Sebastien de Castell – författare

'Brilliant and vivid world-building . . . riveting' CHAD STAHELSKI, 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 WyldeFrom 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 . . .Readers love The Malevolent Seven! 'I absolutely loved this book. Immediately engaging characters and great world building - the story runs along at a breakneck pace and is gripping from start to finish' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review'Sassy and humourous . . . Sebastien makes characters that make you feel like you know them' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review'Really inventive and satisfying fun fantasy' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review'I honestly had so much fun reading this . . . easily one of my favorite reads of the year' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review'Well-written, intriguing, and highly entertaining!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review'Never felt so good routing for the bad guys' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review

The stakes have never been higher.The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade: the mortal realm.Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar turned mercenary wonderist, leads a band of emotionally unstable mages in a desperate bid to prevent the impending clash of divine and diabolical titans. Failure will leave humanity to be conscripted into an eternal war, serving as foot soldiers doomed to oblivion.The mission seems impossible, but Cade and the Malevolent Seven aren't exactly pacifists, so they're determined to bring peace no matter how many people they have to kill first. With wit as sharp as their blades and a moral compass that points only toward survival, they're ready to cut down anyone in their path to stop the war before it begins.Prepare for a whirlwind of dark magic, irreverent humour and relentless action in The Malevolent Eight. The fate of the humanity hangs in the balance, and only the most malevolent can hope to save it.

The fifth book in the page-turning SPELLSLINGER fantasy series. Kellen and Reichis have just finished fighting a duel in the desert when Kellen inadvertently smears blood on the Daroman flag - an act of treason for which the Marshals have no choice but to arrest him. Just before he's put before the Queen to be executed, Kellen is given a strange piece of advice from one of his fellow prisoners: kill the Queen and he'll be given clemency by those who take power. But when Kellen comes face-to-face with the eleven year-old monarch, he realises she's vastly smarter than he expected - and in a great deal more danger. Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

The fifth book in the page-turning SPELLSLINGER fantasy series. Kellen and Reichis have just finished fighting a duel in the desert when Kellen inadvertently smears blood on the Daroman flag - an act of treason for which the Marshals have no choice but to arrest him. Just before he's put before the Queen to be executed, Kellen is given a strange piece of advice from one of his fellow prisoners: kill the Queen and he'll be given clemency by those who take power. But when Kellen comes face-to-face with the eleven year-old monarch, he realises she's vastly smarter than he expected - and in a great deal more danger. Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

The sixth - and final - instalment of the inimitable SPELLSLINGER series. Kellen and Reichis are settling into their new lives as protectors of the young queen and dealing with the constantly shifting threats to her reign and to her life. For the first time in his life, Kellen feels as if he's becoming the kind of man that his mentor Ferius had wanted him to be. Even Reichis has come to appreciate having a noble purpose - so long as no one minds him committing the occasional act of theft from the royal treasury.But everything changes when Kellen's own father, Ke'heops, arrives at the palace with crucial information which will provide Kellen with his most impossible dilemma yet. Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

THE ALCHEMIST meets THE THREE MUSKETEERS- with card tricks. A brilliant origin story of adventure, wit and philosophy to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers to the SPELLSLINGER series.Ferius Parfax has a simple plan: kill every last inhabitant of the spell-gifted nation that destroyed her people, starting with the man who murdered her parents. Killing mages is a difficult and dangerous business, of course, but when she meets the inimitable and extraordinary Durrall Brown she discovers that physical strength is not the only way to defeat evil of all kinds.So Ferius undertakes to study the ways of the Argosi: the loosely-knit tribe of tricksters known for getting the better of even the most powerful of spellcasters. But the Argosi have a price for their teachings, and by the time Ferius learns what it is, it may be too late.Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

