The Malevolent Seven

(Paperback)

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Description

'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 . . .

Reviews

I love the Greatcoats novels . . . rare examples of books that are fantastic from the first sentence to the last. Combining old-school swashbuckling action with contemporary character and a good dose of grit, these books are the rarest of things, great rollicking fun combined with an emotional punch. I cared about the characters, I laughed out loud at the banter and camaraderie, I HATED the bad guys and girls! Sebastien, write faster! * JOHN GWYNNE, award-winning author of THE FAITHFUL AND THE FALLEN series *
These books are just joyous. This is first-rate fiction, first rate adventure, first rate full stop * CONN IGGULDEN, bestselling author of THE GOLDEN AGE series *
Guaranteed to increase household swashbuckling by 100% * LIBRARY JOURNAL on TRAITORS BLADE *

Sebastien de Castell is a rare talent, one of the most gifted storytellers to emerge in recent years . . . The Greatcoats now sits in a place of honour on my bookshelf as one of my favourite fantasy series of all time

* BIBLIOSANCTUM on THE GREATCOATS *

If I could recommend one series from the last five years that I hold up as the most action-packed and emotionally riveting, I would be hard-pressed to look past Sebastien de Castell's The Greatcoats

* FANTASY BOOK REVIEW on on THE GREATCOATS *
I've rarely enjoyed swordplay and fight scenes in a book as much as I enjoyed these. I got the action, I got the intrigue, I even got a pretty impressive monster out of the deal (sort of). Join the Greatcoats Hell yes * OVER THE EFFING RAINBOW *
The Greatcoats is now up there on my list of favourite fantasy series * BIBLIOSANCTUM on THE GREATCOATS *

Ambitious, twisty fantasy series

* CIVILIAN READER *
Excellent, page-turnery reading * BLUE BOOK BALLOON on SPELLSLINGER *
The Malevolent Seven is 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 *

Author Bio

Bio: 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 both the 2014 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. He is published in more than a dozen languages.

Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats.