Soulbinder by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
High above, beyond the petty concerns of mortals, the stars began to appear, thousands of tiny sparks coming to life.
Soulbinder, by Sebastien de Castell, is the fourth book in his young adult fantasy Spellslinger series. As such, this review will contain spoilers from the previous three books. You should read those before this one.
It has been several months since Kellen and Reichis separated from Ferius, Nephenia, and Ishak. They have spent that time struggling to get by and looking for a cure for Kellen’s shadowblack, all the while being pursued by Jan’Tep assassins. Just when it’s starting to look like they are on the right track, things begin to unravel.
The overall tone of this entry into the series is much darker than those that came before it. It becomes even more apparent to Kellen that there are very real and wide reaching consequences to his actions, and that, just as people have had a profound impact on his life, so too has he impacted them. I enjoyed the grey scale of this book. You come to realise alongside Kellen that no one is completely good or bad. the author wrote the tension so well that, along with Kellen, I really began to wonder if things would turn out alright, or if things were going to become worse and worse.
Speaking of Kellen, he grows a great deal in this book. Without Ferius to help him get out of the scrapes he manages to find himself in, he must use all the tools at his disposal. He learns to combine his own trickery, the ways of the Argosi, his Castradazi coins, his breath magic, and his shadowblack, in order to survive in a world that seems to want him dead. We have seen his evolution from ignorant Jan’Tep initiate to spellslinging outlaw in the previous books, but it feels as if that comes to a head in this book. As if he accepts that he has passed the point of no return, and begins to be excited by the world again.
There were several new characters in this book, whom I won’t discuss in too much detail for fear of spoilers, but they were interesting to meet. They made Kellen’s world seem even larger and more alive than ever before, and provided a unique perspective on the shadowblack. There were also some returning characters, who, for the most part, seemed to grow and adapt to the evolving world as much as Kellen did.
The book ended on the promise of more. More lands to discover, more for Kellen to learn, and more adventures for readers to enjoy. If you like fantasy and magic, as well as fascinating characters and an ever expanding world, I cannot recomment the Spellslinger series enough.
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Rebecka O'Malley 