A brilliant story of adventure, wit and philosophy from the origins of the SPELLSLINGER series to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers alike.New to the ways of the Argosi, the tribe of wandering philosophers who seek to defeat evil by wit and guile, Ferius Parfax encounters a hideous plague - the Red Scream. Highly contagious, caught by the hearing of a deadly verse, it turns its victims into mindless monsters that destroy all human life they come into contact with. With the help of a deaf boy whom she has saved from two horrifying victims of the plague, Ferius sets out to find the source of the Red Scream and overcome its terrifying power. Along the way she is joined by another Argosi, Rosie, who purports to be so much wiser and more adept than Ferius, but who turns out to have her own dark secrets. Peopled with extraordinary characters and gut-wrenching drama, Ferius's story teaches her hard lessons about the limits of the Argosi's ways. Readers will delight not just in this amazing masterclass in plot pacing and narrative drive, but in the seemingly bottomless well of wit, thought and wisdom that the story brings up and that has changed lives across the globe. It takes the reader on a journey like no other.

SORCERY IS A SCAM . . . Four months after fleeing his own people, Kellen has discovered he's an even worse outlaw than he was mage. It doesn't help that his only allies are a swaggering card player and a thieving squirrel cat.Then he meets Seneira, a blindfolded girl who isn't blind, and whose secrets get them caught up in a conspiracy of magic, blackmail and murder. Now Kellen must find the mage responsible before the entire frontier falls victim to the mystical plague known as the shadowblack.Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.***'Magic with a Wild West flavour, served with flair.' Financial Times'A bucket-load of tension is offset with humour, power struggles, lots of magic and some great characters. Fantasy junkies will devour with relish.' The Guardian 'gloriously escapist fantasy' The Observer

SORCERY IS A SCAM . . . Four months after fleeing his own people, Kellen has discovered he's an even worse outlaw than he was mage. It doesn't help that his only allies are a swaggering card player and a thieving squirrel cat.Then he meets Seneira, a blindfolded girl who isn't blind, and whose secrets get them caught up in a conspiracy of magic, blackmail and murder. Now Kellen must find the mage responsible before the entire frontier falls victim to the mystical plague known as the shadowblack.Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.***'Magic with a Wild West flavour, served with flair.' Financial Times'A bucket-load of tension is offset with humour, power struggles, lots of magic and some great characters. Fantasy junkies will devour with relish.' The Guardian 'gloriously escapist fantasy' The Observer

The third book in the page-turning SPELLSLINGER fantasy series. Kellen, Reichis and Ferius are on their way to Gitabria, a city where amazing inventions are dreamed up and sold across the land of the Seven Sands.But when the three of them stumble across a tiny mechanical bird, magically brought to life, they quickly realise all is not as it appears. Meanwhile two strange Argosi appear, carrying secrets from Ferius' past, together with an unlikely Jan'Tep ally.And as time ticks on, all the cards in Ferius' deck point to the emerging tides of war . . .Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

The fourth book in the page-turning SPELLSLINGER fantasy series. Kellen and his murderous squirrel cat, Reichis, are on their own. They've heard rumour of a mythical monastery, known as the Ebony Abbey. It's a place that outsiders can never find - but Kellen is getting desperate. He's been told that the monks inside the Ebony Abbey know more about the Shadowblack than anyone else - and that they even know how to cure it.Then Kellen and Reichis are separated and for the first time, Kellen must face the world alone - and venture deeper into shadow magic than he ever knew he could.Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

A brilliant story of adventure, wit and philosophy from the origins of the SPELLSLINGER series to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers alike.New to the ways of the Argosi, the tribe of wandering philosophers who seek to defeat evil by wit and guile, Ferius Parfax encounters a hideous plague - the Red Scream. Highly contagious, caught by the hearing of a deadly verse, it turns its victims into mindless monsters that destroy all human life they come into contact with. With the help of a deaf boy whom she has saved from two horrifying victims of the plague, she sets out to find the source of the Red Scream and overcome it's terrifying power. Along the way she is joined by another Argosi, Rosie, who purports to be so much wiser and more adept than Ferius, but who turns out to have her own dark secrets. Peopled with extraordinary characters and gut-wrenching drama, Ferius's story teaches her hard lessons about the limits of the Argosi's ways. Readers will delight not just in this amazing masterclass in plot pacing and narrative drive, but in the seemingly bottomless well of wit, thought and wisdom that the story brings up and that has changed lives down the ages. It takes the reader on a journey like no other.

