The Malevolent Seven: "Terry Pratchett meets Deadpool" in this darkly funny fantasy

· Hachette UK
4.6
20 reviews
Ebook
400
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

'Brilliant and vivid world-building . . . riveting' CHAD STAHLESKI, director of John Wick

'A masterful blend of Sebastien de Castell's unique brand of wry humour, elegant prose, and wonderfully imaginative worldbuilding. I devoured this book and loved every page' NICK EAMES, bestselling author of Kings of the Wylde

From the bestselling author of THE GREATCOATS: seven war mages with dark pasts must come together to fight an unknown enemy - but the stakes are higher than anyone can imagine . . . and someone's setting the seven up for a fall.

Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. The hat's a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing. 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).

Yep. Behold the mighty wizard.

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.

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 . . .

Readers love The Malevolent Seven!
'I absolutely loved this book. Immediately engaging characters and great world building - the story runs along at a breakneck pace and is gripping from start to finish' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

'Sassy and humourous . . . Sebastien makes characters that make you feel like you know them' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

'Really inventive and satisfying fun fantasy' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

'I honestly had so much fun reading this . . . easily one of my favorite reads of the year' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

'Well-written, intriguing, and highly entertaining!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

'Never felt so good routing for the bad guys' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

Ratings and reviews

4.6
20 reviews
Jennifer Luff
July 26, 2024
Best book I've read in ages ( and I'm aiming for a book a week this year! This is book 22. ) So well written. It is an "unputdownable" for me, read it in a couple of days. Funny, likable characters that are not perfect human beings (or human for that matter). Main character has his own moral musings as he goes about life, trying to make the world a better place without being obvious about it. I liked the storyline - building a team of 7 good for nothing mages to go take on 7 other images. Yes, some bits were predictable but getting the revelation was satisfying because it was well done and I don't feel the author was trying to hard to hide Cade's background. Angels, demons and a well thought out magic system really ticked boxes for me.
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Stefan
May 19, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyed it. a witty style of writing reminiscent of Terry Pratchett.
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Charlotte Jones
December 30, 2023
Really enjoyed reading it, it was/ different and I liked how it was written
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About the author

Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realised how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor and product strategist. His only defence against the charge of unbridled dilettantism is that he genuinely likes doing these things and that, in one way or another, each of these fields plays a role in his writing. He sternly resists the accusation of being a Renaissance Man in the hopes that more people will label him that way. Sebastien's acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series The Greatcoats was shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy, the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series Spellslinger was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages. Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats.

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