Cade is a magical mercenary with a mysterious past and a surprising amount of conscience for his chosen career. Don't mistake him for the good guy, though. It's hard to keep both your morals and life in a world that is being fought over by two opposing forces, one openly evil and one pretending to be good.

Let's talk about world-building first. In the beginning, there is a lot to grasp as we are bombarded with the workings of the magic system and the structure of the world. In short, the wizards of this world are able to connect to one other plane of existence and bring forth part of that plane's reality. Two of these planes belong to this world's spin on angels and demons, who are in a fight with each other, as usual, and humans are their soldiers.
Sebastien de Castell manages to mix familiar concepts with enough originality to pull out something that feels fresh.

Our main character is our guide throughout the world. I don't always enjoy the main character that talks to the reader as it can come off a bit cringy, but this time it was handled well. The story is also infused with a substantial amount of comedy, if of a somewhat dark kind.

Cade is an interesting morally grey character. A guy that does what needs to be done despite his conscience. This is especially put to shine when the whole ragtag group of characters comes together, as there is a whole spectrum of moralities in the group. Somehow they still manage to work together, if grudgingly. Needless to say that each character also has their own special ability to add to the mix.

The story was really interesting, but a bit chaotic. I love me some twists and turns but I also like to look back and see the signs and here there was very little that would be satisfying in retrospect. I know that some parts had to be done like that, so I don't blame the author for it. Although It did somewhat lower my enjoyment.

All in all, this book was a satisfying ride. The end settled the main storyline of this book, but there is definitely more left to tell, so I am pretty sure we are getting a sequel.

I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

Sebastien de Castell is one of my favorite authors and I discovered him here on NetGalley years ago. If you like swashbucklers then Sebastien is for you. Start with the Greatcoat series. Then try the Spellslinger books. This book is the beginning of yet a new series and it's good, but it didn't grab me as firmly as the Greatcoat books do. It's good, though a bit long. I like Cade Ombra and most of his companions and think that this too will be a sturdy series. The writing is the high quality we expect from the author. Read the others first though.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains a lot of gore, death, violence, torture, and generally scenes of vile behaviour. The world that this book is set in is very dark and people are often used and/or abused in a variety of ways by those in power. This often begins in childhood, and sexual and physical abuse of children is referenced at various points including a form of slavery that views sexual acts as “divine”. None of this is condoned, or takes place on page.

Two things drew me to The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell; it was by an author I had really enjoyed previously and the synopsis. I mean, who doesn’t love a book that openly mocks the trope of wizards and promises to show you what a “real” wizard? As someone who is not a fan of a certain epic fantasy, I’m the type of reader who loves books that subvert what’s expected of genres. It didn’t take long for me to start devouring this one, just like all the other de Castell books I’ve read.

The book opens in the middle of battle showing very clearly that our protagonist, Cade, and his companions are not the good guys. They’re mercenaries, wonderists (de Castell’s term for mages/wizards) for hire and at that moment in time they are working for Ascendant Lucien to help him take control of the lands of another Ascendant. As Cade’s friend explains, they get paid to conquer one group and then years later the second group hires them to kill the first group. Of course, Corrigan Blight uses a lot more curse words when he actually says it and if you’re not someone who likes cursing then this isn’t the book for you.

The Malevolent Seven is a dark fantasy book and is set in a world loosely based on the Christian mythology of heaven and hell. The world is ruled by the human worshippers of the Lords Celestine the benevolent rulers of the Auroral realms as they prepare for the Grand Crusade; the final confrontation with their enemies the Lords Devilish. The Lords Devilish are the rulers of the Infernal realms, and the two sides have been in conflict for millennia. The problem is that neither side can exist in the mortal realm, so until they can find a battlefield where they are able to do battle they build armies and use humans to help them gain any advantage they can.

When the job with Lucien goes sideways, Cade has nowhere else to run except towards a job that Corrigan has accepted – one that he had just turned down. It’s a suicide mission that requires seven mages to fight seven powerful mages. Cade soon finds that finding a team is easier said than done, as Corrigan leads him on a trip to fill the roster. As they begin to find members for their team and edge closer to their destination, revelations come to light that and Cade starts to realise that not everything as it seems.