The third utterly compelling fantasy adventure in the ARGOSI trilogy, exploring the origins of the SPELLSLINGER series to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers alike.While liberating a notorious thief from prison, Ferius Parfax encounters an inmate named Chedran, one of the last living members of her people, the Mahdek. Chedran is leading a group of young Mahdek who are determined to make a future for their people and Ferius agrees to help them find a place where they can live free from persecution.Meanwhile, having repaid her debt to the thief, Ferius finds her feelings towards Arissa becoming more complicated as she decides what debt she owes the society into which she was born.

The third utterly compelling fantasy adventure in the ARGOSI trilogy, exploring the origins of the SPELLSLINGER series to enrapture devotees and newcomers alike.While liberating a notorious thief from prison, Ferius Parfax encounters an inmate named Chedran, one of the last living members of her people, the Mahdek. Chedran is leading a group of young Mahdek who are determined to make a future for their people and Ferius agrees to help them find a place where they can live free from persecution.Meanwhile, having repaid her debt to the thief, Ferius finds her feelings towards Arissa becoming more complicated as she decides what debt she owes the society into which she was born.

The third utterly compelling fantasy adventure in the ARGOSI trilogy, exploring the origins of the SPELLSLINGER series to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers alike.Ferius Parfax is at long last ready to begin her life as an Argosi, a wandering philosopher and righter of wrongs. But she has debts to pay, and while breaking out a notorious thief from prison, she encounters one of the remnant of her people, the Mahdek.Chedran leads a group of young Mahdek who are determined to fight for a future for their people, free from persecution by Jan'Tep mages. Having repaid her debt to the thief Arissa, who had befriended her many years before, Ferius must now decide what debt she owes the society into which she was born. Meanwhile, she finds her feelings towards Arissa becoming more complicated.

A mortally wounded magistrate faces his deadliest trial inside an ancient abbey where the monks are going mad and the gods themselves may be to blame!Estevar Borros, one of the legendary sword-fighting magistrates known as the Greatcoats and the king's personal investigator of the supernatural, is no stranger to tales of ghosts and demons. When the fractious monks of the abbey rumoured to be the birthplace of the gods begin warring over claims of a new pantheon arising, the frantic abbot summons him to settle the dispute.But Estevar has his own problems: a near-fatal sword wound from his last judicial duel, a sworn knight who claims he has proof the monks are consorting with demons, a diabolical inquisitor with no love for the Greatcoats, and a mysterious young woman claiming to be Estevar's ally but who may well be his deadliest enemy.Armed only with his famed investigative talents, his faltering skill with a blade and Imperious, his ornery mule, Estevar must root out the source of the madness lurking inside the once-sacred walls of Isola Sombra before its chaos spreads to the country he's sworn to protect.Investigate alongside Estevar and the most heroic mule ever to appear in print in this thrilling swashbuckling fantasy mystery by Sebastien de Castell, author of the Internationally acclaimed Greatcoats and Spellslinger series!Crucible of Chaos may be read as a stand-alone fantasy novel and as a prelude to Play of Shadows, the first official novel in the Court of Shadows series!'So. Much. Fun.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads review'Wish I'd discovered this author years ago' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads review'This has prompted me to reread everything Greatcoats' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads review

