Fiction Reviews
The Ragpicker King
(2025) Cassandra Clare, Tor, £22, hrdbk, 565pp, ISBN 978-1-529-00143-3
With The Ragpicker King we return for a second time with Cassandra Clare to the troubled city-state of Castellane, where things have gone from bad to worse since the previous volume, Sword Catcher.
Up at the Palace, the royal family are still reeling from the murder of Princess Luisa, the betrothed of Prince Conor, which understandably caused a major diplomatic incident with her home kingdom of Sarthe. King Markus has retreated entirely from matters of state (and indeed reality) leaving his son and heir Conor to grow up fast.
Another bride is on her way – this time from the city’s trading partners in Kutani – but does Princess Angelica also have an agenda or her own?
Meanwhile, Conor’s childhood friend and magical body double Kel leads a clandestine investigation into the Princess’s murder, with the help of a rogues’ gallery affiliated to The Ragpicker King, lord of Castellane’s criminal underworld but loyal to the throne. These enquiries begin to unearth a conspiracy implicating members of the chartered nobility…
Our other main point-of-view character alongside Kel remains Lin Caster, doctor and member of the Ashkar community (effectively this secondary world’s equivalent of the Jewish diaspora). She has proclaimed herself the reincarnation of her people’s goddess in order to study long forgotten magics. At the time, towards the end of Sword Catcher, this seemed like a good idea, but with the Ashkar’s spiritual leader the Exilarch due to pay her a visit to test her divine status, Lin is beginning to have second thoughts.
Helping Prince Conor find out what is wrong with his father the King is a welcome distraction for her, were it not for the fact that she finds the insufferable prince far too attractive for her own good.
Throw in further romantic tension between Kel and another childhood companion, the noblewoman Antonetta Alleyne - she is due to marry a very bad sort, who is also involved in the plot against the throne - and you have a story with a lot going on. Small wonder that Clare has taken more than 500 pages to tell it.
The merits and demerits of The Ragpicker King are much the same as Sword Catcher before it. Cassandra Clare has honed her craft over many books in the demanding field of young adult fiction and the character work, world-building and writing on show here is to be applauded. Lin, Kel and the core cast are all richly developed and have a life beyond their value to the plot, while the real main character, the city of Castellane itself, is vividly imagined.
That said, the novel moves at a languid, episodic pace perhaps better suited to a TV series than a tale of fantasy intrigue. Clare knows where she’s going, and the journey is never less than interesting, but at times it does feel like more effort than it should. This impression isn’t helped by the resolutely conventional nature of the work – it’s a traditional fantasy novel in length, prose and style – and this reviewer longed for some disruption to the pattern.
Nonetheless, if you enjoyed the first book, do invest your time and money in The Ragpicker King as it is ultimately a rewarding experience. Just expect this particular game of thrones to be more county cricket than T20.
Tim Atkinson
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