ARC Review – Soulbinder

I received an ARC from Bonnier Zafre/HotKey Books, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Soulbinder

Series: Spellslinger #4

Author: Sebastian de Castell

Release date : 4/10/2018

5 STARS

This is the Fourth book in the Spellslinger Series I also have reviews for Spellslinger, Shadowblack and Charmcaster. While I will try and avoid spoilers There may be spoilers of the previous books.

From Goodreads:

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.

My Thoughts

This series just keeps getting better. This instalment had me running the full gamut of emotions from balling my eyes out to rolling in laughter, seething with anger to tears of joy and then back again. De Castell had me on tenterhooks from the start of the book to the very last chapters when I could finally breath a sigh of relief.

This time we get Kellen without his companions and while this left me heartbroken as Reichis and Ferius are my favourite characters, there presence is very much still felt as Kellen explores the Ebony Abbey, sanctuary to Shadowblacks. We learn so much about the Shadowblacks in this one meeting some interesting characters both lovable and detestable along the way. In particular we get to explore what having the Shadowblack actually means and how this effects Kellen. We also return to the scheming of Kellen’s family and how Kellen has to navigate the clash between his feelings of loyalty to his family and his found family of outlaws, Argosi, Spellslingers and Shadowblacks. Kellen is still faced with the decision of what he identifies as and who’s side he is on.

I have to say my affection for Kellen really grew in this journey, I felt for him as he had to ride the waves of emotion he was hit with. The plot was great, tugging the reader in all directions making it really hard to put this book down. Filled with the same moments of humour interspersed between fight scenes and displays of many different magic systems that have been strong in the previous books. Oh, the ending is both wild and heartbreaking and smile inducing all at the same time. De Castell really does know how to write an epic adventure that keeps you turning the pages.  I can’t wait for the next book in the series to see how the journey continues!

Queenslayer is out in May 2019.