Sword Catcher is a slower-paced, character-driven political fantasy that might not be for everyone but I really enjoyed it. I'm starting to think political fantasy is my type of fantasy.

The worldbuilding, in true CC fashion, was really well done and I felt like I understood everything without too much info-dumping.

I really enjoyed the perspective of both characters and the morally grey nature of their actions. I felt a bit conflicted about Conor as a character, but I think that's on purpose by the author and it was set up well for his character arc throughout the rest of the story. Some of the side characters could've been fleshed out a bit more, but I feel like this may come in future books.

This book is a lot of set up for the next books. I often like my books to feel a bit more self-contained as a story, but this didn't impact my experience too much as I was invested in the story and characters, and so the almost slice-of-life feel of the book worked for me. 

Maybe if I thought hard enough, this may sit around a 3.5 but I really enjoyed it and read it relatively quickly for me and fantasy so I'm putting it at a 4 star for enjoyment on my part.

I am really excited to read the second book in March because I'm still thinking about Lin and Kel hours after finishing this book!