Sebastien de Castell, author of the popular Malevolent dark fantasy series, will visit St. Albert Chapters bookstore with his latest release The Malevolent Eight: The Bad, The Worse and the Wicked.
An international best seller, de Castell’s novels are hailed for their “brilliant and vivid world-building" qualities tied together by elegant prose and dark, irreverent humour. The Malevolent Eight is book two in a three-part series.
The first book titled The Malevolent Seven is a world built on the laws of magic. Cade Ombra is a wonderist, someone who summons magic. He wanders the world taking jobs from dictators and autocrats who pay big money to use a mage's magical abilities to fulfill evil ambitions.
Although he’s in the business of selling himself to the highest bidder, Cade has limits. He accepts a new mission, even though he’s not keen on it. The mission gets hijacked and Cade sets off with a buddy to create a team of seven.
What sets this novel apart was the smart-mouthed, tongue-in-cheek humour that pokes fun at numerous fantasy tropes. And although a heavy dose of humour works as a bedrock, the book has extraordinary high rates of death and blood.
The sequel continues the path of destruction. In The Malevolent Eight, two immortal enemies are locked in a centuries-long feud. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal deities, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade.
The great war is to take place on the mortal realm. Cade Ombra, continues to lead a rag-tag band of emotionally damaged mages in a frantic bid to avert the upcoming clash of divine and diabolical titans. The mission seems impossible, but failure will leave humanity trapped in a never-ending war.
“Cade wants to bring peace and goes about killing as many people as he needs to,” said de Castell in a telephone interview from his British Columbia home. “Usually it goes very bad.”
The author wrote the first draft of book one during the pandemic in February 2020.
“I was finding that language was increasingly being policed. More and more people were discussing what should and shouldn’t be said, and I just wanted to write every bad word and every bad thing I could think of,” said de Castell.
“I discovered there is a certain kind of hunger for irreverence. All the characters are horrendously awful, but they give permission to say what you want to say.”
De Castell’s irreverence became a big selling point with readers and the first novel was a success. Before he received a contract for the second book, the author was required to write a second book proposal.
“I hate writing proposals for publishers so I wrote the most offensive proposal I could – whatever came into my mind. It was the fastest book sale I ever made.”
In book two, de Castell wanted to go beyond the theme of good versus evil between the Lords Celestine and Lords Devilish.
“The virtuous lords are obsessed with their one belief and want to impose their singular beliefs while the devilish are obsessed with experiencing everything. I wanted to humanize the two sides. Extremes are very unnatural for us, and as Cade would say, “It’s one jerk against another kind of jerk.”
With nine books under contract, de Castell will start writing book three in October.
“I hope people find themselves cheering for the characters, crying for the torments and laughing in public places.”
The book signing takes place Tuesday, Sept. 2 at St. Albert Chapters Book Store from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
