Review: The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell

Category:

Fantasy

Rating:

Introduction:

Cade Ombra is a mercenary Infernal Wonderist. After being accused of murdering his current employer, he’s on the run with one of his fellow mercenary heading North to a town called Mage’s Grave to look for a nasty baron who is creating havoc there along with seven wonderists called the Seven Brothers. Along the way they recruit four more wonderists, more or less, each unique in their own way. Unbeknownst to them greater forces are at play to alter the very fabric of mortal plane and this job is turning out to be more than just another job. The Malevolent Seven is the story of the journey of Cade and his comrades and the dangers they face while trying to finish this perilous mission.

Trigger Warnings:

The Malevolent Seven is a grimdark fantasy book, and it contains a lot of profanity, gore, violence and violent themes and is filled with amoral characters. So as the genre name suggests it is not everybody’s cup of tea. Therefore, if you happen to stumble upon this book, please be aware of its content.

Review:

Go ahead, close your eyes if you need to…

I am actually wondering whether I am ever going to hate something Sebastien de Castell write. Having read and absolutely loved both his The Greatcoats series and The Spellslinger series I had very high expectations going in to this book and I was not disappointed at all. As expected from Sebastian, he did nothing but deliver, line after line. From start to finish The Malevolent Seven was an amazing book that boasted exceptional world building, an impressive magic system, captivating character arcs, and a masterfully woven plot filled with suspense.

Firstly lets talk about The Malevolent Seven’s impressive magic system. I knew Sebastien could always cook up a magnificent magic his eyes closed but maaaaaan this was truly a joy to read about this magic system. It was layered, comprehensive and solid overall. Every aspect of the system was thoroughly thought out, and the author explained in detail the reasons behind each magic spell or casting, as well as how they worked. It was evident that Sebaestian had put in a great deal of effort and attention to detail when creating this magic system, making it one of the highlights of the book.

Secondly, the world building. It is never easy to create a fresh take on heaven and hell and all their machinations for the mortal plane, especially to make it mindblowingly impressive but Sebastian makes it look so easy with his writing skilling in The Malevolent Seven. I am absolutely in love with the idea of Celestines, Infernals and their hierarchal political systems.

Thirdly, the great cast of characters. Cade was a brilliant protagonist. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself and the reader he was irredeemable, Sebastian made sure he came across as relatable. The rest of the characters, Corrigan, Galass, Aradaus, Shame, Alice and Fidick (he WAS a f**** d*** as his name suggests lol) were unique and were great addition to the story. I LOVED Corrigan with his impulsive moronic behavior and his colorful sarcastic vocabulary. He provided most of the much needed comic relief in such a grim tale.

Lastly, the writing style. I don’t think it is an easy feat to write an entire book in conversational style between the protagonist and the reader but Sebastien pulled if off really well. I loved how Cade asked for reader’s opinion on various things and how he posed questions at the reader.

I can absolutely gush about The Malevolent Seven for hours if given the chance. However as I need to keep this review compact and comprehensive in conclusion what I have to say is, I absolutely loved reading this book and looking forward to reading the next installments to know where the story is heading and how Cade’s journey progresses, although there is no indication on goodreads whether this is going to be a series yet. FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS! JUST BRILLIANT!

So, go ahead, open your eyes, I’ll show you a fucking hero….

Thank you Netgally and Hachette Book Group for providing me this advanced reader copy.