Spellslinger

My first go-round with de Castell's books were his incredible Greatcoats series. Now, I've been reading fantasy since I was six years old. (My mom got me the Dragonlance Chronicles for Christmas and I've been hooked since.) I have sampled all the realms, seen more magic systems than I care to count, and read enough pages about blood-soaked blades to last a lifetime. (Not mine...someone else's, though.)

The Greatcoats vaulted themselves into my pantheon of my favorite books. De Castell now sits on a shelf with Rafael Sabatini, Christopher Moore, Alex Bledsoe, Craig Johnson, Sherman Alexie, Terry Prachett, and Margaret Weis.

The Greatcoats had all the goods: wonderful characters, stupidly heroic stands against impossible odds, and some of the best dialogue I've ever read. Not to mention, the world building de Castell did was fantastic. The idea of Saints and Gods walking among people in a sort of pseudo-18th Century, pre-industrial revolution France-like place was incredible.

When TYRANT'S THRONE came out earlier this year, I pushed everything else off my reading shelf so that I could journey with Falcio, Kest, and Brasti once again. Now, sadly–that journey came to an end. De Castell promised they'd be back...someday.

Well, until that day occurs, we have a new hero in a different world in de Castell's new YA series: SPELLSLINGER.

Kellen is a young mage who is nearing the time of his trials. Pass them–he becomes a mage. Fail them, and he becomes a servant for mages. Only problem: Kellen has yet to spark any of the magical bands on his arms that help him focus his powers. His younger sister, Shalla, has sparked all six. She is growing to be a powerful mage, but Kellen has all but lost any power he once had.
In his quest to prove himself a mage of his clan, Kellen uncovers some hard truths about his people, and uncovers a mystery that threatens his family and society.

Like the Greatcoats series, this had everything I want: a solid hero who is too stupid not to take a punch, humorous banter, exciting set pieces where cleverness beats strength, and squirrel-cats.

I need a squirrel-cat.
It would all be fine and dandy if the book only had this going for it, but like a lot of YA literature, it doesn't stop there. Something YA often does better than stuffy adult fiction is to touch on themes that important to today's society, particular to the YA readership.

In SPELLSLINGER, de Castell finds the time and genius to make us think about oligarchy, about slavery, about living up to our parents' expectations, about what family really means, and about what it means to be true to yourself and accepting of who you are. In this aspect of the book, he delivers the best magic.

In the opening salvo of a new series that's sure to be another hit, SPELLSLINGER paves the way for a grand adventurer into a world that has just begun to be built. The second book in the series is already on the way, and it is at the top of my to-be-read list.

Five stars.

In het begin leek het wat teveel op een Harry Potter rip-off (tovenaarsleerling, school, aartsvijand, betweterige mede-leerlinge) maar dat verdwijnt snel op de achtergrond als een squirrel cat zich bij de hoofdpersoon voegt, een soort reuze vliegende eekhoorn met een te grote mond (letterlijk en figuurlijk).

“I started to object and then realised I was coming perislously close to entering into a debate with a creature who most likely greeted other members of his species by sniffing their backsides.”

3.5

4.5 stars

This was so good!! It was just exactly what I was in the mood for at the time so was the perfect book to listen to.

I love that this has such a fun and quirky tone, it was fast paced and imaginative so was a quick read/listen.

I loved the narration by Joe Jameson, who is always brilliant, so I will definitely be continuing soon.

I've only read a couple books from this author, but he is becoming one of my faves. I love his writing style. This is a fun one.

Infuriating, endearing, hilarious. Immediately a new favorite series.

That was super engaging and fast-paced (hey, I finished it at 3AM and I'm old woman needing my beauty sleep). I would like to see where it all is going next.

This is the type of a book I love coming into with exactly no expectations what so ever and Spellslinger delivered! I've loved the story from start to almost-finish. The cast of characters is great and fun. Kellen as a protagonist is perfect and his journey is also just fun to read.

The one thing I've not enjoyed was the final few pages before the epilogue. While the epilogue was fantastic, the prior chapter was a bit meh. Besides that however, I'm in love with this series.

howd u not love kellen n his squirrel cat ????

Well... yeah. This was a thing. Not nearly as great as Greatcoats, but it's a thing, I guess. Kellen is part of a desert-dwelling civilisation of magical people. You basically have to pass exams as a teenager, kind of as a coming of age ritual, unlocking the different kinds of magic one can use. The results decide if you will become a proper citizen or a slave. Kellen is fucked big, big time, as he can't really do magic. So what does he do? Wing the shit out of it, of course, just trick everyone and make it sound like he totally does magic (reminds me of a few of my exams, lol). Gets caught, of course. So to survive without ending up being a slave, he needs the help of this mysterious woman who just showed up, without any magic, equipped with... cards. I have no idea what happened, but as likeable and warm everyone was in Greatcoats, this one just had thing happening after thing and thing, with douche-y characters fucking things up for each other. Not even the ones who were supposed to be good people were in any way likeable. This is coming from someone who enjoys reading about Littlefinger in ASOIAF. That tells a lot. I can enjoy things about evil people. Really. Sand Dan Glokta in Abercrombie's [b:The Blade Itself 944073 The Blade Itself (The First Law #1) Joe Abercrombie https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1284167912s/944073.jpg 929009] (which I have recently finished, need to get back on that series) was fun to read, even though the dude is a torturer, with a wretched, ruined life. But these people, oh god, they were colossal cunts, the whole lot of them. One thing that added a lot to the characters in Greatcoats was the humour, which did not exist in this world. Everyone is such a stuck up moron, they don't know how jokes work or I don't know. I really missed that, Sebastien De Castell CAN make me laugh until I cry. Don't hide that, man. It's a treasure. An interesting thing though; I'm in the middle of [b:The Codex Alera 26065518 The Codex Alera (6 Books) Jim Butcher https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439088402s/26065518.jpg 46000711] by Jim Butcher, another series with a young man lacking magic in a world where it is needed for power and status. At this point I prefer Tavi, though. So yeah. The first half of the book gave me flashbacks of [b:Assassin's Apprentice 77197 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1464570795s/77197.jpg 171715], which is NOT a good thing. That book to me was one chain of passionless melancholy and bad things happening to a dull character. Here it wasn't so bad that it made me legitimately depressed (yes, Robin Hobb made me so, it was baaad), but it wasn't good. The second part picks up. The action gets better, a new talking animal character with a sassy attitude and a foul mouth made things much more fun. I see the potential there. It can become something interesting, something fun to read. The length probably didn't allow that, but the author is fast as hell, so if everything goes right we'll read more of it THIS YEAR. Which connects to another thing. The scope of this is small. Just one desert town that seemingly doesn't have much contact without anyone else, they are very isolated, even when it comes to their own nation. There are things out there, they get mentioned, but without us seeing anything further than just the empty territory outside the town limits. The story ends with Kellen leaving, so it's obviously going to have much more travelling now, which I don't mind, it will give things more action and something I enjoy, exploration. Right now I'm not too invested. It wasn't a horrible book, but I know the author can do much, much better, so basically we'll have to wait and see if that happens here or we'll get stuck with one more series that doesn't live up to its potential. (Looking at you, [b:Shadow and Bone 10194157 Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1339533695s/10194157.jpg 15093325]) Have a nice day and change the whole entirety of society, one exam cheating at a time!