Merren: Isn’t this going a little too far?

Kel, poisoning himself: No, why would you think that?

You ever read a scene in a book and think, “Oh yes. I am SO going to come back and reread you SO MANY TIMES—“

Over analyzing the Sword Catcher official art because I can.

First up Kel. He has his sword catcher medallion on and his clothes look blue then green like he’s described wearing in the book because the Queen wanted him to wear her home country’s colours and it doesn’t look like what we see Conor wearing in his portrait so Kel might’ve picked this outfit himself. The coat also ruffed up’s little, one of the sleeves even has a tear in it, he doesn’t start getting into any serious fights in the book until he sides with the Ragpicker King, around the same time he starts finally exploring his own identity if only slightly so this’s probably around that time frame. He has the scar on his eyebrow that Conor is described as having which I can feel has some sort of importance to their characters. The background is some waves, clearly referencing his love of the ocean and sailing, along with swords indicating his sword catcher title. His foreground is one of the less interesting with just a pile coins for his wealth as the prince’s fake cousin, a pile of scroll for how much reading he does, and a pile of something back that I’m not quite sure what it is. It looks like it might be some black powder but he hasn’t done anything with black powder yet in the story. Maybe it’s a metaphor for life as he knows it getting blown up as the story goes along, who knows. It’s also worth noting that he doesn’t have any flowers in his portrait, this might be nothing but it’s almost like a theme with most of the other portraits so it’s worth noting.

More characters under the cut because this got long:

After that we have Conor. His clothes and jewelry aren’t anything to write home about, it looks properly royal with plenty of jewels showing of his wealth. Though I do take not that the eyebrow that has a scar though it is covered in his portrait. His background depicts the Castelane lion on top of the city state’s national colour of red obviously a nod to him being the prince of the City-State. The hour glasses seem to represent his limited time as pressure begins to build on him, and I’m not quite sure what the falling rings represent, maybe they’re supposed to be coins and represent something about his debt. Again the piles of money, books, and scrolls represents his wealth and being well read. We can see what one do the scrolls says but it’s not very clear and seem to be written in one of the world’s fictional languages, if anyone can translate it please send it to me but it might not be anything special. The banner/flag in the corner is certainly important but I can’t remember anywhere that it would belong to at the moment so again if you can think of anything that would be a huge help. It’s also once again worth noting he’s one of the few character to not have flowers in his portrait.

Lin’s is arguably the most obvious. She has her mystery-stone brooch, her ashkar ring, is wearing the ashkar’s mandatry colours of blue and grey, and her medical satchel. The background has a glyph behind her with runes in it since she’s trying to bring magic back, the golden whisps also look magical, and the herbs and plants are for healing. There are diagrams of human anatomy behind her and the flowers have vials of what I presume is medicine strewn in them. This is also the first showing of flowers in a characters portrait, I thought it was representing her medical herbs and flowers. In the flower bed you can also see a split open pomegranate which could symbolize her growing doesn’t into darkness and crime as she tries to find a cure to Mariam similar to Persephone and the underworld.

Antonetta’s is relatively simple. Her outfit is what her mom forces her to wear throughout most of the book and she’s wearing her heart locket. Her background is also pretty simple with no special patterns or symbols to speak of, just some lace patterning at the edge of the circle similar to her outfits. It’s really the foreground that interests me. The perfume bottle is slightly odd as we never get any focus on her using perfume or smelling nice, but it does fit the perfect noble woman image so it’s not out of place. The sword being mostly hidden except the hilt is a nod to the secret sword lessons she takes, which she’s hiding from nearly everyone. The rose is obvious symbolism for looking beautiful and pretty but having thorns if you try to grab it. Around this I started thinking that maybe the flowers represented characters who were trying to get more then their current position in life was giving them. The most confusing thing about her portrait though is the bloodied handkerchief and golden locket around it. Bloodied handkerchieves are pretty much solely used in fiction for someone with a deathly illness but as far as I know Antonetta isn’t sick in anyway and defiant not of the fatal kind. Maybe it’s a nod to her friendship with Mariam.

For The Ragpicker King I would like to bring your anterior to his right hand. As you can hopefully see it looks like some slights scars are peaking out from his sleeve. What does this mean? I don’t know. I have no memory of this being described in the book, and was just something interesting I noticed. In the background you can see something that almost looks like a jail cell, likely referring to him being a criminal. There are also many playing cards flying around behind him for some reason, I’m not really sure since it’s never made note of him being especially in to card games or to use card metaphors in his plans. The piles of envelopes are likely his letters to and from the King and the books represent him once again being well read and his enjoyment of research. The evolvement of flowers once again confuses me because from what we see he seems perfectly content in his current life. Maybe it’s about how he escaped a life he was unhappy in.

Ji-an doensy have much going on, neither do most of the characters moving forward. The most interesting thing I could find about her appearance is that she’s wearing makeup. She has the two black swans, which I’m pretty sure I’m not remembering the full importance of, from her line about the swan pulling her carriage. She has a variety of swords in the back ground, one of which is she is holding. This could both represent her status as a killer but also as sort of like ghosts of the family she killed. Her flowers continue to feed into my “escape from current life/escaped from past life” theory and there isn’t much else to say.

