This is a fantastic, DnD like, Suicide Squad (not the one with Jared Leto) meets Kings of the Wild romp.

We have a fellowship of witches and wizards here - wonderists - and they are bad people. They are also hilarious, which is a bonus. The Malevolent Seven is such a funny book, no one quite writes in your face humour like Sebastien does and this is THE fantasy book that should be on everyone's shelves this year. The dialogue is witty, the plot twists and turns like a twisty-turny-thing and I was reminded for the millionth time why Sebastien is such a top notch writer. Read it!

The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell is an adult fantasy and potentially the opener to a new series. Having read and loved the author's young adult Spellslinger series I was keen to get my hands on a copy of this book as it sounded like it would be right up my alley. The author's sassy and humorous tone pervades the book, most notably in his first person narrator Cade Ombra, a mercenary Wonderist or magician who finds himself forced into what looks like a suicide mission against seven of the most powerful mages in the world. This is not a challenge he could or should take on alone and so he gathers a bunch of more or less willing companions , with a diverse range of magical gifts ranging from the blood mage still learning her abilities to a homicidal thunder mage and something a little more demonic in nature.
This is a fast paced and action packed book ,something I have come to expect from this author, and there is plenty of gore and violence, so reader be warned. The magic system is interesting and well developed, and while the reader may find it all a little confusing in the beginning it soon becomes clear as the story unfolds and we meet the various members of the gang. (There is also a helpful explanation at the end of the book that some readers might like to refer to as they go along.) I enjoyed the dry humour in this book, something that is characteristic of this author's style, and while it was blacker than in the other books I had read, this did not bother me in the slightest, Another trait from the Spellslinger series that I enjoyed seeing developed further here in this book was the comradeship between the characters , seeing them come together in the most adverse of circumstances really gave this book a lot of heart for me. I really look forward to reading more of this series, there is just so much potential.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I loved this! Such a cool story with such amazing characters.

The story flows very nicely and it makes hard to stop reading. The humours lines made me laugh out loud even if it was a bit dark at times. It's fast-paced (my favourite) and the story flows smoothly.

I loved the characters in this book. Everyone has its own personally, strengths, abilities and secret agendas. Witnessing their interactions was a treat.

For all who like complex plots, engaging characters and dark humour, this is for you. It's a short book, but it's worth all the time you spend reading it! I look forward to seeing more of this band of misfits and of this world.

For some reason, this book took me soooo long to read. I just wasn't captivated by it and I cannot quite understand why.
I loved the humor, I laughed a lot while reading this.
Also the self-deprecation of the main character is hilarious, of course.
The entire set-up should have been enticing to me... But I just kept procrastinating on this book.

I am still happy I read it, and I would still recommend it to others who love this style of writing.

I have found a new favourite author! This book is amazing - the plot, the characters, the world, the magic system….everything!!! If you are in a reading slump, I highly recommend this book. I recommend it even if you are not!

Cade, the main character, tells you this story in a witty and humorous tone trying to soften the heavy issues. He is a surprisingly relatable character (even though he is a mage) who also has horrible co-workers! The team comes together in an unexpected manner and their journey is full of clever twists. It gets very tense towards the end but that’s also the most interesting part of the story.

I fully enjoyed this book and cannot wait for more. In the meantime, I am going to read the author’s previous works because I absolutely love his writing style!

Sebastien de Castell and his works came highly recommended by a few members of the Fantasy Fellowship Discord Book Club, so when I noticed that the eARC to his latest book, The Malevolent Seven, was available on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read it. The tantalising first sentence that opens the humorous tongue-in-cheek book description confirmed my hunch that I would love this book from the very start.

“Seven powerful mages want to make the world a better place. We’re going to kill them first.”

The mercenary wonderist (war mage) Cade Ombra is the book’s main protagonist and somewhat unreliable narrator. By cleverly using the first-person narrative form, de Castell successfully guides the readers through the world of The Malevolent Seven and the wild adventure the characters have embarked upon, while at the same time – by misdirection the author manages to maintain the mystery and keep the readers’ interest. de Castell successfully blended the witty and humorous 1st person narration style (commonly found in urban fantasy series such as Rivers of London or The Dresden Files) with the traditional epic fantasy features: fabulous world-building, an interesting magic system, intriguing characters, a magical object and (of course) an epic quest. The result is a spectacularly engrossing story that is hard to put down.

