Plucked from an orphanage because of his resemblance to a prince, Kel gets trained as a decoy, impersonating Prince Conor in potentially dangerous situations. Meanwhile, Lin Caster, a member of a diaspora who are forced to live in a walled ghetto, insists on training as a physician despite a taboo on women in medicine, which brings her into Prince Conor’s orbit, too.
Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series, excels at writing ride-or-die friendships powered by unspoken truths. Kel and Lin are both idealists in a dirty world, which makes them easy to root for, and Lin’s relationship with her grandfather, another outsider with huge influence, evolves in a fascinating way. Alas, “Sword Catcher” meanders, full of repetitive scenes of political intrigue and vague warnings of doom, and it ends just as things finally reach a fever pitch. But you’ll still want to keep reading for the vivid characters and incandescent, conflicted relationships.
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