Synopsis
‘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 . . .
Review
“‘There has to be some way to escape!’ Green insisted.
Teenagers. They never appreciate the fundamental unfairness of existence.”
De Castell is probably my most favorite author I’ve discovered in recent years. I love the tone of his writing and this was another great read by him.
I didn’t instantly warm up to the characters as I did with Greatcoats but that is definitely my only nitpick in the book. It was fast paced, accessible, and had many different types of magic to keep me trudging on. But at one point, there is a reveal and from there the whole book shifts gears for me. The main character is sold on me and the whole book becomes compelling. I literally finished 80% of it in two days.
De Castell has his own brand of humor and it is on display here again. This also lends distinction to his characters’ dialogue. I am pretty sure the names can be removed and I will be able to tell you based on the dialogue- which of the seven characters said it. The action and the story are done really well too. The characters are all truly morally grey and lean towards clearly bad. They are hilarious though.
The world-building and magic deserves its own mentions. Only after reading the glossary/acknowledgements did I notice that there were actually 13 different types of magic in the book and even more fantasy elements. The Greatcoats series is a little lighter on the magic side but this one is actually chock full of it. My second most favorite character in this book is actually not a member of the main group but a demon.
“I chuckled at that, which was cruel given how terrified the two of them looked. I wasn’t trying to be mean; I just find it funny the way regular people talk about the Infernals. ‘Don’t panic,’ I said as I prepared the summoning, ‘as demons go, he’s actually kind of a nice guy.’”
I don’t think I can talk about the politics and the other world-building aspects without spoiling it, so I’ll just say that there are two great warring sides and very interesting things are afoot at the ending. Humanity is basically doomed and the Malevolent seven are in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation. While there are books where a rag tag group is dragged along to do an impossible task, the twists and turns that De Castell provides- only he can provide. I don’t think I have read a better subverter of tropes in all my fantasy. I’m so ready for The Malevolent Eight. Did I mention rat mage?
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