Merren has nothing super interesting about his appearance in this portrait. It suits his personality and that’s about all I could say. The background is an obvious nod to his poisoner status with the wisps of smoke(possibly from hot tea?) leading up to a skull. I’m not entirely sure what the quills are supposed to represent, maybe it’s supposed to be because he’s a student so quills are like pencils in their world. Mostly his foreground also just seems to be about him being smart if a little messy when it comes to parts of his life outside of poisons and antidotes. The most specific thing I can find is the spilt concoction which is likely poisons. Once again the flowers are confusing, I had a theory that the flowers represented someone studiously seeking out knowledge, except Ji-an and Antonetta don’t follow this pattern. Merren also doesn’t fit into the “run/ran away from a life they didn’t like” theory unless there’s a part of his backstory that we don’t know about that fits into it. If anything he was pushed out of a life he liked. The flowers aren’t a super big part of the portrait and more of just an accessory anyways so fine, maybe it’s not meant to connect to the other flower portraits.

Joss’s portrait has two elements worth taking note of. First, the abundance of arrows and bows. This is mostly likely a nod to indoor archery, but I do hope we get more archery in his character and fighting style down the line. Second, he has some flowers in the foreground. Which just adds to the confusion because, as far as we know, he’s pretty happy with his current life and he almost definitely hasn’t ran away from an old life.

And the flowers continue to be confusing. Vienne is special in the fact that the flowers are pretty much the only other element of her portrait outside of herself. They do kind of make it look like she’s buried in flowers, especially with her helmet resting on the bed, and does work with the fact that she died at the end since giving flowers is a common way to pay respects to the dead, at least in western culture. In my admittedly short research session, the flowers seem to be Marigolds. These flowers are commonly used in day of the dead and symbolized grief and mourning in the victorian era, continuing the idea that these flowers are being used to represent her death. In renaissance times(the time period Cassie says she took the most inspiration from for those world) Marigolds were gifted to woman that men wanted seduce. What this means for Vienne I have no idea but it felt worth mentioning.

Now at this point you might be thinking “Couldn’t the flowers not actually mean anything and instead it’s the lack of flowers that represents something?” And I was think that too until Jerrod and his lack of flowers came along! Why are the only characters without flowers Kel, Conor, and Jerrod?! In other news Jerrod has basically nothing to take note of. His fingers look much paler then the rest of his hand from the chalk and the daggers facing towards his head could either represent that he’s being threatened or that he’s threatening. That’s really it. The rope and keys seem to be vaguely related to being able to get into places, but at the current moment they don’t seem to really be that personally connected to him.

So over all I have three main questions after this:

What in the world do the presence or lack of presence of flowers mean?

Were the details that don’t make sense to us right now cut after the art was made or are they hinting at future developments?

Why didn’t Mariam get a portrait?

GUYSSSSSS

Antonetta and Kel by Sasha Lee Coleman (sashac_art)

I can almost hear Kel's disbelief on this line.

So I Finally Read Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

There will be some level of spoilers so do be aware all who enter here.

I was apprehensive at first when i heard Cassie was writing a book in an entirely new setting, a new adult book no less, after writing YA for as long as I can remember. I've seen authors attempt to pivot to a different age bracket before and it is a challenge if you're not fully prepared for it.

Sword Catcher is entering the space where Game of Thrones and Gentleman Bastards have long ago carved out their right to be there and became titans of their own. It was surprising then to see both authors of the above had read Sword Catcher and had given a review for the back of the book - George R.R. Martin's quote and name was displayed proudly on the front of my edition for added flair.

It was a bold statement of intent, to sit among giants and share the space meant Cassie was putting her best foot forward. I don't want to suggest Lynch or Martin 'allowed' or 'gave permission' for Cassie to be in this space but they did vouch for her, showing a creative respect which carries weight and expectation.

I'm so happy to say Cassie pulled it off.

I'll admit I was cautiously optimistic about Sword Catcher, about Kel and Connor and Lin, a slightly worry that perhaps Cassie's years as a YA author could hold back the potential of this new work. If in being really honest, Shadowhunters is very important to me and I think part of me was unsure about leaving it behind.

Cassie's ability to build a world here is striking in it's ability to never overwhelm the reader with context and exposition without losing any of the depth and complexity you'd expect from a novel concerning kings and kingdoms. You come to learn of Castellane's long and muddled history over time, never giving away more than is needed to make the world feel complete but without throwing nonsense terms around which would simply not be remembered.

The class divides that permeate the work, held up by proto-capitalist greed and the politics of nations happening atop a towering hillside is fed in lockstep with the rest of the plot, holding enough information in front of the reader without giving the whole mystery away. Woven throughout is the Ashkari people, very clearly a Jewish analogue, a nation with no homeland other than the one their communities reside in. Locked inside the Sault after nightfall and looked upon with distrust, othered because of their ability to use even limited magic. I'm certainly not selling the tact and nuance Cassie brings to the world and the people who live in it but it's beautifully presented and should be applauded.

