Count down to Queenslayer

One of the best series I read last year was the Spellslinger series by Sebastian de Castell. I devoured the first three books and was luck enough to receive an eArc of the fourth which I finished within a couple of days. This series has had me running the emotional gamut from laughing out loud to crying, which to me is a sure sign of a great series. I have thrust these books into friends hands to make them read sections and have heralded its praises to teacher friends for inclusion in their classroom libraries.

The series follows Kellen, a misfit son of a great Mage society, that hasn’t quite got to grips with his magic when he looses all his power. We journey with him, a mysterious yet witty traveller and ruthless and sarcastic Squirrelcat through this magical land on a quest to help Kellen remove his affliction. Throughout the series we learn of about the would, get entangled in various capers and follow Kellen and he learns about himself, his family, his people and their past.

Currently there are four books in the series (with links to my reviews):

Spellslinger
Shadowblack
Charmcaster
Soulbinder

I also highly recommend the audiobooks which are narrated by the fantastic Joe Jameson who really does a great job of bringing all the characters to life!

If you can’t tell I am really excited for Queenslayer to be released. Therefore, to tide myself over I intend to re-read the four current books and annotate my copies, which is something I like to do with books I love. But, I also thought I would share the love and encourage others who have maybe thought of picking up this series, who maybe haven’t discovered it yet, or just want a good excuse to revisit them, and make this a read-a-long.

I intend for this to be quite laid back and welcome anyone to join for one or more of the reads and in whatever timescale you wish to read them. I have set the schedule for discussion purposes and I will be posting a Book Diary style wrap up at the end of each book, with all my thoughts and feelings on my re-read (these will contain spoilers).

Queenslayer is due to be released in the UK on the 2nd of May so that gives us ample time to read a book a month on the lead up. Here is my intended schedule:

January

Spellslinger

I know January has already begun but as it is still early days maybe you could squeeze this on to you TBR!

And of course this allows us to round off the read-along with the release of Queenslayer in May.

If you want to join please leave a comment below, especially if you are intending on blogging the experience too so I can link and retweet your posts. You can use #CountdownToQS on Twitter to join in discussion. If there is enough interest I will start a Goodreads group with chapter breakdowns so we can all read at our own pace.

Happy reading