De Castell has written a book that is dark and gritty with brutal honesty and humour mixed in. Bringing his skill for evocative storytelling and characters with layered backstories, this is de Castell without any restraints and writing complete chaos. It was a pleasure to read the wild and tempestuous Corrigan who at times felt like an immature teenager and other times was terrifying. There’s a rat mage who is both annoying and yet impossibly charming, with fascinating magic. Other characters I do not want to mention due to spoilers, but they are also fabulously interesting and captivating.

As for Cade himself, his backstory is brilliant. While The Malevolent Seven is very different to the Spellslinger series, I see similarities between Cade and Kel. Both of them are outsiders who do what they have to do to survive in a world that doesn’t want them to. They also very much have this attitude of “can you please just go away and leave me alone?” and the world doesn’t want to. There’s also an animal character, as seen on the cover, who while not quite squirrel cat material will worm his way into your hearts nonetheless.

The Malevolent Seven is not going to be a book for everyone. It’s a book about anti-heroes, and it’s description as being a fantasy Deadpool is right on the money. It’s being compared to Terry Pratchett, but having only read one book I can’t answer that. I can say that if you read The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnson then you will probably also love this.

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I bought this because the title made me smile and the cover shouted: NOT YOUR STANDARD D&D DERIVED FANTASY. The publisher's summary was intriguing but not necessarily reassuring. They gave up on trying to precisely the novel and went with he's a successful fantasy author already and a longish paraphrasing of the start of the book. Here's their pitch:

From the bestselling author of THE GREATCOATS and SPELLSLINGER: seven war mages with dark pasts and special powers must come together to fight an unknown enemy—but the stakes are higher than anyone can imagine . . . and someone's setting them up for a fall.

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

Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. No doubt he's wearing iridescent silk robes that couldn't protect his frail body from a light breeze. The hat's a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing, covered in esoteric symbols that would instantly show every other mage where this one gets his magic? Wouldn't want a simple steel helmet or something that might, you know, protect the part of him most needed for conjuring magical forces from being bashed in with a mace (or pretty much any household object).

Now open your eyes and let me show you what a real war mage looks like . . . but be warned: you're probably not going to like it, because we're violent, angry, dangerously broken people who sell our skills to the highest bidder and be damned to any moral or ethical considerations.

At least, until such irritating concepts as friendship and the end of the world get in the way.

My name is Cade Ombra, and though I currently make my living as a mercenary wonderist, I used to have a far more noble-sounding job title—until I discovered the people I worked for weren't quite as noble as I'd believed. Now I'm on the run and my only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited me to join him on a suicide mission against the seven deadliest mages on the continent.

Time to recruit some very bad people to help us on this job . .

My concern was that it might turn out to be an extended one-line joke, delivered as a 'see how cool we are?' pastiche of well-worn Sword and Sorcery tropes. I knew that that wouldn't hold my attention for 395 pages. Fortunately, Sebastien de Castell knew that too and delivered a novel with a lot more to offer than a bit of snark.

He devised a system of magic that sounded as feasible as any system of magic can to someone who doesn't believe in magic. Mages are born with an attunement to a nearby dimension that allows them to draw power from that dimension and weaponise it (I'm sure they could do other things with it but these guys LIKE weaponising their power). The type of power wielded depends on the dimension the mage is attuned to but most of them can be used to kill people in large numbers and blow stuff up like once-believed-to-be-impenetrable castle walls. Each mage is a walking Weapon Of Mass Destruction.

Weapons are only valuable to the people who wield them. In this case, the weapons are being deployed in a proxy war between the Celestials and the Diabolics. Don't judge them by their names. Both sides are happy to fight a proxy war, spreading death and destruction across a world that they can't even enter, because of some eternal feud.

The style of writing is unusual. Think Grimdark with a guilty conscience and a taste for ironic, self-deprecating humour. The novel abounds in violence, rape, abuse, cruelty and pointless but gleeful slaughter. What makes this not quite Grimdark is that our moody and soulful 'do NOT call me a hero' main character, Cade Ombra tortures himself with how bad he's become, how broken the world is and how betrayed he feels by all people and institutions he once committed his life to. It doesn't help that he can't get his power by drawing from another dimension. He has to get his spells by bartering with a demon and living with the price.

While I liked the style of the book, I was glad to find that there was more to it than that. There is an actual plot. Things are not (at all) what they seem. There's even some development for the characters (at least the ones that make it to the end without being killed in horrible ways.) with some people becoming easier to like, some impossible not to hate and some becoming even more themselves.

This was an entertaining read with some great action scenes, lots of good ideas, a few plot twists and a great deal of style. ( )