ARC: Spellslinger by Sebastien De Castell

So first of all, I received a copy of this book from ReadersFirst who essentially offer books as part of giveaways or allow you to earn points to claim a free copy of a book. They're for residents of the UK only but all you have to do to earn points and enter giveaways is read and review a preview of the books of your choice. It's super awesome and Spellslinger was actually the first book I requested so I'm really happy I won a copy




Anyway, Spellslinger is a YA fantasy novel with a lot of comedic elements. There's a tonne of good lines that will keep you giggling and some very funny characters including a squirrel-cat who will remind you a lot of Rocket Raccoon. The humour itself is great but you're able to still take the book seriously, foul-mouthed animals aside as the comedy is well balanced within the plot and other themes.As well as the humour there's some incredibly emotional themes about war, family and doing the right thing. You spend the entire novel trying to figure out the right thing to do along with Kellen and sometimes you just don't know what the right choice is which actually works really well.

Another good thing about this novel is the magic. Fantasy really can be hit and miss and usually magic where people can do anything as long as they know the spell can be frustrating. It's too easy for people to get super powerful and that can be messy. This book gives the characters the ability to pretty much do anything but throws limitations in place with the power bands. Some mages might spark all their bands and be powerful but most mages only need to spark two to be able to become a mage. Each band amplifies a different type of power and that power comes from metals so it's a really interesting take on magic.

The main negative point about this novel, however, is how very white it is. Ferius even points out that desert people wouldn't be as pale as Kellen but pretty much every character seems to be white. Where are these mysterious Jan'Tep of other ethnicities as if any of the featured characters weren't white, I couldn't see anything said. It is possible I just missed something but it would have just been nice to see a more colourful picture. The other problem is the amount of animal death. I can brush it off hence why the book is still 4 stars but it was still very upsetting.

All in all a great novel and I look forward to reading what happens next.

4/5 Stars