE it), friendship, and blossoming love. One of the aspects that stood out the most for me, however, was the fact that Clare manages to avoid the typical “misunderstanding” and “mistrust” tropes artfully. The characters tend to be surprisingly open towards each other with information they learn, thanks to which they frequently avoid being drawn into typical miscommunication plots. This was such a delightful breath of fresh air!

I would have loved a better map of the world, though, as it was sometimes a bit confusing to keep the different countries straight in my head. My edition includes a map of the city-state of Castellane (a quite confusing map), but it didn’t show any of the neighbouring countries. Furthermore, a diagram to refresh your memory on the nobles and their charters would also have been useful, as I was frequently confused.

Last but not least, my linguist heart was delighted to learn that two of the languages used in the book were in fact real languages of long-ago, namely Occitan and Venetian. How cool is that!

Without a doubt: five out of five gemstones!

Recap book 1

In the following section, you’ll find a recap that you can use to prepare for the next book. Of course, this is by definition full of spoilers, so it is hidden behind a spoiler tag. Enter at your own risk!

Want a recap before starting the next part? (click here, contains spoilers)

World: The world is called Dannemore, and the main story is set in the City-state of Castellane. Castellane’s nobility lives on the Hill and the royals in the palace of Marivent. Criminals are locked away in the Trick. A long time ago, magic was banished from the world. The only ones who still have a minor amount of healing magic left are the Ashkar. The Ashkar community are wiped out in many places, and within Castellane they are only allowed to live within the walls of the Sault. In the city, there are different places like the Maze (where the criminals gather). The Ragpicker King lives in the Black Mansion.

Next to Castellane, there are quite some other countries that are mentioned. Most importantly, there’s Sarthe, a nation with whom the diplomatic relationships are tense, Malgasi, Valderan, and Marakant. 

Main characters:

Kellian Saren is an orphan who is hired by the royals to become the body-double of the crown prince (he achieves this by wearing a Ashkar talisman that makes him look like Conor to anyone who doesn’t know that he isn’t Conor). He has grown up with the prince as his “cousin from Marakant”, Kel Anjuman. He is trained by Jolivet, the captain of the Arrow Squadron that protects the king, and Bensimon Mayesh, the Ashkari counselor. He has a soft spot for Silla, a courtesan of the Caravel, a brothel run by Alys Asper.

Conor Aurelian is the crown prince of Castellane. He has a tense relationship with his mother, Queen Lilibet, and his father, King Markus, due to their high expectations, but certainly due to the fact that his father has almost completely withdrawn from public life as he became increasingly obsessed with the stars (his only companion being his advisor Fausten). Conor dreams of travelling the world and has no desire to marry for politics, however, his debts cause him to promise to marry the princess of Sarthe. He is tricked, however, into accepting the hand of the younger sister of the crown princess, Princess Luisa, who is still a child and who joins the court together with her bodyguard, Vienne.

Lin Caster is a young Ashkari healer who is desperately looking for a cure to save her friend, Mariam. As she is a woman, however, she’s faced with a lot of discrimination within her community, limiting her access to medical textbooks. She has refused Oren’s hand in marriage, leaving him increasingly bitter towards her. The Maharam, the leader of the Ashkar within the Sault (called Davit Benezar), does not agree with Lin’s profession, nor with her quest to learn more magic (which is highly forbidden). Lin is the granddaughter of Mayesh, who is considering her as his successor. Her younger brother is called Josit. As he’s a trader, he’s away the entire first book.

The King of Castellane has always had a (secret) agreement with the Ragpicker King in order to ensure that “the wrong kind of crime” is eliminated in the city, while the “good kind” can thrive. The current Ragpicker King is Andreyen Morettus. He offers Kel a job to spy for him, but Kel refuses. He offers Lin the use of his laboratory in exchange for any information she finds out about magic, which she accepts. Andreyen has multiple people in his gang, among which Merren Asper (a poisoner who wants revenge on the man who caused his father’s suicide) and Ji-An Kang (an assassin with a dark past). Their main adversary at the start of the book is Prosper Beck, the leader of the “wrong kind of criminals” who has taken over the Maze. Jerrod Belmerci, head of the Crawlers, is a thief working for Beck. 

