Spellslinger is the first in the YA series of the same name by Sebastien de Castell. The story opens by introducing us to Kellen, a magic student, about to start his mage trials by facing his first mage's duel. There's only one problem: Kellen's magic has faded. In a society that values magical ability above all, this is problematic and Kellen finds himself looking for alternatives to get through these trials before he is declared Sha'Tep, one without magical ability, and cast out from society.

This makes for an interesting start to a series. Kellen is a nice kid, stuck in a bad position that he should never have been in, who does a decent job of relying on his wits to survive. Who doesn't enjoy a plucky underdog? He's eventually joined by Ferius, a wandering Argosi who tends to end up where world changing events are starting, and Reichis, a squirrel cat. Reichis is surprisingly funny in a furious way. Ferius is interesting. I'm curious what it really means to be an Argosi.

The setting is supposed to be in another part of the Greatcoats univerise, which is interesting, and yet seems vastly different than what was presented in that series. Too bad the society Kellen is part of, the Jin'Tep, is pretty awful. Their relationship with the Sha'Tep is equally horrible the more you learn about it. Hell, even Kellen's family, especially his sister, are fairly awful. It made me sympathetic to Kellen's plight and also a little to that of the Sha'Tep, though I don't think their actions can be excused either. Fair warning - there is harm to animals in this book so if you're sensitive to this you may want to steer clear.

In the end Kellen's story show promise of better things to come and I'll likely seek out the second book in the future. ( )

I liked it, it was a little more juvenile than I thought it would be. It is a good started book to a series. ( )

It was a fun read, with an overall theme that was engaging. Unfortunately, the writing structure detracted from the story, with too much time spent on action and fanciful descriptions of the mechanics of spell casting.

Reader engagement was easily lost with the clumsy side explanations for backstory as "conversations" between participants, and character development of the supporting people was skimpy. However, the author had the bones of a great plot and an interesting theme. It will be intriguing to see if the next book in the series realizes its potential because Kellen and Ferius were great main protagonists. ( )

My husband, daughter and I listened to this audiobook in fits and starts every night before bed and I am extatic to report that we enjoyed every single moment in this world, with these characters... listening to the vocal minstrations, intonations, articulations and other vocal mastery exhibited by the narrator, Joe Jameson!!

This book revolves around a young boy named Kellen. Kellen is in the midst of taking his mage exams and is not really mage material. There are many other things he is not but one thing is for sure... he sure is Clever and Clever can (almost always) beat Gifted if you know how & when to use it.

Sébastien de Castell gifted us with a witty, charming, well written YA Magically Realistic Fantasy with robust and relateable characters and a detailed and lush background. The Magical/societal tiers were a little tropey with the alphas being powerful magic wielders and those without magical ability considered powerless and made to serve the mages as their plebs... that is until an Argosi woman moseys on in and turns Kellen's (and his whole clan's) Life topsy-turvy. When Ferius Parfax comes to town she offers Kellen a chance at a new future, one that can possibly change, not only his Life but the whole World.

It was unanimous... nearly all of the characters were evocative and elicited extreme emotional responses from we 3... that almost never happens. Finding a story that my finicky 38 year old Husband as well as my precocious 11 year old daughter can agree on is nearly a herculean feat YET each family member not only loved/loathed these characters but each eagerly relinquished some much needed zzzzzz(s) as we headed straight on over to book #2, Shadowblack.

Overall:

Hubby (38 years old): "I loved how how realistic it was... things didn't always work out easily and the MC (Kellen) was quick witted and clever. This was a solid 4.5 Stars."
- FYI, that's a HUGE endorsement coming from my, mainly middle of the road, "everything's MEH", 3 Star rater.

Miss A (my 11 yo daughter): " This book was slow to start but got better and better the longer we listened. The characters were great. I especially liked the squirrel-cat Rikus who was really Badass and extremely sassy."

Yes she really said Badass and NO, she's not supposed to say that word but alas... the girl has a point so I left it in the review.
Anyway... she continued...

"I also liked Ferius Parfax because she was a butt kicker and didn't apologize for being that way like some other female characters do in other books. The narrator was excellent. I give this 3.5 stars."

Myself (cough, cough, mumble mumble years old): This book has been on my teetering TBR pile for a while now and I'm glad we got around to it as a family because it was a crowd (if you also think 3 can be a crowd) pleaser. The writing was witty, non verbose yet not boring or too succinct. The deep, well fleshed out characters stole the show. The background building was decent if not a bit tropey. I reccomend enjoying this as an audiobook because the narrator was excellent and truly made this good read, great! A definite 4.5 Stars.

~ Enjoy ( )

Recommended to me by 10yr old niece, so a very different reading profile! I enjoyed this quite a lot, despite it's obvious targeting at a younger age group. It's a well developed world with some interesting ideas, not quite explored in as much detail as I would like, but cleverly done.

Kellen is the elder son of a famous magic-using clan. However he has almost no magic at all and has been surviving on his wits with a little help from his friends and youngest (but prodigal) sister. Now on the eve of his 16th birthday the time has come to put pretense aside and face the four trials all magicians are required to complete or face being relegated to the menial classes like his uncle. The Prince Regent has finally died after 300 years of rule, so the trials are especially important as the Family are key supporters behind every mage, and Kellen's father is widely tipped to become the new ruler. The first Trial goes well, Kellen picks an overconfident opponent and manages to trick his way through - however his own sister see's what happened, and in the resulting confrontation Kellen is injured and only the care of a passing stranger manages to recover. The stranger is an older woman quick-tongued, irreverent and totally without any magic, as many neighbouring lands are. However she still manages to make her way in the world catographing major events - she claims she's here to witness the transfer of the Regent's power. But Kellen's own quick wits intrigue her, and the pair strike up and unlikely bond.

It is fun, the balance between the Kellen's youthful seriousness and Ferius's disrespect work well. The plot as with all YA is very fast moving, which brings the usual YA downsides - there's very little room for introspection, character growth or explanation of events. Everything is fine from Kellen's point of view, but the world is not centered around him, and in the wider context doesn't always make sense. There's some hope that a few events might be explained in later books, but some key events already seem to just be passed over. Kellen doesn't seem at all effected by the deaths of some of his extended family; the Regent's wife despite having equal experience and power doesn't even get considered; a big deal is made about companion animals, but when his sisters dies no-ones seems particularly concerned, and Kellen's own behaves very strangely despite not being actually summoned, etc etc. The inventiveness is always well done, I'm a great fan of characters using their wits to overcome challenges instead of raw force, and Kellen does this very well. The slightly sarcastic humour isn't too badly overdone, although probably funnier to the YA readers.

Enjoyable, I'll read the rest of the series in due course. ( )