This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. It is now being hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. To participate, choose a random book from your GoodReads TBR and show it off. Which sounds easy enough until you have to decide how to choose that book! I think I will use a different way each week, like picking a color or number of pages. I will let you know each week how I chose the book and then something interesting about it, like how it ended up on the list or why I want to read it. Got it? Okay let’s get started.
I get a lot of emails/newsletters from publishers. Most I just skim to see if there is something there that interests me. The other day I received an email from Del Rey Books about a new book by Cassandra Clare. I almost didn’t open it as I thought is was going to be about her newest Shadowhunter book. But I decided to take a peek anyways and was amazed to find that this new book is not what I thought. Take a look!
Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare
Publication Date: October 10, 2023
Summary from GoodReads:
Two outcasts find themselves at the center of world-altering change in the start of a riveting epic fantasy series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Shadowhunter Chronicles.
In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, the richest of nobles and the most debauched of criminals have one thing in common: the constant search for wealth, power, and the next hedonistic thrill.
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword-Catcher—the body-double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are close as brothers, but Kel knows he has one destiny: to die for Conor. No other future is possible.
Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community who still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls in the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend Mariam without access to forbidden knowledge.
After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces. As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will Lin and Kel’s discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?
As much as I adore most of the Shadowhunter books, I have begun to find them a bit tedious and predictable. I have chosen not to read The Last Hours Trilogy for that reason. They were also getting a bit ridiculously long, in my opinion. But I will admit that her writing and her plots are worth the length sometimes. Even though this one is also coming in at almost 600 pages, I just might give it a shot. The summary makes it sound pretty good, so I just might give this one a chance.
I hope you are all having a lovely Monday, and are finding time to read!
Confessions of a Serial Reader 