The Malevolent Seven is a wickedly funny, fast-paced, action-packed swords and sorcery fantasy book. Its witty first-person narration, coupled with amusing protagonists and gripping plot will do wonders for a reading slump (if you should find yourself stuck in one). The Malevolent Seven is the first book written by Sebastien de Castell that I’ve read and I’m so thrilled by this book and the author’s writing style that I’m seriously considering getting a special edition – a rare feat for me. I certainly wholeheartedly recommend getting this book in whatever form your heart desires, it was a spectacularly enjoyable 5-star read.

The Malevolent Seven is a begging of a whole new series by Sebastien de Castell. If you have read something from this author, you know he is sassy. And this series is on a completely new level of sassiness. Our heroes are the bad guys and the author made sure we will know about that because he reminds us all the time.
You know sometimes is better to show and not to only tell. This book could be a good example of that - if someone betrays his friends, kills people and all the time hurt someone, we know he is not the good guy. We do not We do not need someone to tell us every few pages.
On the other hand, this book was hilarious, I liked the magic system, and the author's style - it was like reading something from Jay Kristoff sometimes (and I love Jay!). This book was a page-turner. I like it much more than Spellslinger and I am curious about the sequel.
Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books, Jo Fletcher Books!

It's the first adult fantasy book I read by Sebastian de Castell and I thoroughly enjoyed as it's gripping and well plotted story with elements of grim dark and epic fantasy and a lot of fun.
Cade Ombra and his companion are not the good guy who fight to improve the world, they fight because they want to be paid and when you're involved in a suicide mission may be you need to involve some guys who are very bad if you want to survive or at least try to survive.
Because your mission is to kill the seven deadliest mage on the continent.
That said it could be the retelling of the Seven Samurai or other stories involving 7 heroes or anti-heroes.
But we're on the anti hero side and there's always a lot of humour that keeps the story entartaining even when it could be too gory or grittyl
I loved Cade because he's a realist but also a good guy at the heart even if life was harsh and killed a lot of illusions and dreams.
A gripping, highly entertaining and well plotted story. Excellent storytelling and character development.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Jo Fletcher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Hello again dear reader or listener, as always, I hope you are doing well and, if you’re one us unfortunate souls that suffer from them, that your seasonal allergies are not making you feel like a fire breathing dragon as much as they are doing to me. I’m fine, really…

First, a big thank you to Jo Fletcher Books for approving my NetGalley request for an eArc copy of this book. My thoughts remain unaffected and honest.

Now then, what you need to know beforehand, dear reader/listener, is that the gent that is Mr. de Castell is among my few autobuy authors. I see he’s got a new book out, I run. This is because, for me, his style perfectly mixes together wit, sass, action and darkness, in one glorious combo that manages to endlessly entertain while also delivering a solid gut punch to your feels from time to time. It hurts so good, as they say. Also, I have a very dark sense of humor, so there’s that.

The Malevolent Seven, I was glad to see, continued on in this tradition, by being one deliciously unhinged novel from start to finish, with fast paced action and a snarky narrator called Cade Ombra who, disillusioned with his past life of righteousness, has become a Wonderist, or magical mercenary for hire. He, not really of his own volition, agrees to a doomed job but the alternative is a faster death, so really, it could be worse.
I’m always a big fan of a band of misfits going towards a suicide mission, but I enjoy it even more when the usual tropes don’t go as you’d expect, and de Castell subverts them oh so well when you’d least imagine.

The supporting cast is wonderfully varied and each of their complexities only really *begins* to shine through in this first entry of the series, so I cannot wait to get to know them all much better in the future. Corrigan is the one we get to understand the most out of them all since he is the one that Cade has known the longest. However even he is more than meets the eye, given the narrator’s own limited understanding of the closest thing he’s got to a friend in this hard world they live in. Bombastic would be one way to describe Corrigan though. Or alternatively, Zero Fucks Given.

‘Cade?’ Corrigan said, interrupting the cosmist’s speech. ‘Yeah?’‘Fuck this guy up for me, would you?’ I considered his request for a moment. Not a long moment, mind, just enough to let everyone know I was seriously considering my options. ‘Yeah, sure.’

If there is one thing that de Castell never fails at, it is writing a bromance, or more in general camaraderie. There’s something extra special (and entertaining) about characters choosing some form of loyalty towards each other, when in a world of really abysmal options, the ones you decide to fight alongside with are the ones you find the least terrible.
Through this choice in relationships and how he acts towards each of the side characters, we get to see Cade mature or at least start to develop differently throughout the novel. The Cade we meet at the very beginning, is not the Cade we walk alongside with by the end, even if this change is subtle and only just beginning. I could ramble on about this but I won’t for now, both to spare you and because spoilers. Suffice it to say the character work is on point.

