The Malevolent Seven is a fast-paced, gritty back-stab-fest of magic and the blurred lines between good and evil. Cade Ombra, mage mercenary is fresh off the battlefield having won for his employer (a supposed divine prince) only to be told their next task was to murder all of the survivors of the losing side. Overcome by conscience, he decides to take matters into his own hands, only to find that someone has beaten him to it and murdered the prince, a crime he was going to commit, but didn't, but for which he is arrested. Ombra soon finds himself in the middle of numerous forces moving him and his growing team around like chess pieces as the fate of the world starts to become the stakes.
This was a fast-paced, witty and gripping story where there was enough exposition of the elaborate magic system, but not to Sanderson levels. The cast of characters were unique and well established with witty dialogue between them and each brought something to the team.
The blurb referred to this as "Pratchett meets Deadpool", which I scoffed at, but damnit if it doesn't fall right in that gap (maybe not quite the same level of humour as Sir Terry, but enough lightheartedness, and all the witty narrative of Deadpool).
A gripping and entertaining read.

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/05/09/the-malevolent-seven-by-sebastien-de-castell/
My FIve Word TL:DR Review : I Didn’t Love This One

This is one of the books I requested last year that was derailed when family issues took centre stage. I’m trying to catch up with some of my backlist books this year and with that in mind bought the audio for this one so that I could read and listen to it. To be fair, although I didn’t love it this was an easy read. It has plenty of wit, interesting magic and characters that are both bad and good and this is an author that I really like and enjoy his sense of humour.

The narrator is Cade Ombra, a mercenary wonderist who isn’t as bad as he likes to think. Basically, anyone who practices magic is known as a wonderist. The magic is fuelled, if you will, by different elements or in Cade’s case, the demonic realm. Cade can summon demons, in particular he has one demon that acts as his agent and supplies him with magical spells – although this is in exchange for other goods – nothing is free. As the story begins Cade and the other wonderists are at the end of their current mission, basically warring and murdering and are offered a new and lucrative mission, one that Cade is not keen to engage with given it’s deadly nature. Long story short Cade winds up being hijacked into the mission and he sets off with his buddy (of sorts) and a couple of others in search of some other team members Seven is the magic number after all.

So, my thoughts and feelings are as follows.

I love the writing and the sense of humour and this isn’t really a surprise for me with this particular author as I already know that I enjoy his style.

This is one of those cheeky, tongue in cheek type stories that isn’t afraid to poke fun at some of the tropes. On top of this the characters don’t fall into that ‘all out good or bad’ bracket. There are plenty of grey areas here. Cade for example keeps things from his fellow wonderists, secrets that he is afraid would make them think less of him. But.although this story relies on a good dose of humour this is balanced out by an equal dose of grimdark, death and blood.

Something about this author always gives me a swashbuckling feel to his stories and that’s also something I really like.

I think the plot was a little thin however and although we had skirmishes along the way I felt my concentration waning at certain points. Like I said, I had no problem reading this but at the same time there were definite highs and lows and times where I felt the plot was in need of some strengthening.

Overall, I certainly didn’t dislike this book. It was definitely an easy read but on balance I prefer the latest series by this author – the Court of Shadows.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.

The above is my own opinion.

Sebastien De Castell is an autobuy author for me. I have loved everything that he has written and this was no exception. I loved the characters. Loved the plot and cannot wait to see what he releases next.

I loved the witty, darkly humorous writing style of this book, the protagonist's voice was really strong and although I hadn't read the previous books in the series, I was able to work out enough from the protagonist's reactions and attitude towards events that I was able to follow along. The worldbuilding and magic were intriguing, and I also enjoyed learning more about the secondary characters, each with their own motivations which really did make it feel like a D&D campaign in novel form!

📚 r e v i e w 📚

the malevolent seven - sébastien de castell

at this point, i don’t think sébastien de castell can write a book i don’t like. after binging the spellslinger series last year, i was looking for something as witty and irreverent with a more grown up edge and sébastien came through.

the malevolent seven is super witty, full of morally grey characters and has dungeons and dragons energy that is accessible and interesting. whether you’re a fan of fantasy or not, you’ll enjoy this - it is fun enough for you to bump along learning about the magic system but also pokes fun at various fantasy tropes - which those of us who are familiar with fantasy novels will find meta. no one writes humour quite like sébastien de castell and i am praying to all deities that this will become a series.

the malevolent seven is out now - make sure to give it a read and then devour the rest of his backlist.
thank you to @netgalley for the early copy

This was my first experience reading Sebastien's work, and I will definitely explore his other works after reading this.

I liked the story very much. Sebastien de Castel's tortured, morally grey characters are so enjoyable and interesting to read. The world-building was took some time, and was definitely a 'trust the author' to give you what you need situation. It takes some time until you glean all the information. But the plot was unique and not an obvious read.

I absolutely loved this! Sebastien De Castell is one of my favourite authors and this book did not disappoint! His writing was perfect and I really enjoyed the growth of all of the characters.

My only slight gripe is a very personal one and I feel like this would have been better as a duology to flesh parts of the story out - but that could also be because I usually don't like standalones because I love big worlds with lots of world building and character development. This was just missing a little bit of that for me as this is a fairly short standalone

I was so excited to read this one, and I wanted to love this book, but this story and these characters just didn't work for me. I have loved the books by Sebastian De Castell. I have read so far, but this one just wasn't for me 😪

Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus Books, and Sebastian De Castell for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this title in exchange for this honest review.

The book was decent, i suppose. I wasnt overly invested in the story alas and my atention started slipping about halfway through.