Nobility: The Council of 12 consists of various noble families that each represent a trade charter.

• Alleyne – SILK: Antonetta is the daughter of Lady Alleyne and a childhood friend of Kel and Conor. She’s looking for a way to become the successor of the silk charter (as this would normally pass to her husband if she marries). Kel has always been in love with her, and maybe she has been as well (as she kept the grass ring he gave her as a child in her necklace).
• CABROL – DYE (new)
• CAZALET – BANKING
• FALCONET – SPICE: Joss, a friend of Conor, is the youngest of the charter holders.
• GASQUET – OIL & PERFUME
• GREMONT – TEA & COFFEE: Lord Gremont is an old man, his heir Artal has been banished after raping Merren’s sister Alys, but is now coming back and he is engaged to marry Antonetta.
• MONTFAUCON – TEXTILE
• RASPAIL – TIMBER
• ROVERGE – DYE (old)
• SARDOU – GLASS

Plot: Kel is a ten-year-old orphan who is taken to the palace to become the body-double of the heir to the throne, Prince Conor. They grow up together, and the main story starts when both men are 23. Due to his close relationship with the royals, Kel is approached by the Ragpicker King with a proposition to spy on the nobles. Although Kel refuses, he starts to be involved with the Ragpicker King and his band of criminals on occasion.

One day, Kel is mistaken for Conor in the streets, and he’s attacked by criminals working for Prosper Beck. He is saved by Ji-An and left on the stairs of the palace. As the royals cannot risk the questions that would arise if they would call the court physician, Lin is summoned from the Sault to heal him. Lin, who recently acquired a special stone, is able to heal him rather quickly, after which Kel and Lin continue their acquaintanceship. Kel finds out that he was attacked because Conor owns a large sum of money to Prosper Beck (who has bought all his debts all over the city). In order to clear his debt, Conor secretly agrees to marry the princess of Sarthe in exchange for a dowry. When this is revealed to the court, the king decides to have his son flogged as a punishment. Once again, Lin is called to the palace and this time, the healing is way too fast and too extensive to be considered normal. Because of this, Lin realises the stone has magical properties.

Lin is approached by the Ragpicker King, who is interested in her pursuit of magic. Without realising, Lin reveals to prince Conor (with whom she has a difficult relationship ever since meeting him) that she is looking for a magic book in order to find a cure to save her best friend, Mariam.

In parallel, her grandfather invites her to a party on the Hill to celebrate the arrival of the princess of Sarthe (who turns out to be the younger sister of the crown princess, as Sarthe is offended when they learn that prince Conor had engaged himself without the approval of the royal family and hope that the princess swap would result in war between the two countries). At the party, Conor does not intervene when one of his friends treats his new fiancée cruelly. Lin, however, does intervene, which further increases the tension between her and Conor. Tension, which soon is revealed to be quite sexual as well. Not wanting to be in her debt, and regretting kissing her without permission, Conor decides to buy her the magic book she is looking for and deliver it to her himself. This leads to an investigation by the leadership of the Sault, and Lin loses all her medical books, including the magic one she has already started to use to heal her friend, leading to further tension between her and the prince.

The next day, the most important religious festival of the Ashkar coincides with another party in honour of the engagement. Lin, aware that there will be a giant explosion at midnight as part of a revenge plot, decides to pretend to be the Goddess incarnate who lights up the sky, so that she might get a chance to get her books back and heal Mariam. In parallel, the court is attacked, resulting in the death of several nobles and the young princess Luisa. As the royal family is brought to a safe location, Kel decides to go to the Ragpicker King to offer to work with him instead of for him, in order to do whatever he can to protect Conor in future.

