The Bookseller - Author Interviews - Cassandra Clare| 'I want the characters to drive the story not the magic'

I first became aware of Cassandra Clare's fantasy oeuvre 10 years ago after devouring Clockwork Angel, the first instalment in her YA Infernal Devices trilogy. She has since written six more series, five of which are set in her renowned Shadowhunter universe. I recall this when we talk over Zoom about her adult fantasy début, Sword Catcher, the culmination of seven years of thought. Clare, usually based in the US, is in rainy Somerset on holiday with family, friends and fellow writers when we speak.

Sword Catcher, a deliciously vivid homage to high fantasy, where machinations and political intrigue abound, feels like a nostalgic return to Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy with a distinctly modern edge. It is not only Clare's first adult book, but the first time she has constructed an entirely new world, and here the worldbuilding is intricate and utterly compelling. Clare leaves no stone unturned, raising from the pages the towering turrets, history and people of Castellane, a medieval-esque city of extreme hedonism and poverty.