Scan barcode
A review by foxholebookcourt
Charmcaster by Sebastien de Castell
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Charmcaster by Sebastien De Castell
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5 (2.5 rounded up)
I know I have slowly started to outgrow this genre, but I had enjoyed the first two books in the Spellslinger series. This one was... not it. Mostly because the main plot felt like a complete filler. We have such an interesting storyline with Kellen's backstory, the shadowblack, the Jan'Tep, but in this one, we are focused on something that never really got my attention.
The first half was kind of hard to get through. It was really slow and it felt as if nothing significant was really happening. The second half started picking up, but just as I thought we would finally get more on the family drama and all that, we went back to the main plot that really couldn’t grasp my interest. Also, many scenes kept getting repeated, in the sense that the same things would happen again and again (i.e. Kellen getting captured and then escaping with his wits and how smart he is etc etc). I couldn’t really force myself to pay much attention.
Kellen was still an enjoyable protagonist, as was Ferious and Reichis, but the rest of the cast of characters did not grasp my interest at all. The romance has me bored and the only relationship I was interested in was between Kellen and his squirrel cat. The ending did look promising, and I am hoping that the next book will focus mostly on what’s going on back home but I’m not getting my hopes up because it fills as if with every book, we also get a filler plot line that’s not that interesting.
I will continue the series but also perhaps give myself a break from it because I sorta had to push myself to keep going with this one.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5 (2.5 rounded up)
I know I have slowly started to outgrow this genre, but I had enjoyed the first two books in the Spellslinger series. This one was... not it. Mostly because the main plot felt like a complete filler. We have such an interesting storyline with Kellen's backstory, the shadowblack, the Jan'Tep, but in this one, we are focused on something that never really got my attention.
The first half was kind of hard to get through. It was really slow and it felt as if nothing significant was really happening. The second half started picking up, but just as I thought we would finally get more on the family drama and all that, we went back to the main plot that really couldn’t grasp my interest. Also, many scenes kept getting repeated, in the sense that the same things would happen again and again (i.e. Kellen getting captured and then escaping with his wits and how smart he is etc etc). I couldn’t really force myself to pay much attention.
Kellen was still an enjoyable protagonist, as was Ferious and Reichis, but the rest of the cast of characters did not grasp my interest at all. The romance has me bored and the only relationship I was interested in was between Kellen and his squirrel cat. The ending did look promising, and I am hoping that the next book will focus mostly on what’s going on back home but I’m not getting my hopes up because it fills as if with every book, we also get a filler plot line that’s not that interesting.
I will continue the series but also perhaps give myself a break from it because I sorta had to push myself to keep going with this one.