Another thing the author excels in, is his opening and closing chapters. Not only are they fantastically badass. There hasn’t been a single time I’ve read one of his first chapters and not said Daaaaaamn, and then in turn, read the last chapter and not pictured literal mic drops. This latest book is no different.
If you are familiar with de Castell’s work already, you’ll find that while he keeps all his best narrative traits and stylistic mannerisms so to speak, this book is still quite different in some regards to his previous works. His storytelling is familiar yet fresh, allowing for The Malevolent Seven to be a brand new shiny thing that stands on its own, that also scratches the itch you might have from wanting more of the author’s work. I even took to Twitter to mention this, when I’d first started reading this Arc! All the good feelings from returning to a comfort author, but with the excitement and intrigue of seeing him try something a little different.
For example, Cade would skip ahead or skim over some action sequences or other “padding” scenes you usually find in this brand of fantasy, and that de Castell has brilliantly written in detail before. It very much added to the speed of the plot but also to the colloquialism of the narrative style as, similarly to his Greatcoats series, the protagonist is veritably talking with the reader. Unreliable narrators are always a fun treat, even more so when they’re self-aware.

‘This is getting us nowhere!’ Galass shouted, shoving me back so she could take up position between me and Corrigan. ‘Are you both complete fools, or do you just act like it to mask your lack of any coherent plan to get us out of here alive?’ ‘A little of both,’ I mumbled.

You can just picture a very tired, disgruntled, and mildly disheveled Cade sit in front of you telling you about his misadventure.

Meanwhile, we still had to deal with these three morons who’d apparently decided to muscle in on our gig. That’s bad form. That’s impolite. That’s not how we do things in this business.

This conversational narration style is a bit of a saving grace for the book. In fact, there is a lot of exposition regarding the magic system, as well as to set up this new world, and I do mean a lot. Had it been written otherwise, with a different narrator or without the overall darkly humorous tone, I would’ve said this book suffers from some heavy infodumps. But de Castell made it work! Cade’s asides and overall commentary really do give the whole novel life of its own in a way that really gets you to care for him and you don’t feel bogged down by paragraphs of exposition.

That and the feels sneak up on you; they certainly did for me.

I’ll stop here, dear reader/listener, but all this to say, if you love dark epic fantasy with a band of misfits, morally grey (maybe make it a very dark grey) characters, unhinged behavior, and grim happenings that somehow still do not make for a bleak read, you need this book in your immediate tbr. The magic system is also pretty dang cool!

Was this first entry in the series perfect? No.
Was it however batshit crazy, unhinged, occasionally emotional, dark but also utterly hilarious? Absolutely.

Now excuse me while I go pace some more to deal with the fact I have to wait for who knows how long till we get a sequel to this gloriousness. It took me a week to gather my excited ramblings into some semblance of coherence for this review as it was.

For now, however:
The Malevolent Seven comes out tomorrow, May 11th and I’m pretty sure you’ll want to monkey see monkey do and run to it like I did!

Until next time,
Eleni A.E.

Cade Ombra is under no illusions that he’s one of the good guys, and will in fact be reminding you of this throughout the first-person narration of his latest job as a mercenary ‘wonderist’ – ie, wizard. Things aren’t going too well, and they’re only about to get worse. Seeking to escape one bad deal he and ‘best friend’ (for a given value of the concept, at least), agree to take on work that’s almost certainly a suicide mission, against seven of the deadliest mages ever. As the blurb puts it, “Time to recruit some very bad people to help us…”

I am very pleased to report that I totally loved this book. It’s hilarious, deadly, extremely sweary, and just absolute tons of fun all the way. Cade makes a great narrator, with the first-person narrative really helping the reader feel like they’re along for the ride. Cade is very self-depreciating – although we will find out a lot more about him as the story continues – and both he and other characters, such as the even more ‘blunt object’ friend, Corrigan the thunder-mage, are full of a kind of realism often missing from fantasy books. That is, the kind that has them looking at a deadly obstacle and suggesting that they run ‘the eff’ in the other direction 😉

Of course, they don’t run from everything – or rather, end up running towards a whole lot of other dangerous things anyway – and the story is much more than I was expecting. I mean, the title and some of the early conversations made me think we were getting a magical Seven Samurai (remade as The Magnificent Seven, of course) but ooh, this is so much more. Angels that aren’t that good, demons that aren’t all that bad, and a rag-tag band of magicians with a broad range of fantastic skills.

