Its an unusual twist on the genre, but of course Cade doesn't remain the indifferent angry killer, after a slow arc of redemption in The Malevolent Seven, Cade turns into an impassioned angry killer, fighting a little less for cash and a little more for a cause. Cade, and his compatriot, Corrigon (who has even fewer moral compulsions than Cade) are hired to put together the titular seven numbered coven and undertake a quest. The prize is allegedly an artificat that can grant the bearer even more powerful magical abilities. In de Castell's novel, mages gain power from other realms and their inhabitants, utlising spells through the energy and power they can draw from elsewhere. Cade, true to his corrupt self, buys such spells from an infernal demon, who has his own plans and macinations.
Much of the novel follows Cade and Corrigon's putting together of the band - just as the best bits of The Maginificent Seven film and its sequels are the finding and hiring of the other guns, the same is true of de Castell's novel. The quest actually takes up only the last third of the book. Most of the novel is scene setting - usually involving mud, blood and violence.
While it's a fun setting, it's hard to be that enthusastic about the book. The world building is superficial, and I lost interest in de Castell's explanations of how the mages powered their spells. In particular the rat mage simply didn't work as a character. The gathering of the various mages, with their different types of magic, was only a little interesting. I liked the ride, and I enjoyed a novel where magical users are not all good guys. But sadly its not enough to make this a classic.
Related Reviews
Grossman - The Magician King
Kuang - Babel
Gilman - Isles of the Forsaken
Lavalle - The Ballad of Black Tom
Ng - Under the Pendulum Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment