The Malevolent Seven

By: Sebastien de Castell

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

'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 . . .

©2023 Sebastien de Castell (P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited

Great listen!

De Castell can sure write a “Hero” you want to root for. Even if that Hero is… anti. If you liked this you will love the Great Coats series.

Dark and Funny

I didn’t don’t expect to enjoy this book so much. It’s dark, for sure - but the MC has a witty sarcastic way about himself and the narrator nails it. Such a great listen!

Hidden Nugget of Gold

I have read several books where they make the self proclaimed bad guys into plucky heroes. they’re good but at heart you’re still dealing with protagonists just dressed up in the bad guys clothes.
This book truly has the antagonist doing the job of the protagonist, because there are none . In this world not in that world. I found myself laughing at just how dark and true so much of the camaraderie and underlining message. The author was trying to convey. Life is a stream of shit and that’s where the real fight is.

Funny, witty and Irreverent

This audiobook was very enjoyable. I chuckled all through it. If you like fantasy, mages and magic, I recommend.

Good tale of antiheroes

What I enjoyed: heavy magic, plenty of snark and voice, the worldbuilding was sufficient and not self-indulgent. I like my prose closer to purple/lyrical, but that’s just me.

Check this out if you like The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston, The Suicide Squad movie, dnd-esque stories, The BlackTongue Thief, and any other stories that are—to steal Buhelman’s phrase—GRINdark.