Spellslinger by Sebastien Castell

Hello all.

Today we’ll be talking about one of my absolute favourite authors, Sebastien Castell; the author of the Traitor’s Blade quartet and Spellslinger.  

Summary:

Kellen is moments away from facing his first mage’s duel and the start of four trials that will make him a spellcaster. There’s just one problem: his magic is gone. As his sixteenth birthday approaches, Kellen falls back on his cunning in a bid to avoid total disgrace. But when a daring stranger arrives in town, she challenges Kellen to take a different path. Ferius Parfax is one of the mysterious Argosi – a traveller who lives by her wits and the three decks of cards she carries. She’s difficult and unpredictable, but she may be Kellen’s only hope.

 My thoughts:

I liked the book. In fact I like all his books very, very much.

Sebastien Castell’s books read like they’ve all been written in the moment and he didn’t really know where he was going until he finished. He writes and writes and by the time he’s done with the book he’s got a plot.

Spellslinger has been one of those few confusing books that has everything in it but in fact nothing at all. Let me explain.

The main elements have already been done in multiple other novels but in remotely different ways.

There’s elemental magic but not your everyday elemental magic. Silk is one (?)

You’ve got your classic chosen failure who never becomes a hero.

And you’ve also got trials but such extremely relaxed ones with massively different concepts.

What I’m saying is that you’ve seen all of this before in other books but apart from the basic concept the semantics are quite different.

The writing as per usual was pretty nice.
Throughout the book you think you know what’s happening but at the end you’re surprised because he always puts this one element you forget to consider.  

Honestly, I think he’s one of my top five authors and I’m so glad.

Read this book my people. If you enjoy smartass protagonists with super cool sidekicks and crazy magic then read this. 

Happy Reading!

Advertisement