My letter “S” pick for the A To Z Challenge was SWORD CATCHER by Cassandra Clare, one of my all-time favorite authors. I have not only enjoyed but downright loved every single book in her Shadowhunters world, and there are a lot of them, so when she decided to step out of that world and create a new one, I was more than happy to take that trip with her.

While she did indeed create a magnificent world in the city state of Castellane, I found it to be a bit too long-windedly magnificent. I am blown away how this woman creates such rich and detailed worlds, cultures, and customs – the fact that she’s done it twice is worth applauding, but she overdid it on this one. The book was an extremely slow read for at least the first half due to pages upon pages of excessive descriptions of castles, hovels, clothing, ceremonial banners, dinners, etc. It was like reading George R.R. Martin on amphetamines. I love me some good world building but when it slows your plot to a crawl and doesn’t let your main characters get to what needs to happen at a good pace, a red pen should be used, and frequently, by an editor.

Still, Kel, our orphan-turned-decoy-for-the-prince, and Conor, the prince who must be protected form a heartwarming and intriguing friendship despite the fact that one will spend and end his life dying for the other. Lin, our female main character, wants to be a doctor despite it being unheard of for someone like her, which of course, means she’s going to find a way to do it anyway. When a failed assassination attempt throws her together with Conor and Kel, the plot finally begins rolling slowly forward, and gains just enough momentum to keep you interested before it ends and you have to wait for book two. I can’t really get into too much more without spoilers, but the characters, as always with Cassandra Clare, are beautifully fleshed out and flawed and the interactions between them are often captivating and intense.

It’s a good book, but a long one when it didn’t need to be and would have been better in a more compact version. Three and a half stars on this one.