Book 2: The Ragpicker King

Summary & Evaluation Attention: Spoilers! (click here)

Age Category: New Adult (although also suitable for teenagers)

Representation: Non-discriminatory world regarding sexual orientation

Trigger Warnings (click here, may contain spoilers)

Very mild. Warnings for torture, misogyny, and mention of rape.

Do you want to discover more?

If my review inspired you to pick up the first book, don’t hesitate to check it out at Goodreads or at the below online stores:

Amazon.nl: Hardcover Edition

Special editions

Both Fairyloot and Illumicrate have created special editions of the first two books in the series. Fairyloot chose Sword Catcher as their Adult Fantasy pick of November 2023. Their edition features an exclusive cover, a ribbon bookmark, character art on the endpapers, foiling on the hard cover, digitally sprayed edges, and a digital signature. Most importantly, however, this edition also comes with a bonus scene from the point-of-view of Merren.

Fairyloot has also announced a special edition of The Ragpicker King for 2025. This edition will have the same customisations as the first book, with additional head and tail bands. Their will be no bonus content, however. Instead, it will feature an in-bound author letter.

Illumicrate, on the other hand, has chosen not to include the books in their subscription boxes, but rather to feature both as separate special editions. Their edition of the first book also features an exclusive cover, a ribbon bookmark, character art on the endpapers, foiling on the hard cover, digitally sprayed edges, and a digital signature. Most importantly, however, this edition also comes with a bonus chapter, this time from the point-of-view of Lin.

Like Fairyloot, Illumicrate has announced a special edition of the second book for 2025 as well. The customisations will match those of the first book, but instead of a bonus chapter, this book will also feature an inbound author letter.

Personally, I prefer the sprayed edges and the endpaper art of the Fairyloot editions, although the bonus scene in the Illumicrate edition is more interesting, as it is a wholly new scene that takes place after Lin’s deception, rather than an existing scene retold from another viewpoint.

Similar to this

If you are just as much in love with Clare’s writing style as I am, you should definitely read (or reread!) The Mortal Instruments. This is a YA fantasy series consisting of six novels, and tells the story of Clary, who gets intertwined with Shadowhunters, a group of superhuman beings that protect the world from dark forces.

The worldbuilding of Sword Catcher, as well as the interesting bunch of criminals, frequently reminded me of one of my all-time favourite series: the Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo. If you are into heists, morally-grey criminal characters, and diverse worldbuilding, definitely check this one out. It’s the story of six criminals who work together to pull off some amazing adventures. My spoiler-free series review can be found here.

Kel also made me think about The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb quite a bit, although I loved Kel and I’m typically only frustrated by Fitz. If you are looking for superb fantasy worlds and magic systems, masterful storytelling, court politics, and interesting characters (I am SO not talking about you Fitz, I’m talking about your buddy the Fool), this is without a doubt the series for you. Moreover, this series is a part of interconnected series, set in the same world, so if you love them as much as I did, you’ll be busy exploring for quite a while!

The body-double aspect of the story also reminded me of Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber, although that’s about the end of the similarities. Twin Crowns is the start of a trilogy in which princess Rose and enchantress Wren find out that they are twin sisters, separated at birth. Wren, however, is raised to switch places with Rose, while Rose is completely unaware that she has a sister. This series is a romantic-comedy/fantasy cross-over that is definitely worth the hype. Check out my review of book one here.

Last but not least, one particular detail in Sword Catcher kept drawing my attention. In the ocean, there are lots of dangerous…crocodiles. Not sharks, as you would expect, but crocodiles. This always made me think of Peter Pan, and more specifically, of Captain Hook. The following book has absolutely no similarities with Sword Catcher, but if you are ever looking for a dark romance retelling of the story of Hook, do check out Hooked by Emily McIntire. It’s so worth it!