The Malevolent Seven is my first experience of reading something by Sebastien de Castell and I was not disappointed. It was funny, dark and thoroughly entertaining.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

(Not to be confused with maleficent Seven by Derek Landry) A jobbing wizard who is a bit of a bastard, but not a complete bastard gets manipulated and blackmailed into taking on a job. Blackly funny, with some interesting worldbuilding.

I was a huge fan of Sebastien de Castell's Greatcoats series and so was eagerly anticipating this one. I think perhaps my expectations were a little high because I did struggle to get into this one initially.

The Malevolent Seven is a very enjoyable read, its quick and witty and full of interesting, outrageous characters, must like Castell's previous works. The book follows a group of mercenaries after a job goes terribly wrong and they have to go on the run. The characters as always were brilliant and the pace was fast and kept me reading. The fight scenes were heart racing, and possibly my favourite part of the book and the banter, well, Castell really shines when it comes to that.

I did feel that this one wasn't as strong as his previous works but that could just be bias. I consider the Greatcoats to be among one of my favourite series and this one had a lot to live up to.

All in all though it was an enjoyable read, and another funny, down-to-earth, fantasy ride.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC!

The Malevolent Seven by Sebastian de Castell

3.5 STARS

I do enjoy Sebastian de Castell's work and his previous Spellslinger series was a favourite. This is an odd mix of anti-hero's who become the hero's but not quite - I enjoyed it; others will not. The overall layout - think MCU but the opposite.

"In case I hadn’t made this clear already, we’re not exactly the good guys.”

I went into this book not fully knowing what to expect, except that I was 100% sold on the blurb and you know what?...it totally delivered!

In this story we follow our main protagonist, Cade Ombra, a mercenary wonderist (in this world, a specialist mage with an affinity for different magics) who finds himself in a spot of bother when a job he is working on goes TOTALLY tits up, so unable to deal with the fallout, he finds himself jumping into the next job...which he isn't entirely sold on.

As a condition of this job, he must acquire another six wonderists to make up to a band of seven...what follows is the collection of the strangest, most wonderful rag-tag band of characters ever.

I was totally hooked on the writing style of this book, short chapters that suck you into the world and the humour throughout was so well done and had me laughing out loud A LOT. I cannot wait to see where Sebastien de Castell takes us with these characters next, because I find I am really quite attached to them all now, despite how questionable some of them are - I NEED more!!

Thanks so much netgalley and publisher for the ARC! I had such high hopes for this one that I went and pre-ordered a nice signed edition even before I finished it - score!

This is my first time reading a De Castell book and boy, it did not disappoint! Apart from being drawn to the blurb and the cover, I went into this blind, having no idea about his writing style and I loved it from the first page. Wonderist Cade is our narrator, an anti hero who is certain he's one of the bad guys, leading us on an adventure in a truly new and interesting magical yet grim world.

I instantly warmed to Cade, he's one of my favourite types of protagonist. A morally grey, cynical narrator with lots of skeletons hiding in his cupboard. He spends his time questioning his morals and those of the various wonderists about him. He's joined by a range of mismatched characters, forced to go on a quest he has no interest in. The banter in this book is perfect, I genuinely LOL'd throughout the book.

I enjoyed the magic system though at times, it did feel a bit overwhelming trying to understand the world of the Aurorals V's the infernals and how magic fits in within these, however, I think that's necessary worldbuilding for the series I truly hope follows on from this one.

I'm so happy I've discovered a new favourite author. I'll certainly be looking at his back catalogue while I wait for book 2 (fingers crossed)

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an arc in return for an honest review. 4.5 stars for this one.

It feels like its been a while since a new Sebastien de Castell book has come out, so I’ve eagerly awaiting getting stuck into this one.

The Malificent Seven is at heart an extremely fun read. It follows a group of misfit mercenaries after a job that goes wrong. The characters are diverse and quite mad, and the story rattles on at a very quick pace. As ever the fight scenes are brilliantly written, and the authors humour always shines through.

I feel like the plot wasn’t as strong as the author’s Greatcoat or Spellslinger books, and lacked some of the depth of those books. However this was still an enjoyable standalone read.

I found it really difficult to connect with this book. Partly, because I ended up reading it in short chapters during several months, but then again, it never pulled me in for more than that at a time. I liked Cade well enough, but his inner monologue was never as clever as the author probably hoped and it ended up irritating me. Maybe I should've figured it out already from the back copy when I didn't find the voice there funny. Story was good enough and the world was interesting, hence the three stars.

Excellent start to a wild new series. A strong set of diverse and interesting characters and a narrator that can scarcely be trusted. The Malevolent Seven is violent, visceral, fantasy at it's very best, underpinned by a dark humour that fits the tone and theme of the story.
With a compelling storyline, an intriguing world, an intelligent magic system, and an intriguing cast, this would appear to be the start of a fantastic series. A pleasure to read.

De castell smashes it out of the aprk again!!. I dont feel like this man can do any wrong.

This is quite different from his other work in the content but his humour ahd writing style shines through and i fell in love with this book

I hadn't read anything by Sebastien de Castell before this but felt like I absolutely had to after the hype from a number of friends about his work, and I ended up purchasing the special edition from The Broken Binding.

It took me a little while to read in between work and other life tasks but I did end up enjoying this quite a lot.

It was a sort of chaos that amalgamated into a totally unforeseen conclusion and it sort of ended up like it wasn't a happily ever after as all the characters were just fighting for their lives rather than a cause which I do enjoy occasionally in an ending with these types of characters.

A great example of a story with a morally grey crew being the main focus with some Dresden/Sherlock level of cleverness pulling off their heists despite having been thrown together to do this job.

I think should the opportunity arise I would definitely read more stories by this author.