Spellslinger by Sebastien De Castell Review

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition of The CW Torch! It's been a while since I last posted anything, and that was mainly due to a creative block I've been having these last couple of months. I've been trying to figure out what I want to dedicate this blog to and I think it will mainly be for reviews and reading vlogs. So I thought I would come back with a review of one of my favorite books that I've read so far this year. At the beginning of this month, I finished reading Spellslinger (Spellslinger Series #1) by Sebastien De Castell, and instantly fell in love with it. I wasn't sure how I was going to like it because I've heard so many conflicting reviews on it, from Booktuber's who I actively follow and trust with their opinions. A few of them loved it and some not so much, but I was happy to be on the end of loving it, because it was something I was really looking forward to picking up! So I thought I would review it!

Spellslinger by Sebastien De Castell

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

CAWPILE RATING: 4 Stars (8.93)

Characters: 9

Atmosphere: 8.5

Writing: 9

Plot: 8.5

Intrigue: 9

Logic: 8.5

Enjoyment: 10

Review:

What really stood out to me with this book was the author's writing style. I was instantly hooked from the very start because I felt that Sebastien De Castell's writing style was very enticing, logical and at the same time very pretty. It was something I wasn't expecting with what this book was about, for the book to have such a pretty writing style. Yet, at times the author also had a very humorous and witty way of writing, as I found myself chuckling a bit here and there. It was very easy to stay intrigued because I felt the writing style perfectly matched the characters personalities and the logic of the magic system. It was very easy to read and understand, and at the same time very gripping. It was definitely the type of book that I couldn't put down and one that I felt I could read in one sitting if I had the time to do that. The writing almost reminded me of a blend of V.E. Scwhab's masterful straightforwardness/easiness of when it comes to writing magic, and Jay Kristoff's wittiness.

A long with Sebastien De Castell's writing and careful plot twists, he knew how to write loveable and enticing characters. While I felt that Kel was kind of your typical Hero archetype, he was still someone to root for and I was never bored by his story. Kel was our main protagonist whose parents are very high powered. Because Kel didn't have any sign of tattoos at the age of sixteen, he wasn't really thought of and kind of brushed off to the side.

In this world and with this magic system the amount of tattoo arm bands you have on your arm, represents a specific type of magic you can wield. But, Kel didn't have any which made his parents skeptical of completing his trials. Even though he had everything stacked against him, he was still very determined in completing the trials. Which he had to do if he wanted to become Jan'Tep which was someone who could wield magical powers, rather than becoming a Sha'Tep-- someone who failed their Mage trials and usually end up as slaves. He was kind of your typical character who was neglected as a child, someone who got into fights and was bullied. But then had to overcome all of that to face his trials, but I still was rooting for him and wasn't bored by his story at all. He was also very humorous and had a way of making light of everything.

Another character who is very much involved in Kel's life is Ferius Parfax who is an Argosi. A drifter who is very playful with her cards and can take a lot of people out with them. She was definitely intriguing and I am curious to learn more about her character and her involvement in the later books. As I felt that we were definitely more focused on Kel and his Mage trials.

I thought the magic system was really well thought out and easy to follow. There were certain types of magic that you could wield depending on how many arm band tattoos you had; Iron, Ember, Silk, Sand, Blood, Breath, and Shadow. It was a really interesting magic system to learn about and I thought Sebastien De Castell did a great way of introducing the magic system without being too info dumpy. The magic reminded me a lot of illusion type magic and very much reminded me of the movie Now You See Me.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this first book of the Spellslinger Series and will definitely be continuing on with the series, as well as reading more works by Sebastien De Castell. I would highly recommend this author as he became an instant auto-buy author for me, with how much I liked Spellslinger. I haven't enjoyed an author's writing style like this in a really long time, the last author I think I fell head over heel's with their writing style was N.K. Jemesin. So I am looking forward to completing this series and continuing to read more of his works!