TL;DR Review: Equal parts hilarious, thrilling, emotional, and riveting. So much depth and insight wrapped up in an always-entertaining fantasy story.
Synopsis:
The third utterly compelling fantasy adventure in the ARGOSI trilogy, exploring the origins of the SPELLSLINGER series to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers alike.
While liberating a notorious thief from prison, Ferius Parfax encounters an inmate named Chedran, one of the last living members of her people, the Mahdek. Chedran is leading a group of young Mahdek who are determined to make a future for their people and Ferius agrees to help them find a place where they can live free from persecution.
Meanwhile, having repaid her debt to the thief, Ferius finds her feelings towards Arissa becoming more complicated as she decides what debt she owes the society into which she was born.
Full Review:
There is always so much to love about an Argosi book: the irreverent and often sarcastic tone of the narrative, the unpredictable nature of the adventure, the wild and colorful critters and characters who make an appearance, and the fascinating insight into the four Ways and seven Arts of the Argosi.
But what makes it one of my all-time favorite series by Sebastian de Castell is the depth of emotionality woven into the epic story. And Fate of the Argosi takes bigger, bolder, more emotional swings than ever, offering a truly satisfying conclusion to the Spellslinger prequel trilogy.
In Fate of the Argosi, our daring and dashing heroine Ferius Parfax is paying off her debts—to none other than Arissa, the leader of the Black Galleon gang who took her in and trained her in the thief’s arts. Arissa is, in large part, the reason Ferius survived the horrific events that left her entire Mahdek clan destroyed and her desperate, alone, and wandering.
Inevitably, Arissa is locked up in the deepest, darkest, vilest, and most impenetrable dungeon around, a dungeon from which there is no escape. So what is Ferius to do but immediately set off to break her out?
In her breakout, she also finds herself helping another inmate escape. Chedran is immediately surly—really, a giant a**hole, to her in particular—but because of the keen insight offered by the Argosi arts, Ferius helps him to flee and brings him back to a very special group of people.
I won’t spoil the big surprises and overall story arc, but suffice it to say, it wraps up Ferius’ Mahdek journey in a truly satisfying and emotionally complex manner. We’re treated to fascinating insights into the minds and hearts of people who have been persecuted and killed to the verge of extinction, spread around the world, forced to hide and beg and steal and live on the run for fear of the mages hunting them.
Of course, at its core, the story is about Ferius and her journey—not only to better understanding the Ways and Arts of the Argosi, but understanding herself and the people around her. In stealing her heart, Arissa presents a complication that she struggles to wrap her mind around. And, of course, the path she’s chosen for herself—the Path of the Wild Daisy, a path of resilience and a refusal to lie down and give up even when things seem darkest—more often than not make her life difficult.
But it’s always worth it, for becoming a true Argosi means fully understanding yourself and the world through which you move. That is Ferius’ goal, and her journey to self-realization and empathy is truly spectacular—and has been since the first pages of Way of the Argosi.
Where Fall of the Argosi was more visceral in its emotional moments, Fate of the Argosi plays with your head as well as your heart. You can’t help but being dragged along with the unstoppable and unflappable Ferius, and by the end, you’re left utterly satisfied with the person that she’s become in contrast with who she was when the series first started. But there’s still plenty left to discover before we meet her in the pages of Spellslinger!
One of the things that I most appreciate about the Argosi series—and, honestly, De Castell’s writing overall—is the immense attention paid to even tiny details. Especially when it comes to jus how much is revealed by what people say and don’t say. The Argosi arts help Ferius (and, through her, us) to decipher the deeper meanings of conversations, gestures, body language, even silences and stillness, and every time I read one of these books, I find myself growing more aware of both my own communication and that of people around me.
The Argosi arts reveal a surprising and fascinating depth of understanding of humanity that would be expected of a psychology book, not a fantasy novel. But never is it preachy or boring; everything is related through Ferius’ cowboy drawl and Wild West cynicism.
It’s a book that’s equal parts hilarious, thrilling, emotional, and riveting. If I wasn’t already a fan of the author’s works, Fate of the Argosi would have me diving into every other series he’s written.
Give yourself the pleasure of this insightful, entertaining, and touching read. You will walk away better for it!
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