My book reviews for the Malevolent Series by Sebastien de Castell, including The Malevolent Seven and The Malevolent Eight. Please be aware that the review for the second book contains spoilers.

Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. The hat's a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing. 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).

Yep. Behold the mighty wizard.

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.

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 . . .

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

Please note
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I’m a huge fan of Sebastien de Castell’s Spellslinger series and the prequel Fall of the Argosi trilogy, so when I saw he had a new book out, I couldn’t hit request fast enough. The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell is quite a bit different to that series, yet, in many ways, similar.

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 is? 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 a 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 is 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 at 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 its 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.

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 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.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

Until The Malevolent Eight by Sebastien de Castell popped up on NetGalley, I had not realised that this was going to be a series. I loved the previous book and was excited to find that the story continued! The hijinks and chaos continue, somehow managing to surpass the events in the first book. At the end of The Malevolent Seven, the ragtag group of wonderists had been duped. Believed to be saving the world by defeating the Seven Brothers and therefore, stopping the Pandoral realm invasion, they found out that they had instead opened the way for the Aurorals and Infernals to enter the mortal plane. They were now free to start their long-foretold Grand Crusade, an epic battle where mortals are the cannon fodder.

There has to be something wrong with anyone who wants to get in the middle of that battle. Cade and his group more than fit that bill, especially when they’ve got a bone to pick after being set up. Taking on both sides of the war, they aim to do anything, kill anyone, to protect the mortal realm from an apocalypse they had no choice in. With an ex-Glorian Justiciar, tempestuous thunderer, vengeful angelic, traumatised blood mage, skilful Rat mage, zealous infernal and bloodthirsty kangaroo (yes, you read that correctly), they might stand a chance… or at least die trying.

They’re ready and willing to do just that, picking battles on either side one by one. It seems like a pretty solid plan until a mysterious figure appears and warns them off their plan. Promising dire consequences, they give a show of power that shows they can deliver. What puzzles Cade is that the stranger claims a history with him, one he has no recollection of.

As their simple plan to cause chaos and die trying becomes more complicated, Cade keeps a dangerous secret from his companions, one that will change everything between them.

The Malevolent Eight had me screaming – in all the right ways. More outlandish, more drama, and more chaos. This is one of those books that is hard to put into words. De Castell pushes the boundaries even further with every moment of chaos carefully constructed and connected. There are some huge surprises in this book, including a massive easter egg for de Castell fans. Then, of course, there is the bloodthirsty kangaroo who is, in a word, magnificent.

As with the previous book, this is a dark, bloody book with plenty of cursing and will not be everyone’s cup of tea. If that sounds like it is right up your alley, then pick up book one, The Malevolent Seven, ASAP!

Thanks for reading my book review for the Malevolent Series by Sebastien de Castell!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

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