A failed mage learns that just because he’s not the chosen one it doesn’t mean he can’t be a hero in the fifth book of an adventure fantasy series from Sebastien de Castell. Kellen Argos is an outlaw spellslinger with a bad reputation, a long list of enemies, and zero luck. When he accidently smears blood on the Daroman flag, he’s dragged before the queen to be executed for his act of treason. … act of treason.
Face-to-face with the young monarch, Kellen is offered a chance to save himself. If he can defeat the queen at a game of cards, he’ll walk free. . .if not, his life is forfeit. But what begins as a game reveals a conspiracy against the queen’s life. And now, Kellen is not only playing for his own freedom, but also for the future of an empire.
Spellslinger SeriesSpellslingerShadowblackCharmcasterSoulbinderQueenslayer
For more from Sebastien de Castell, check out:
The Greatcoats QuartetTraitor’s BladeSaint’s BloodKnight’s ShadowTyrant’s Throne
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This book was my least favorite of the series so far. Kellen seems to be less capable/competent the further in we get and, unfortunately… somehow… his one trick is more diesel than ANY other mages’ arsenal…. maybe excluding his sister. That fact is both predictable and boring.
I’m usually intruiged by a good yarn steeped in gritty political machinations. In this book, however, it vacillated between snooze… shocking depravity back to snooze again. Could be awesome, right? It wasn’t. If I wasn’t so invested in this series I’d have given up midway through book #3- Charmcaster… it is THAT predictable/yawn inducing. This is definitely not suitable for all ages anymore… I’d say it’s now a firm PG13 + BUT I won’t judge it too harshly on that considering I’m most likely not its intended demographic.
Onto that ending. You wait out an entire book of MEH and get to the final scenes where the culmination will validate all of the time you devoted to this (audio)book/series and guess what?? It was a ginormous letdown!! The deaths were clinical… not an emotional reaction to be found… the ending was anticlimactic. There was one aspect that was interesting and not easily sussed out ahead of time and it had to do with the queen. Our MC, once again, did not up his game… he did not pass GO… he did not collect 200 dollars… he, under no circumstances, learned a new trick. Waa waa waaaaaaa. Maybe next book old chap.
What was redeeming?? You probably guessed it… the best/most consistent part of this entire series was the audiobook’s narrator who AGAIN, saved this (audio)book from the clutches of doom. My husband and I are both in agreement, this series is going downhill quickly. Thankfully there is only one more book to go and then we’ll be merrily on our way to a new series.
Original reiew: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/review-queenslayer-by-sebastien-de-castell/
Young Adult, Gore: I have checked on Goodreads to see if this book is still considered Young Adult by most people. In the first book, the author walked the limit between the Young Adult Epic Fantasy and Epic Fantasy. With each story, that line has been getting blurrier to the point where some parents could disapprove of their kids reading this story. Let’s say this saga has the same development as its main character.
Weak: Even though is a logical development, Kellen has become too rough and disenchanted with the world. Besides, the characters that could balance the bad aspects of his life are nowhere to be seen; so a character that was pretty fun to read has become a tedious kid with an scary predisposition to resolve his problems by killing anyone in his path. Yes, I know all of that is factored in the story, but in my opnion the author has sacrificed almost everything that made Kellen such a blast to follow in order to roughen his life… I miss the good old days, I guess.
Mystery: The best part of the book is the wonderful court intrigue in Darome. This time the story doesn’t rely on quick fights and crazy plans. It’s all about a hefty cast of characters with hidden agendas and sharper tongues and minds than swords. It is a chess match, where Kellen will have to play his part even though he doesn’t want to. This book is a bit harder to read because of that, but as a reward we are presented with several good twists that will keep the reader engaged.
The sgaa ends with the next book. I have no idea how the author is going to resolve everything in less than 500 pages. I hope he focuses all the energy into putting the cherry on the Jan’Tep plot. And making Shalla suffer. I have decided I don’t like her at all.