The plot doesn’t have a dull moment, even though the bulk of the story is really the recruitment of the rest of the band of seven. Along the way we get some great world building, and explanations of the magic system here – one I really liked, with just enough explanation but no lessening of the sense of wonder. And at every point, there’s a feeling of more to discover – about the characters, about the magic, and about the bigger game that’s being played…

Everything draws to a nicely satisfactory conclusion, while at the same time leaving a huge amount of scope for more adventures with Cade, Corrigan, and their not-so-merry band. I for one cannot WAIT to see where this series could go!

I really enjoyed the Spellslinger series so I jumped at the chance to read this book. The idea is intriguing - you know going in that these aren't the good guys and that seemed like a refreshing change.

That said, something about it just didn't work for me. Even Cade who is our 'bad guy with a moral compass' just doesn't seem to enough personality to make me care about what happens to him - and not caring if the main character lives or dies is frankly a bit of a problem for me.

I got about a third of the way through before finally admitting that I was forcing myself to keep reading rather than turning the next page because I actually wanted to.

I'm sure there will be people who absolutely adore this book but it wasn't for me.

This was a highly anticipated book for me as I had been wanting to read de Castell for a while. So, I was thrilled to get an ARC from Quercus Books through NetGalley!

Our MC is Cade Ombra, mercenary mage, and he needs to put together a team to take on the most dangerous job on the continent. If you think it sounds like a heist movie, you’re not wrong.

I really enjoyed this book for the most part - the magic system was the most interesting, with powers being determined by attunement to various forces and planes of existence. The plot compelled me, and there were enough twists and turns without it feeling too complicated. I liked the characters but didn’t feel super attached to any of them by the end, and it slightly annoyed me how many times Cade told us what a For Real Bad Guy he is.

I did find de Castell’s writing style very appealing though, and I look forward to reading more of his work (I hear the Greatcoats series is very good).

`Seven powerful mages want to make the world a better place. We’re going to kill them first.'

This is my first time reading a book by Sebastien de Castell and I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It has all the ingredients of a typical fantasy novel but with all the right twists to make it different and new. The characters are well written, likeable, and interesting. I really liked Cade and was very interested in his backstory. Him also regularly breaking the fourth wall was amusing. The magic system was well thought off and also easy to follow. I really liked the concept that they draw their magic from different existing planes which also gives them different attributes depending on which plane they are attuned to. The writing style is fun and modern which I personally liked. The writing is well-paced, the story does not lag and keeps me continuously wanting to see what happens next (especially within the last 50 pages or so).

Overall, this was a very fun read. There is wit and humour into the writing of this book but also depth in the story that makes it great. The characters are definitely my favourite part about this book. I am very curious to know if there is going to be a sequel to this because I do not want it to end.

Simon de Castell goes all Guy Ritchie on us with his new book The Malevolent Seven.

Cade Umbra is a wonderist for sale, selling his services to the highest bidder. As he says no job too small, no atrocity too atrocious. Along with his workmate in arms Corrigan and the rest of his current crew, they are hired by self proclaimed Ascendent Prince Lucien, favourite of the mighty Celestines (the higher power for good) to aid him in his plight to take over some citadel or other.

After their initial victory, Cade is offered a job that he seemingly can't refuse. However, he does. He's offered a job to go and help some petty lord in the north, go quell a rebellion and fight on the side of injustice and ultimately get the grand prize of some old magical relic or other. Smelling a rat, Case turns down the job, but somehow manages to get ensnared in the plans and machinations of others that leaves him no choice.

Right, let's put this out there - this book is fun, in a darkly black comic kind of way. Just to let you know, this book is dark in its way, much like Greatcoats has some pretty dark stuff in it too.

Now, when I heard that Simon de Castell was putting a new book out, I knew that I would be applying for an arc straightaway.

As usual, De Castell mixes good characterisation with high octane action. I know a few people have mentioned that they don't get along with the world building, because to me, De Castell seems to work similarly to Peter McLean in that if you need to know about it, he gives you the info rather than the usual bricks and mortar steady world building that people are generally used to. I liked this chaotic approach and thought it added to the fun of the story.

The plot is fast paced and twists all over the place, which made it such fun to read because you never knew where it was going which gave that unpredictably and thus keeping you engaged.

I knew I was going to enjoy this one and it did not disappoint.

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley and Quercus in exchange for an honest review.

For someone who has shockingly never seen Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven, I'm an absolute sucker for books with the "individuals coming together despite their differences to take on some bastards" trope. I was very excited when I heard about The Malevolent Seven because the people in this book are magic, and they fight bastards with bastards.

The Malevolent Seven follows wizard/wonderist Cade Ombra, a grumpy and conflicted mercenary with a secret, and a band of dangerous and violent misfits as they go on a mission to save the world from a group of wizards who are even worse than they are.

This is the first book I've read by Sebastien de Castell and I really enjoyed his writing style - I'll definitely be picking up his other books when I can. The narration breaks the fourth wall a lot and pre-empts the reader's questions in a witty and sarcastic way that's full of dark humour. This also added more depth to Cade's personality and made him feel real, and I liked learning more about his story. The other characters were interesting but only one or two had clear motivations, and I would have liked to read about all of their stories more as I felt I didn't learn huge amounts about them and their personalities felt a little flat. I also didn't like how the female characters had experienced sexual violence and wish authors would stop using this as the motivation for their female characters.

I loved that there was a genderfluid character though - bonus points for that, even if it was slightly clumsily done. Aradeus the rat dude was my favourite character because he was charming, if a little useless (definitely the Hawkeye of the group in terms of power) and I have a soft-spot for dandy highwayman types.

The characters in The Malevolent Seven were almost secondary to the most important part: the magic system. This is an author who has clearly spent a lot of time creating a magic system, and all the rules were explained in great detail. I did find this a little confusing and info-dumpy in parts, and I honestly felt like I was too thick to keep up with it all, but that's a me problem and I imagine it will be really appealing to other readers. The different planes that form the basis of the magic system felt really unique and it's a really cool concept that I'm sure I'd get my head round eventually after a re-read or two.

I knew this book would be violent, but it was /violent/ violent. The magic is very destructive and side characters are killed off left right and centre, but the main characters do it with smiles (and copious amounts of blood) on their faces. In a weird way, the huge amounts of violence lead to interesting, if a little pretentious at times, musings on morality and philosophy, and I really felt Cade's struggle to be a good person when he felt like a bad one. To be fair, he does do some bad things, but hey, nobody's perfect. He also doesn't do enough bad things to be as hard on himself as he constantly is, and there's never any doubt that he's actually a good guy. It's like he just sometimes does bad things for the aesthetic.

The book throws you right into the action and the plot is fast-paced and twisty, with the stakes getting really high. The reason I didn't give it more stars is that I would have liked the world, the characters, and the plot to be fleshed out a little more. It felt in parts like a snapshot of a story rather than the full thing - it felt to me more like a movie than a book in terms of how much we know about the characters and the world. There were parts where Cade suddenly pieced things together and knew what was going on but the reader hadn't been given those same clues so I felt a little bit lost at times. I also didn't really understand the ending if I'm totally honest. If everything was as detailed as the magic system, I would have rated it higher, but I did still enjoy it and hope the story continues as a series.

There are lots of things that many readers will love about this book. The main two protagonists show just how good Castell can be at character work. The pace is fast and action packed. The tone is a blend of dark with humour that I really did enjoy for the most part. I really enjoyed the backstory of Cade and Corrigan; not your conventional heroes at all.

However for me the way the world building is done didn’t quite work. The narration is used throughout the show the main characters commentary on the story and for the beginning part I loved this. However it soon felt like the narration was not so much adding but just interrupting the story, and it got frustrating. The comments Cade makes throughout added a lot to the lore and the world but they weren’t always relevant to what was actually going on and sometimes I found myself just not caring that much, as I was just getting frustrated at the interruptions and confused at what soon began to feel like constant info dumps that stopped the flow of the story.

The world building therefore came across as a bit chaotic and hard to follow.

Overall, it was good but alas much more forgettable than I hoped. I don’t think this book was really for me and as I said, there is a lot that I’m sure many readers will enjoy.

The Malevolent Seven is an adult fantasy novel from Sebastien de Castell and seeks to debunk the notion of the kindly, old geeky wizard with its portrayal of 'mages' as violent, anger and mercenary types, who skills their incredible skills to the highest bidder. And so is the premise for an unique and funny take on the concept of 'the magnificent seven' as our heroes have more in common with villains, yet still kind themselves on the side of good. Well, they are not actively trying to destroy the world at any rate.
It did take me a while to settle into the novel and to grasp the roles of the different characters - or rather their individual types such as a 'wonderist' and I would recommend starting by reading the list of characters/roles a the end of the novel first as this provides a useful guide and makes it a little easier to dive into the world.

