I recently went through the process of searching for a good fantasy book series to read, in order to refresh my own writing and take my creative thinking in a different direction. I was browsing the shelves at Indigo looking for a series that would catch my eye, when I stumbled upon Spellslinger. “Perfect,” I thought, “a series that’s all about magic and the adventures that come with it.” Turns out I was in for much more than that.

Spellslinger is a six-book young adult series written by Sebastien de Castell, and centers around Kellen, a member of the Jan’Tep. The Jan’Tep are a culture of mages that prize magical ability and prowess over almost anything else… which makes Kellen’s inability to wield it a bit of a problem.

What starts out as a coming of age story very quickly evolves into something much more, as Kellen uncovers plots and conspiracies while meeting a cast of very charismatic supporting characters. Honestly, I liked the supporting characters better than the protagonist himself. I mean, try to picture a squirrel cat (yes, you read that right) that swears like a trucker and has a penchant for eating human eyeballs.

I know, awesome, right?

Then there’s Ferius, the wandering traveller who is always chock-full of witty one-liners and endless wisdom. Honestly, if you tried to live your life by the advice she frequently delivers throughout the series, you’d end up doing pretty darn good for yourself.

Anyway, what I loved about this series was that it was about magic – just not in the way you and I would normally think of it. Sure, there were spells and mages, but the focal point of the story is around how Kellen uses his wits to more than offset his own lack of magical ability, often defeating much more powerful enemies than himself in the process. I thought I would be disappointed by this, because I was looking for stories where magic itself was the focal point. In the end though, I ended up getting so much more out of this series than I ever expected to.

I can’t go into detail here, because I don’t want to spoil anything, but the ending was just *chef’s kiss* sublime. It tied together a number of loose ends, and it shows you as the read that everything Kellen encounters throughout the book series was ultimately leading somewhere. This series wasn’t a case of “Oh hey, I wrote a novel designed for one book and it did well, let’s hastily write another five to make more money.”

No, this series was thoughtfully laid out from beginning to end, in a manner similar to the Harry Potter series. That isn’t to say that every book was equally strong, though. While I tore through all six books in a matter of about 10 days, some were easier to get through than others. In particular, I found Queenslayer, which was book 5 in the series, to be the weakest of them all. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. Spellslinger and Crownbreaker – the last book in the series – were by far the strongest, leaving the others comfortably in the middle.

While de Castell does tend to use a formulaic approach to setting up the plot in many of his early books, you can almost watch him realize this and change things up later in the series, which keeps you on your toes as you read.

Wrapping it Up

All in all, Spellslinger is a series that is well worth picking up – you’ll literally come out feeling wiser about life for having read it, which is a strange thing for a young adult fantasy series to achieve. There’s a reason that every single book in the series has over four stars on Goodreads, though; and you know how savage people can be on Goodreads.

So do yourself a favour: pick up Spellslinger and give it a read. And while you’re at it, do me a favour and use this link – doesn’t cost you anything extra, and I make a buck or two for my time. Thanks in advance, and enjoy the series!

Oh, and one last thing: make sure you read the acknowledgements and postscript at the end of book 6. I cried like a baby in the middle of a Hyundai dealership, they were so beautifully written. And I never read those things.