Absolutely fantastic. I love Sebastiens writing style and his characters are always so fully rounded and real. I'm obsessed.

I adored this book. It carries the same wonderful worldbuilding and characters as the first and the writing style is easy to follow while matching the tone of the world. Sebastien de Castell is an excellent writer in all forms and I couldn’t put the book down.

I loved being back in this world and with these characters! Sebastien managed to write another bonkers but great story and even managed to make some references to his other books as well. Personally I think this book is what Guardians of the Galaxy could have been if their movies had been R-rated. I love the found family aspect, especially when the found family is actually a bunch of criminals who become (reluctant) heroes. It's been a while since I've read the previous book but in my opinion there was enough explanation as to what happened in the previous book so you don't necessarily need to reread The Malevolent Seven before diving into this one (though I do still highly recommend because I loved that book as well). It wasn't as emotional as previous Sebastien books have been but the end did pack a punch!

Sebastien De Castell has my whole entire heart.

I was a late comer to his writing and am attempting to make up for it now. But give me morally ambiguous, sarcastic and frankly ridiculous reluctant heroes and I am IN.

As the Malevolent Seven continue their foolish attempts to stop the impending apocalypse, brought on by the Lords Celestine and Lords Diabolical looking forward to a scrap, we get to see so much more of our favourite idiots.

Corrigan is still obsessed with his...manhood...and thinks they should have uniforms, Galass is now in control of her sanguine powers, Shame is blending in, Aradeus is still too noble, Alice has no time for Cade’s (aka The Fallen One) nonsense and oh, they also now have a vampiric kangaroo named Temper. Cade fucking Ombra is still our noble narrator showing that internal monologues can be reliable - or maybe they’re not. His new alignment has the potential to rip the world apart, or save it.

What else can be said about de Castell? Another brilliantly written, thought provoking story with engaging characters and a humour romp for the ages.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley

I really didn't like this book much and likely would have DNF'd had I not requested a copy from Netgalley. Maybe too much time had passed since I read the first book but I found the first chapter very confusing and had no idea what was going on. Some of the humour in the book was funny but after a while I just got bored of it and wished the author focused more on the story rather than what witty lines he could come up with. There was a huge chunk of the middle of the book where I was so bored. There were also some scenes that would have been horrific and added to the emotional depth of the story but the author chose to make the inappropriately humorous and it just fell flat for me.
I also found some lines to be very close to lines from some other medias, had I enjoyed the book I would have liked the nods to LOTR and Gone In Sixty Seconds, but as it was I just found them annoying. I still want to go back to the Greycoats Series and try to finish that off but this series is just not for me so Im calling it quits here.

Book 2 picks up a little after the ending of the first, with a new character seamlessly inserted to smooth over the beginning time jump (big fan of the vampire kangaroo).
The tone of this book is different to the first one since now we're not striving to complete a quest for a payout, but trying to prevent the apocalypse ... despite the fact that it's already kind of arrived. The combination of just the bleakest world known to man and the irreverent humour and violence made for a brilliant fantasy/comedy/apocalypse-y novel with even a little subplot for the romantics.
My overall comparison for this duology (?) would be to The Suicide Squad (2021) for just how unhinged each character behaves and the ridiculous dialogue

Thank you to Sébastien de Castell, Quercus Books | Arcadia, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This unfortunately was not for me. Whilst the premise and world-building was interesting, the pacing and characterisation fell flat. I didn’t enjoy the narrative tone as much as I thought I would too - it tried too hard to be funny and I ended up mostly cringing. Maybe it’s the difference between Canadian / British humour.

I’m sure there’ll be readers who will absolutely love this book.

I loved the Malevolent seven, and I loved this one just as much. Dark humour balanced with true emotion, a battle between good and evil except our heroes by all normal standards stand more in the morally grey/questionably evil (even a literal moustache twirler). There is also a very humorous kangaroo that can only be understood by Corrigan (a brutish, crude and hilarious character with a paella obsession)

I really wanted to like this series but I just don't think it was for me- whilst I appreciated the action scenes and the characters journey in the plot, there were some factors in the story that just didn't appeal to me and detracted from the story as a result.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Quercus books for the opportunity to review this ARC book.

Sebastian De Castell returns to the world of The Maleficent Seven in this uproariously irreverent sequel to The Malificent Seven.
Following the events of the first book, Cade Ombra and the gang (including new member Temper, a vampiric Kangaroo) have taken up the mantle of the world’s protectors and are doing their level best to derail the machinations of the heavenly host of the Aurorals, and the devilish Infernals to bring about the final battle that has been foretold.
In the midst of this, there is another flashier group on the scene stealing their thunder, The Apocalypse Eight and a deadly new foe, a Spellsinger who for some reason has a beef with Cade.
De Castell is pbviously having as much fun as his readers in this latest book. Besides racking up a body count that puts John Wick to shame, he drops more F Bombs than the US military has hot dinners.
In terms of plot, De Castell rehashes Kurosawa’s Seven Samuri or The Magnificent Seven with as much glee as kid in sweet shop.
As usual, De Castell writes fantastic characters that you cannot help but love, and the new addition of the Spellsinger definitely adds a new dimension to the motley crew of miscreants.
At times, the story can get a little repetitive, but, to be honest, I will forgive De Castell anything as he is one of my favourite authors and for me hasn’t done a bad book yet.

Yet again another very entertaining book, I had such a fun time folllowing these guys. I did find it a little similar to the first one in terms of the general plot but otherwise a solid sequal I will highly recommend

I loved the ending - unpredictable, inventive, and improbably uplifting - and so I'm glad I finished the book. I did nearly give up in the middle, though. There is non-stop action, constant twists, jokes galore... and yet it felt slow paced. Why? I think it was because the humour created an emotional distance from the characters, so it all started feeling like just more of the same. In the Spellslinger series, the balance of comedy and emotionality is exactly right; here, I felt that it swung a bit off-centre. Maybe it's just classic middle-book syndrome: I felt like I was reading a reboot of book one, but without the surprises.

So, if you're a fan of the first book, this is worth reading to get to book three, which I hope will restore my faith in these irredemable heroes.

'The Malevolent Eight' by Sebastien de Castell.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a joyride of murder and mayhem. I absolutely loved this book. I loved the first one and this one lived up to expectation. It's full of adventure, unusual violence and a little bit of romance thrown in. If you love a fantasy book with a dark comedic edge then give this book a read.

The stakes have never been higher.
The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade: the mortal realm.
Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar turned mercenary wonderist, leads a band of emotionally unstable mages in a desperate bid to prevent the impending clash of divine and diabolical titans. Failure will leave humanity to be conscripted into an eternal war, serving as foot soldiers doomed to oblivion.
The mission seems impossible, but Cade and the Malevolent Seven aren't exactly pacifists, so they're determined to bring peace no matter how many people they have to kill first. With wit as sharp as their blades and a moral compass that points only toward survival, they're ready to cut down anyone in their path to stop the war before it begins.

Thanks to NetGallery UK, the author and the publishers for letting me read a copy in return for an honest review.

Following a rag-tag group of magical people as they reluctantly try to save the world, The Malevolent Eight is the much-anticipated sequel to The Malevolent Seven. In this series, war mages, or wizards as we may call them, are much less noble than they sound. Like our main character Cade, many work for the highest bidder. And yet, when a war starts to rage between celestial and infernal forces, these are the people who have to try to prevent the apocalypse.

I absolutely love the way that Sebastien de Castell is able to blend his witty humour with high fantasy in this series. As we follow a violent group of troubled individuals, there are plenty of opportunities for action and ridiculous plot points. In my mind, The Malevolent Seven series is a bit like a dungeons and dragons story come to life (which is a compliment!).

If you are a fan of more light-hearted (but still well plotted and planned) fantasy and a lover of comedy, I think you will eat this book up!

We first met Cade Ombra, a former Glorian Justiciar (think: holy warrior) turned mercenary mage, in the Malevolent Seven (thus causing widespread confusion on what happened to Malevolent One-through-Six, no doubt, especially when the third book arrives ;)), during the course of which he gathers his band of malcontents and they save the world, more or less. Maybe a bit less, because here in book two the gang is still dealing with the aftermath and indeed, fighting to save the world. Again. Oh, but this time they have a vampire… kangaroo?!… on their side. Mostly 😉

This book follows quite closely from the first, so yeah, absolutely have read that first. But if you enjoyed it, then you’re going to enjoy this, too, as it’s more of the same bumbling heroics, things going wrong at every turn, and bigger – dare we say nigh-on impossible – challenges to overcome.

However, I found that I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first. It’s still a whole lot of fun, but … hmm. Let’s see.

Somehow, the rag-tag group is now supposed to be this band of ‘brothers’ (sisters, demons, angels, whatevers!) and the people Cade (still his point of view narration) loves more than anything in the universe… but, I’m not sure that came across in any other way than being told it was so. Yes, the events at the end of book one (no spoilers!) could be that bonding-in-trauma level, but it also feels like we’ve missed a chunk of said bonding, somehow. And the rest of the group – somewhat more lightly sketched than being in Cade’s head all the time – don’t really act like it, more that they’re sticking together for lack of anything better to do? And then we’ve got the new character – eventually an explanation, but to begin with, sort of appearing from nowhere and just a little… well, your mileage may vary on vampire kangaroos of limited (albeit hilarious) vocabulary, shall we say.

Still, they work well together for the sake of the plot. Which – hmm again – sort of worked for me? It does well at following on from where we left the first instalment, and it does reach a conclusion while leaving the door open for more. But somehow I never quite felt entirely in the flow of it all, perhaps too much of a disparity between the literal war-of-the-gods and more, world-ending kind of level, and the main opposition being… our guys? Really? And then Cade is entirely distracted by a new character, who probably isn’t exactly trying to kill him, but will probably end that way anyway…

And yet. I didn’t love this as much as book one, but wow it is still rollickingly great fun! de Castell can write well, and you want to keep reading. The humour is excellent – just dark enough, while also providing some brevity from e.g. some rather gross torture scenes. And there is a strong link to the author’s other series, Spellslinger, reminding me that I really have to go finish reading that.

I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it all more if I’d read it immediately on the back of Malevolent Seven – I could well believe that some of my ‘issues’ were feeling a little too detached from some of the supporting cast, who don’t get a huge amount of page time here. Continuing their stories from book one – yeah, that might make more flow. And as noted above, there absolutely is a Malevolent Nine due and I am hugely looking forward to it!

It was an absolute joy to receive a copy of The Malevolent Eight by Sebastian De Castell in exchange for an honest review.

"What the world needed now wasn't a good guy. It needed a hero"

I have to be reminded through the books, that this band of mercenaries are not the good guys... But damn they are good heroes.
In this second romp through The Malevolent series realm, the characters and the world continue to grow and develop. The banter remains the same, though I feel we follow more of Cade's character and how/why we have a massive, vampire kangaroo hopping about the place.

The other piece of excitement as a reader of De Castell and The Spellslinger series, comes in the form of a Spellslinger actually landing in this world. It makes me wonder if the author has further plans to merge these worlds in future books.

Does the book have its flaws? I guess someone somewhere would find them, but for me I loved every minute and they must have passed me by if there were any. * Shrugs *
It's fantasy, good vs evil and pure, laugh out loud moments which is thoroughly entertaining.

I think the author has a truly wonderful way of telling a story. Whilst we have fun and banter throughout, there are some more serious and thoughtful reflections made by the characters. And the story is put together well, with good pacing and reveal timings.
The characters are wonderfully written; with backstories, their own development as well as their relationshipswith each other. I'm absolutely invested in them. (Is there artwork in the UK for this series? I would love to see them brought to life)

The Malevolent Eight is a fabulous second book and delivers all the fun and entertainment of the first. It will be a series I will definitely be recommending.

Side note/ message for author
Dear Mr De Castell,
Only you could have brought a vampire kangaroo to a story and made it make sense. (I shouldn't have been so surprised after Reichis the squirrel cat) The Malevolent series has truly captured my imagination and heart - it's fantasy at its best. I can't wait to see what book three has in store... You are writing book three right? In the words of Temper: Motherf$$ker

I was ecstatic to see that the Malevolent 7 would get a sequel (I believe there are two further instalments in the series to come) and the mercenary wonderists do not disappoint. Even if they are not the good guys, the main protagonist is more that a little reminiscent of Falcio of the Greatcoats and fans of that series might recognise shades of the characters in this band of misfits, who following the events of the Malevolent 7 have found themselves cast as reluctant heroes trying to prevent the apocalypse.

The early third of the book feels a little flat, for reasons that I cannot quite convey; do not be put off as before you know it, the pace settles and you will wonder if you imagined it. The book is a worthy sequel and I’m looking forward to the next instalment.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

The Malevolent Eight is a solid follow-up to The Malevolent Seven. It's fun, it's fast-paced, and it introduces a whole lot more chaos to an already chaotic world. In short, it's a great book! However, it's also a book that suffers somewhat from middle-book syndrome. For a reasonable chunk of it, there's not a whole lot going on and, while it's still a good read in those moments - it's not one of those books that drags at all - it does result in a 3.5-stars-rounded-down rating from me. I maintain that's still a good rating and, after that ending, it's easily still a series I want to continue. Much of what's exciting about this book is the way it tears down what you thought was true from the previous book, and also introduces new possibilities into the world of the series. It was a book I didn't want to put down for all of the time that I was reading it. All of this being said though, I do think de Castell's attempt at a romance between Cade and another character (I may have forgotten her name already) was incredibly weak. Good thing that's not remotely why I'm reading this series, is all I can say.

Everything you could want from a Sebastian de Castell book! I like that every one in the group (the eight) all have their own backgrounds and stories that impact the group. It reminds me a bit of the tv show 'Dexter' - You shouldn't be rooting for this group of people, but somehow, you do!