AUTHOR:- Sebastien De Castell
Spellslinger. Where to start?,it’s a YA fantasy about a Subpar Teenage mage who is most definitely not the chose one, his witty, cunning and
charming and at the same time excessively annoying Argosi mentor Ferius Parfax,
and his animal sidekick, oh, pardon me, his business partner, a magnificent
creature, warrior of the treetops, a connoisseur of the eyeballic cuisine, squirrel cat named Reichis. Most of the YA fantasy I come across these days is
more often than not is about a female protagonist, which is not a bad thing, I
really quite enjoy those books, but being a male myself sometimes I just need
to see these fantasy worlds from a male perspective and not from an all
powerful chosen, teenage girls perspective who is falling left and right for an
inconceivably hot guy name Caleb or Damien or some shit like that, because
that’s how it goes with most of the female-led fantasy YA books. Do Better! Do
something different! I scream in my head, but they never seem to listen, so
this was quite a breath of fresh air to have a protagonist who is male and
quite far from powerful and charming, definitely not a ladies man and most definitely
not the chosen one.
SPOILER:-
Our story starts with Kellen tricking his opponent to win a Mage dual because as much as he wishes to be a Master Mage just like his
parents he hasn’t sparked a single of his metallic bands necessary to work Jan’Tep
Magic. I quickly warmed up to the character in only a first few pages, who
doesn’t love an underdog? And in a society where your standing is determined by
how brilliant of a mage you are he is quite the underest of them dogs to be
blunt. There's nothing special about him unlike how most of the fantasy goes, and as if he was not outcast enough among his people his world
view is shaken up by the arrival of the mysterious Argosi wonderer named Farius
Parfax. Thanks to Farius, over the course of the book Kellen starts to learn how to make most of what he has, magical or otherwise, and
about the facade of grandeur of his Magical Society.
To be honest, I found Kellen quite annoying at times, whining
about how unfair life is to him which is quite typical behavior for a 16 year
old teenage boy who doesn’t know the ways of the world yet but those feelings were quickly sidelined by his bravery in the face of adversity.
The Jan’Tep, Kellen's people are pretentious mages with a
superiority complex. Ferius parfax is a card-playing, traveling trickster with a fondness for smoking.Ferius brings a kind of Wild West flair to the story,
she takes Kellen, a snobby, whiny kid with a penchant for tricks himself on
account of not having sparked a single of his magical metallic bands around his
forearms which are essential to work Jan’Tep magic under her wing for some
reason. I quite liked this nonmagical mentor and barely magical student
dynamic. For me, Ferius started out as an annoying character but she grew on me over the course of the book, and now I can
confidently say that this could be one of the most engaging and relatable characters
in all of the fantasy yet, her character is quite engaging and infuriatingly
brilliant. She tries to understand and guide Kellen as he is, as opposed to his
own family. His father is outright disapproving of Kellen’s existence it seems,
his sister Sharla may love him but does not accept him as he is but wants him
to be something he can never be ,a true mage. I love this kind of stuff. Who
wants to hear a story about a perfect family,right?
And Reichus, how can I forget this fuzzy little ball of furry
mayhem. He is the greatest taking, walking, stealing, killing, gliding,
squirrel cat in all of fantasy history. As oppose to how an animal sidekick
supposed to be, Reichus is not Kellens North star, quite opposite actually. He
is pure snide mayhem in a furry little package who quite enjoys eating eyeballs
and sometimes ears but definitely prefers eyeballs, loves stealing shiny things
and murdering rabbits and skinbags(that’s squirrelcat talk for ‘Human’) alike.
He provides more than half the snide in the whole story, I just fell in love
with the character. I would like Reichis to be my spirit animal but Im afraid I’d
turn into a psychopath if I channelled him, I’m too close to snapping as it is.
In conclusion if you are tired of the chosen ones or a powerful
female lead who just can’t wait to jump some hot guys bones, and want your
fantasy tropes shaken up a bit, pick up this book. It’s sad, funny,
heartbreaking and brilliant all at the same time, what more can you ask for.
 REVIEW){kind=link}
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