I don't have much to say about the characters, mostly because I can see their journey has just begun and I'm excited to see them all grow and change as the narrative unfolds. What I will say is Lin can do no wrong, Kel is just a fella, and Connor is one of the best written protagonists for how deeply flawed and naive he is and yet I simply cannot wish him ill.

I summary, Sword Catcher is an almost flawless first entry into a series I could see becoming a favourite of mine and I cannot see where it goes next. What a dazzling and captivating read.

My amazing March, 2024 book haul! 💕

started reading sword catcher last night and paused halfway, no spoilers but really enjoying it! I’m loving all the political aspects and the lore a lot

Cassandra Clare is a sucker for the word chronicles and honestly I can't blame her

Kel, looking at Ji-an, Merren, and Andreyen: You three are the bermuda triangle of morals.

But seriously though, all in all, I think that Sword Catcher was phenomenal. It’s easy to see why CC took her time with this project, because there’s been time and effort and, I imagine, countless amounts of research put into each and every aspect of the story: the setting, the characters, the plot, the magic. The lore and religion. The history. The intricate social web of Castellane and its surrounding neighbours: Marakand, Malgasi, and especially Sarthe (as we see in the closing end of the story.) It’s a far cry from the modern angst of the Shadowhunters world (which I do so love) but it’s so refreshing to read up on an epic fantasy world with such a familiar writing style behind it. If you haven’t already guessed from my spam, Conor takes the cake for my favourite character, and reading all the fandom analyses of his personality and the consequences of his upbringing only drives home why I love him so much (also because his character design is stunning. I’m in love! What can I say?.) But I also adore each character in our lineup, if I’m being honest. CC has taken the time to develop and give each and every character — From Kel and Lin, to the Ragpicker King’s ragtag team, to even the one-hit-wonder characters of the Malgasi procession — their own flair, their own depth. Because each character is so well loved and thought out, their dynamics and interactions feel authentic and humane. Sword Catcher took me for the ride of my life and is easily one of my favourite reads of 2023. For the plot, the world, the character dynamics and the very discreet, underlying promise of romances to come in the future books.

My list of predictions/theories for future sword catcher books:

Vienne is alive, or will at least come back in some way.

By the end of the series the monarchy, or at least house Aurelian, will be overthrown in a revolution.

More unlikely but Merren realizes and informs Lin that Mariam’s sickness is due to her being poisoned.

Joss and Silla become pretty important.

Both Connor & Kel, and Mariam & Lin will have a big fight over all the secrets they’ve been keeping, and kind of illegal stuff they’re doing.

Cas(Kel’s friend from the orphanage) comes back in some way

Review: Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

I’ll admit I was curious of what Cassandra Clare could do outside her Shadowhunter series. Sword Catcher is a good book. It actually is better than her last couple of Shadowhunter books. I think it was good for her to explore a different kind of world. This is a high fantasy that is set in the kingdom of Castellane and is narrated by Kel, the Sword Catcher or the body to the Prince and Lin, a…

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Camp half blood Winter solstice field trip

So in the books it’s mentioned that the year round campers give presentations to the gods on their annual field trip to Olympus.

What exactly does it mean by presentations? Displays of skill? Talent show? Telling the gods what they did to earn glory that year? Show and tell?

My first thought was basically family power point night.

I can imagine that some of the older campers, especially older unclaimed ones, who are just kind of tired of the whole thing giving slightly silly but still respectful power points on various mythical places and monsters.

Some probably do their best to get their godly parents attention. Annabeth probably works all year on her presentation on ancient architecture being used in the modern day. Clarisse probably gives a detailed presentation about some obscure war or battle that was important to history and what mistakes were made.

Luke probably used his presentations as passive aggressive pitches to get the gods/Chiron to make his job easier.

“Why there should be a separate cabin for unclaimed kids and children of minor gods” by Luke Castellan. It’s various examples of Luke and the Hermes cabin itself being unequipped to handle the various powers of children of minor gods. One slide is a 20 minute long video of Hecate kids being reckless with their magic and Hypnos kids falling asleep while standing and falling face first on the floor.

“Why there should be two head counselors for the Hermes cabin” by Luke Castellan. Every other slide is is just Luke’s shitty sleep schedule.

“Why the Hermes cabin should be expanded to have multiple rooms so everyone isn’t sleeping in one big room” by Luke Castellan. Half the slides are pictures of various demigods sleeping on the floor and the other half are videos of the campers waking each other up or playing pranks on sleeping campers. One slide is a video of two demigods of minor gods making out on a bunk in the middle of the night.

“Why camp half blood should get a therapist and/or any medical professional that isn’t just one of the Apollo or Asclepius kids” by Luke Castellan. It’s mainly pictures of exhausted Apollo/Asclepius kids in the infirmary and various reasons Luke has been woken up by kids in the middle of the night. Including but not limited to; homesickness, suicidal thoughts, anxiety attacks, night terrors, straight up screaming in their sleep, prophetic dreams of other kids dying and so so much more.

True...

Honestly, though, Conor is a simp for Lin. I have a feeling that he'd deliberately get himself injured so he can call for Lin to heal him because "she's the only trustworthy healer". Kel in turn will probably be pissed off at Conor's antics.