Sword Catcher

Discover the instant Sunday Times bestseller from the author of the Shadowhunter Chronicles!

*This edition includes an exclusive extract of The Ragpicker King, the spellbinding sequel to Sword Catcher*

Two outcasts find themselves at the centre of world-altering change in Sword Catcher, the start of a riveting epic fantasy series by Cassandra Clare.

‘Everything I look for in fantasy’ – George R. R. Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Game of Thrones

One was raised to rule. One was trained to die . . .

In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, Kel is an orphan, stolen from his old impoverished life to become Prince Conor Aurelian’s body-double. As his ‘Sword Catcher’, he and Conor will become as close as brothers. Yet Kel lives for one purpose: to die for Conor.

Lin Caster is an Ashkar physician, part of a community ostracized for its rare magical abilities. After a failed assassination attempt pulls her and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, who rules Castellane’s criminal underworld. But as long-kept secrets are uncovered and forbidden attractions blossom, will their discoveries plunge their land into war – and nations into chaos?

‘Spellbinding’ – Leigh Bardugo, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ninth House

‘A triumph of a book’– Holly Black, No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Book of Night

‘Vivid and clever’ – Scott Lynch, bestselling author of the Gentleman Bastard sequence

^{Sword Catcher was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller w/c 5th October 2024.}


Genre: Fantasy

"Clare plunges us into a thrilling world built with precision and brimming with enchantment. Her spellbinding cast of outlaws, healers, royals, and rogues will have you questioning your allegiances with every delicious turn of the plot. This is fantasy at its finest." - Leigh Bardugo

"A gorgeously built world of decadence, betrayal, and grand adventure. From the decadent and drunken parties of the nobles, to the dens of crime lords in the Warren and Maze, to the Sault, where the devotees of a lost goddess are penned, the city of Castellane makes the perfect backdrop for a delightful cast of characters to befriend, betray, and romance one another. This is Cassandra Clare at her cleverest, twistiest and most heart-stopping-a triumph of a book." - Holly Black

"A sumptuous feast of a book, vivid and delicious and heady. Cassandra Clare's trademark skills are on full display here: epic worlds, wrenching romances, heart-slamming plot twists, Dickensian characters. I can't wait to visit Castellane again." - Kelly Link

"A charming return to the big fat fantasy novels of happy memory, with a modern character-driven narrative. Vivid and clever." - Scott Lynch

"Sword Catcher gave me everything I look for in medieval fantasy: mystery and magic (not too much, not too little), expert worldbuilding, swordplay and politics, a colorful cast of interesting characters, and a story that kept me reading from the first page to the last, with enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages. It's a big thick book, but it left me wanting more. When's the next one coming out?" - George R R Martin

"Sweeping yet intimate, rich with romance and intrigue, Sword Catcher is Cassandra Clare at her magical best. In pages packed with sumptuous descriptions, Clare gives us a kingdom's worth of characters-including Kel the 'sword catcher,' trained to protect his prince at all costs, and Lin, a young physician of an outcast people-forced to navigate a web of tangled loyalties between the loved ones they cherish and the powers they serve. This book will break your heart and leave you wanting more!" - Helene Wecker