Spellslinger

Spellslinger Series, Book 1

By: Sebastien de Castell

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

A would-be mage with no magic of his own has to defeat powerful enemies with only cunning and deception in the first book of an exciting adventure fantasy series from Sebastien de Castell.

Kellen is moments away from facing his first duel and proving his worth as a spellcaster. There's just one problem: his magic is fading.

Facing exile unless he can pass the mage trials, Kellen is willing to risk everything - even his own life - in search of a way to restore his magic. But when the enigmatic Ferius Parfax arrives in town, she challenges him to take a different path. 

One of the elusive Argosi, Ferius is a traveller who lives by her wits and the cards she carries. Daring, unpredictable, and wielding magic Kellen has never seen before, she may be his only hope. 

The first novel in a compelling six-book series, bursting with tricks, humor, and a whole new way to look at magic.

Spellslinger Series:

• Spellslinger
• Shadowblack
• Charmcaster

For more from Sebastien de Castell, check out:

The Greatcoats Quartet

• Traitor's Blade
• Saint's Blood
• Knight's Shadow
• Tyrant's Throne

©2018 Sebastien de Castell (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"There's room for wit and playfulness amid the high-stakes duels and death matches, and Kellen's career is likely to run and run." (The Observer - UK)

"A bucket-load of tension is offset with humour, power struggles, lots of magic and some great characters. Fantasy junkies will devour with relish." (Guardian - UK)

"An intriguing system of magic, wry humor, and a twisting plot make for an entertaining series debut." (Kirkus)

Magic

if you love animals and don't want to read about them getting hurt, then this is not for you. it has magic, cards, rebellion, slaves, and flying cat squirrels.

One of the best coming of age stories

Recently the fantasy books on audible have been a grind to finish. that's not the case with this book.The characters are relatable and the story never had a slow moment. It started strong and keep the momentum until the very end. I can wait for the next one.

In regards to the narrator of the story. in my option he fit well for the book.

hope that helps,

Albert

Missed potential

This series had a lot of potential, but never really followed through. You keep expecting the characters to find an interesting solution to their problems but throughout the first three books, this boils down to not-so-witty banter or blowing shit up; there's really no middle ground. The protagonist is bland, amd the supporting characters are just irritating. Pretty good narration, though.

squallcat

the squallcat steals the show, I waited the entire book to see the heri. not sure I liked the book I feel like I am missing information

Good story

It was a good story, though the animal cruelty was too much for me at times, liked the greatcoats better

Interesting but not interesting

I wanted to like the book, I really did. Enter the magical world of Kellen, an initiate mage who lacks any real magic. He hopes to be a mage so that he can avoid being placed in the servant class. The magic in the book is not explained that well, it consist of magic tattoo/bands that create a link between the caster and the element. The magic is controlled through a somatic gestures, will power, and incantations. There were many ways this could be explored but it just falls flat. The author does not go into any further detail and magic doesn't feel like magic, more like background noise. The book description had me believe Kellen would gain a unique new magical power and learns to control it. Instead you get little magic exploration, lot of useless running around, bullies that are so 1 dimensional it hurts to read (or hear) and a central plot that is so uninteresting I sped through it because it was dragging on.

The side characters, Rykus and Ferius were extremely disappointing. You expected some deep mystery behind them. I mean one is literally the combination of a squirrel and a cat. Instead it's just a talking, annoying, hyper-aggressive kitty.

I gave the performance 4 stars because I thought the voices were great, just a little odd. Every character had a different accent, the main character's accent was different than his parents and sister. That just seems really odd and off putting.

ehhhh little too grounded.

the author seems to want to subvert expectations by making the main character boring because nothing you hope for or expect actually happens. it's nice to be surprised but there's a fine line between suprise and disappoinment.

the worst line ever

So the book is overall decent but the last line of the book is so bad, so very bad. It turned me away from the rest of the series.

An okay story.

It's not a bad story. I did enjoy the use of ancient Egyptian aspects as inspiration, vs the more common Norse/Celtic. It just never manged to grip me. The characters all felt just a little bland.

in love

that's it I'm hooked. I'm in love with the series and can't seem to get enough of it. it's made me laugh it's made me cry and it's made me cheer for Kellen the entire time