Welcome to the Ooperato Belleza . . . it might save his life, or it just might be the end of him!Damelas Chademantaigne picked a poor night to flee a judicial duel. He has precious little hope of escaping the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides a temporary respite from his troubles - until one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth: the city's most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer. With only the help of his boisterous and lusty friend Bereto, a beautiful assassin whose target may well be Damelas himself, and a company of misfit actors who'd just as soon see him dead, this failed grandson of two Greatcoats must somehow find within himself the courage to dig up long-buried truths before a ruthless band of bravos known as the Iron Orchids come for his head.Oh, and there's still that matter of the Vixen waiting to duel him . . .Readers love Play of Shadows!'An impressive tale with a fantastic plot, intriguing characters, and wondrous storybuilding. Another masterpiece' - reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'If you are looking for a swashbuckling adventure with a dash of romance and a leaven of humour, then go out and get a copy of this book' - reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Swashbuckling, emotional rollercoaster, a hero to root for and a great cast of characters' - reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The stakes have never been higher.The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade: the mortal realm.Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar turned mercenary wonderist, leads a band of emotionally unstable mages in a desperate bid to prevent the impending clash of divine and diabolical titans. Failure will leave humanity to be conscripted into an eternal war, serving as foot soldiers doomed to oblivion.The mission seems impossible, but Cade and the Malevolent Seven aren't exactly pacifists, so they're determined to bring peace no matter how many people they have to kill first. With wit as sharp as their blades and a moral compass that points only toward survival, they're ready to cut down anyone in their path to stop the war before it begins.Prepare for a whirlwind of dark magic, irreverent humour and relentless action in The Malevolent Eight: The Bad, The Worse and The Wicked. The fate of the humanity hangs in the balance, and only the most malevolent can hope to save it.

The stakes have never been higher.The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade: the mortal realm.Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar turned mercenary wonderist, leads a band of emotionally unstable mages in a desperate bid to prevent the impending clash of divine and diabolical titans. Failure will leave humanity to be conscripted into an eternal war, serving as foot soldiers doomed to oblivion.The mission seems impossible, but Cade and the Malevolent Seven aren't exactly pacifists, so they're determined to bring peace no matter how many people they have to kill first. With wit as sharp as their blades and a moral compass that points only toward survival, they're ready to cut down anyone in their path to stop the war before it begins.Prepare for a whirlwind of dark magic, irreverent humour and relentless action in The Malevolent Eight: The Bad, The Worse and The Wicked. The fate of the humanity hangs in the balance, and only the most malevolent can hope to save it.

A mind-blowing journey through mystical realms where power-hungry mages seeking ever more potent spells have unwittingly started the countdown towards universal annihilationWith the Great Crusade between the Celestines and the Infernals finally over, mercenary mages and megalomaniacal warlords have gone back to business as usual: fighting for wealth, territory and just to beat the snot out of the other guys because hey, it's more fun than a real job, right? But every spell creates a momentary breach between the mortal realm and those whose physical laws make magic possible. Until now, those breaches healed over time, but with the veil between realities left in tatters by the Great Crusade, every conjuration and invocation now worsens the rifts.The solution is simple: limit the amount of spells being cast so that the mortal realm will heal itself. But mages aren't good at sharing, and the threat of losing their powers triggers a frantic mystical arms race before their connections to the realms of magic fade entirely.Now, Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar and current guy-sick-to-death-of-saving-the-world, is forced to reunite his infamous crew of war mages known as the Malevolent Seven in a last-ditch effort to eliminate the threat of every single living spellcaster - including themselves. But can seven emotionally unstable wonderists protect the entire mortal realm from rogue bands of avaricious wizards, previously unimaginable horrors creeping through the veil, and their own dark impulses?Malevolent Nine: A Fistful of Hexes delivers an electrifying finale filled with relentless action, irreverent humour, and heart-pounding twists. As the mortal realm teeters on the edge of destruction, Cade and his crew must decide how far they are willing to go to defend a world that may not be worth living in. The fate of reality itself hangs in the balance, and only the most malevolent can hope to save it.

When every noble is a tyrant and every knight is a thug, the only thing you can really trust is a traitor's blade. Shortlisted for the David Gemmell Award and the Goodreads Choice Award!The Greatcoats are travelling magistrates bringing justice to all . . . or at least they were, before they watched the Dukes impale their King's head on a spike. Now the land's heroes are reviled as traitors, their Greatcoats in tatters.'I have no words for how highly I recommend this book' Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Facio, Kest and Brasti have been reduced to working as mercenaries, but when they find their employer dead - and are forced to watch as the killer plants evidence framing them for the murder - they realise things are about to get even worse.''I think I may have found a new fantasy favorite' Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐For the royal conspiracy that began with overthrowing an idealistic young king is spreading to Rijou, the most corrupt city in the land, and the life of a young girl hangs in the balance.'A bold, dashing adventure and pure, swashbuckling entertainment' Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