Hello people! I hope you all are safe and happy, and I hope you are reading some good books. Today I am here to share with you all a book that I loved to pieces and that is soon coming out, so watch out for it!!!
Thanks to NetGalley and to the Editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Title: The Malevolent Seven
Author: Sebastien De Castell
Pages: 384
Expected Publication Date: May 16, 2023
'Seven powerful mages want to make the world a better place. We're going to kill them first.'
Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. No doubt he's wearing iridescent silk robes that couldn't protect his frail body from a light breeze. The hat's a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing, covered in esoteric symbols that would instantly show every other mage where this one gets his magic? Wouldn't want a simple steel helmet or something that might, you know, protect the part of him most needed for conjuring magical forces from being bashed in with a mace (or pretty much any household object).
Now open your eyes and let me show you what a real war mage looks like . . . but be warned: you're probably not going to like it, because we're violent, angry, dangerously broken people who sell our skills to the highest bidder and be damned to any moral or ethical considerations.
At least, until such irritating concepts as friendship and the end of the world get in the way.
My name is Cade Ombra, and though I currently make my living as a mercenary wonderist, I used to have a far more noble-sounding job title - until I discovered the people I worked for weren't quite as noble as I'd believed. Now I'm on the run and my only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited me to join him on a suicide mission against the seven deadliest mages on the continent.
Time to recruit some very bad people to help us on this job . . .
Before starting, let me you a thing: if you want to know how this book is going to be and you are in a hurry, simply read the synopsis here. It would tell you all you need to know: the writing, the humor, dark and subtle and oh-so-perfect, and our MC. It's really all here, and even if I am not a big fan of synopsis and usually just skip them, well... this time it is just too perfect, and I have to point it out to you.
And now, let's begin. Or let's try. Because I don't think I would be coherent much. Sorry, but not really sorry! So... I discovered this book thanks to Jordyn's review and since the Greatcoats series is one of my favorite series ever, I flew on NetGalley full of hope! And once they approved me (and the subsequent happy dance), I devoured it. And... it was perfect!
And okay, okay, maybe there are a couple of things that could have been somehow better developed, maybe (and I am thinking that, objectively, since the magic system is pretty complex and the world-building fascinating, a tad more of it could have been good), but to me, it was pure bliss. And I loved it. And I had an amazing time with it. And I laughed. I sighed. I was happy. And I was mad. And I was sad. And I was awed. And all the feelings in between.
I know that comparing books is not a good thing, but I am still going to do it. First thing first, a couple of years ago it came out The Maleficient Seven by Cameron Johnston, and the titles are pretty similar so... it is not unexpected to compare them. And I appreciated Johnston's book, but De Castell is exactly what I was expecting to get when the first book came out, and I didn't get it (obviously). It's not that the first book is bad, not at all. It has a lot of good things going on for it, the idea was brilliant and the book is solid, to be short about it, but it wasn't a perfect fit for me. I enjoyed it, but I was in need of something slightly different, that worked better for me. And this second book is it. It's everything I wanted and wished for. And it was perfect.
But this is not the only comparison. Because it is also hard to not compare this book with other books by this author. Even more so because Cade and Falcio (the first is the MC of this book, and the second is the MC of the Greatcoats series) have a lot in common, even if they are quite different. It is like Cade is like Falcio and Kest smashed together, especially if we consider his sense of humor, dark and subtle and biting, But there is more to it, too. Falcio is a morally grey character, and he is one of the best at it (okay, okay, I am a Falcio fan so he is the best in general, but this is not the point here), but he is on the good side of the morally gray graph. And he is one of the good guys (in a world where things went pretty bad for a long time, and he is not the shiny knight, sure, but even if you can debate the methods, he and his companions are sort of the good guys). Cade is on the opposite side of it. And mind me, he is sort of good, or one of the good guys, but only if you need to put the line somewhere, because, sure as hell, he is not a good guy. He is the lesser evil, and he has morality but... well, it's like de Castell specializes in morally grey characters, and he is gifting us with all the spectrum of them. And it was amazing!
And the other characters... guys, trust me, you need to meet them. All of them! And the magic system!! It is rich and interesting, and quite original. And talking about the magic here, the Acknowledgments part is brilliant (and it may sound strange that I am putting this here, but you need to go and check for yourself). And okay, I know that I am asking for a lot of trusts in there, because I am not telling you much. Especially if you haven't met this author before, but I can't really say more, because the plot is pretty straightforward: our MC and a band of misfits wonderists, in part recruited and in part "adopted" or imposed along the way, are traveling to complete their last assignment: help a bad baron against seven other wonderists that are there to help the good people oppressed by the baron. And reward? Money, a lot of it, duh, they are mercenaries so... what else? Ah, right, also a really powerful artifact, that is more the stuff of the legends than reality.
Only... things aren't really like they seem. And I can't say more because I won't ruin it for it. And the magical system is fascinating, but again, I won't explain it for you because you need to see for yourself, so I know that I am not giving you much, but I can tell you that I loved it to pieces, and I would recommend it at every chance I get!
If you are in for a grimdark fantasy, with fascinating magic in there, an interesting world to visit, and some bleak and dark humor to keep you company (and a jackal, too!Yay! I love animal companions!) you need to get this one as soon as possible. And I mean it. Really really mean it. Go and get it ASAP!
and half!
And that's all! What about you? What do you think of this book? And have you read other books by this author?? Let me know!!
Happy reading!
S.
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