5/10 stars

My full review on my blog.

I started my adventure with de Castell’s novels a few years back, with the Spellslinger series. It was recommended to me by several people [...]. I enjoyed the first installment moderately; it wasn’t either bad enough, or good enough, to merit a review, or a decision to continue – but when I saw a new de Castell book, set in a different universe and for all intents and purposes seemingly (that is, until I read it) standalone, I decided to give it a chance.

And once again, The Malevolent Seven is not a bad book. It is fun, in the light entertainment+popcorn way that enjoys its own, quite roomy niche across the genres, and a significant popularity among readers. It is immensely readable, the words are flowing, the action chugs along merrily, the mood never becomes too morose nor the stakes too keenly felt. But that’s it: it’s the read-and-forget kind of book, an airport staple, where nothing really touches the reader, nothing really makes them think or feel. A disposable good, nice to have but not really necessary – if you forget your copy on a plane, you just shrug and move on, and are not necessarily devastated you’re never going to know how it ends.

If that sounds condemning, that is not my intention. It’s reasonably entertaining and can even be fun while it lasts and the reader doesn’t stop to think about the plot holes along the way. There is a certain quality to de Castell’s writing, a conformity to the major tropes linked with poking gentle fun at some slighter ones – a safe, contained rebellion measured to appease the largest possible audience. I could see many similarities between the protagonists of the Spellslinger series and The Malevolent Seven: a certain immaturity and naivety, a goodness of heart covered in thick, calloused skin that can nevertheless be peeled off to show the gold inside. There is a high level of constant snarkiness that becomes tiresome to the reader, and other characters, but never to the protagonist himself. A tortured past, gradually revealed, that informs and guides the present. Conspiracies and fights in which the protagonist is invariably the key ingredient. There isn’t much to say about the supporting cast – they are rather two-dimensional, as befits a story focused solely on the main character. Have I mentioned immaturity? Both Spellslinger and The Malevolent Seven are guilty of that particular sin: the juvenile-seeming obsession with self that plagues many a title in UF and YA genres. The Malevolent Seven, however, beyond a limited magic system, doesn’t offer much in terms of worldbuilding, either. We visit a few places, even a different plane of existence, but they all seem only sketched out, and very stereotypical. The villain is laughably flimsy, the way they’re recognised as villain and dealt with seems rushed and way too convenient, further destroying any suspension of disbelief the reader might’ve desperately clung to.

Shoot. Once again, that sounds rather condemning. Alas, that’s on me. I guess I just shouldn’t have requested and read this poor book when what I really wanted was something more tangible, thought-provoking and substantial. You see, I didn’t actively dislike The Malevolent Seven. I didn’t consider DNFing it, for one, and actually read it pretty quickly. It just felt entirely forgettable, only mildly amusing, and eventually rather disappointing. But even the disappointment was fleeting, lasting only as long as it took me to shrug and close my Kindle. Not bad, not good, just… middling. I appreciate the chance to read The Malevolent Seven, but I won’t be reading any more by de Castell.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

I really love de Castell's writing but this book wasn't really for me. I'm not a huge fan of wizards to be honest and so I think that impacted my overall reading experience. I did enjoy some of the humour and I liked how fast-paced it was. I think a lot of people will enjoy it... I just personally didn't love it. Still a fun book though.

As with other books by this author, the reader should take their time. The story is rich, with many twists and turns and this is one that I will definitely have to read again. Not a bad thing, when I know that I will be rewarded with a deeper understanding. The story starts slowly and a little too apologetically. As an homage to the movie of a similar name, the reader will be aware that these are not shining heroes. Nevertheless, it takes a while for the story to really start, as the heroes need to be added to the complement.

The plot starts quite linear, which is helpful with so many characters introduced, reconciled with the group and then developed, but there is always a slight shift in direction. Once the team is assembled the plot becomes more dynamic and varied with plenty to keep the reader's attention. The pace varies throughout but is appropriate to the focus of the plot.

The denouement is interesting in that it is not as simple as it seems and provides its own twists and turns. The resolution is different and will leave the reader looking for more. The author provides an interesting appendix, which is well worth reading.

This is very nearly 5/5, perhaps on the second read it will hit it