Welcome to Litsy!

Kel, an orphan, is given the opportunity to pose as the Prince of Castellane‘s Sword Catcher, the secret protector of Prince Conor. There‘s also the POV of Lin, an Ashkari girl not accepted in the societal ranks of Castellane. She becomes a female doctor, and her story becomes tied up with Kel and Conor as well as the local criminal, the Ragpicker King. Slow going at first, but a fun story overall. Looking forward to continuing the series.

5⭐️ The world building is amazing. Two separate but equally enjoyable points of view. It ends in such a way that you can‘t help but want more; you start analyzing and theorizing different conspiracies. Cannot wait for book 2!

edited to add: ragpicker king comes out in 2025!? ffff.

“All that is good comes from the gods. All that is evil comes from men.”

Roughly 1/3 of the way through- the world building is amazing and each chapter is thick… 7 chapters = pg 170… thank gawd there‘s no one waiting on me to finish this book, I might have to renew it again if I‘m not finished by the end of the month 😅

Characters were likable but romantic subplots felt like reading YA instead of a book aimed for adults. I liked characters but they are easy to forget. I didn't feel characters' emotions.

I liked the setting but writing was way too detailed for my taste.

Plot felt really slow and dragged. The ending was disappointing too: none of the questions got answered.

#SeriesLove2024

Happy New Year, everyone...

My 2nd book for 2024. (The first one was boring)
Love the storyline of this one...But, hate the whining of Kel (I am loyal to Connor) and Lin (I am doing this for Mariam). Like we know you are doing this for them. Stop repeating the same time over and over like a broken cd.

Starting this bad boy today. I haven‘t read any previous Clare books but I keep seeing it mentioned on booktok and bookstagram with some of my favorites so here we are!

Bit disappointed in the execution of a high fantasy. The writing felt middle grade but this is definitely for adults (there is spice). The world building could have been more detailed. The characters that are good were done dirty and it was dark. And there was a very open ending since this is book one in a new series. Could have been better and almost dnf‘d it several times. And it was too long and repetitive in some places.

This is my 2023 reading wrap up. I decided not to participate in any reading challenges this year other than Goodreads. I‘ll still have my monthly book club reads as well as the senior center book club reads that I plan to continue hosting each quarter for work. I‘m looking forward to 2024! The tagged book is one I‘m partway through starting the new year.

Unfortunately, high expectations for this resulted in being quite disappointed. I realized 3/4 in it was not a standalone, which explains why almost nothing happens plot-wise until the 2nd half. Way too long and too many characters for how little happens. Good world building, but mainly prologue. The blurb promises “forbidden love,” and if CC does anything well in her writing it is definitely yearning romance, which is basically non-existent.

#MonthInBooks

Not bad for setting up house, getting ready to entertain, and hosting Thanksgiving.

Lots of Readalongs:
#NorthangerinNovember #Pemberlittens #HashtagBrigade #JaneAdjacant and the #Chunkster the was Sword Catcher.

I get that it's the first book, so there's a lot of world building. It took about 180 pages for something to finally happen. But then I really like it. So I'm giving a Pick rather than So-So.

Ok so questions go unanswered and I‘m left with when will the next book be out because I need those answers now great read with great storytelling perfect 📖

Starting this 📖

November's FairyLoot is here. It's the new Cassandra Clare. I think I like it without the cover more. The sprayed edges are gorgeous. It's hard to tell but when the book is lying flat on its front cover the sprayed edge is a beautiful cityscape.

I very much love a Cassandra Clare series starter in all its over stuffed, under plotted, world building glory. No notes.

First sugar plum danish of the season! ❤️💚❤️💚 Lots of reading and a delicious pastry = a perfect Sunday morning!

#readingbracket2023 #2023readingbracket I had no 5 star reads this month but my favorite was Sword Catcher. It makes it through to the next round for now but you know what‘s being released in Nov….Iron Flame - which I hope will live up to its expectations! We‘ll see!

My feelings are so mixed right now. I spent a good chunk of the book not liking the characters, but the second half got better. There was a lot of unnecessary description, especially since not much was happening throughout the book. I know this book is meant to set up the next book, but I would have liked a bit more storyline in this one, or it being half the size it was. I didn't completely hate it, I just didn't really like it.

#serieslove2023 New series from Cassandra Clare and her first “adult” novel! I always love her world building and this world of Castellane was fantastic. We have orphans, magic, kings, criminal empires, princes and assassins. Great main characters and a cliffhanger ending! You can tell there will be many books in the series! I‘m rooting for ya Kel! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a killer adult debut for Cassie!! Great worldbuilding, fantastic characters, and an ending that has me hooked and screaming. Love how you can tell it's Cassie's writing, but the story isn't Shadowhunters-lite. #fantasy

Friday book mail! 🥳📚

Look what arrived today! I'm so so excited! It's Cassandra Clare's first non-Shadowhunters book! 😍💕📚