Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

I picked up Sword Catcher hoping to be immersed in an intriguing fantasy world, but unfortunately it didn’t deliver for me on the fantasy, the characters, or (even knowing that this was likely just the first of a new series) a satisfying plot arc.

Instead of layering fantasy over the real world (as Clare has done in her young adult fiction), she sets the story in an entirely fictional world — but one that is a mish-mash of real-world people and places with just a thin veneer of fictional names: for example, a philosopher-king Markus Aurelian (Marcus Aurelius) who rules a city-state on the Gold (Silk) Road which has a population of Ashkars (Ashkenazis) confined to the Sault (Ghetto); the Ashkars have a history involving the Makabi (Maccabees) who used to be able to do magic but now can only do a limited form called gematry (gematria). I found myself distracted by those similarities and also overwhelmed by excessive detail (despite usually loving intricate fantasy worlds and magic systems), due to the world-building being presented in ways and at times that weren’t always relevant to the plot.

The plot and characters were also underwhelming as the book didn’t finish a complete story or character development arc, instead feeling like a giant “Part 1” for a longer story with the feel of New Adult rather than adult fiction. And while the world was full of detail, the characters and their actions felt half-finished; I struggled to believe some of their motivations and actions, and so much of the “web of corruption and intrigue” happened only in hints or off the page that by the time it all came to a head near the end I felt like I’d been reading a story about the wrong characters.