Book Review – Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell
Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell (Court of Shadows #0.5)
Fantasy | Adult | 400 pages
Published on 7th December 2023 by Jo Fletcher Books
Synopsis
A mortally wounded magistrate faces his deadliest trial inside an ancient abbey where the monks are going mad and the gods themselves may be to blame!
Estevar Borros, one of the legendary sword-fighting magistrates known as the Greatcoats and the king’s personal investigator of the supernatural, is no stranger to tales of ghosts and demons. When the fractious monks of the abbey rumoured to be the birthplace of the gods begin warring over claims of a new pantheon arising, the frantic abbot summons him to settle the dispute.
But Estevar has his own near-fatal sword wound from his last judicial duel, a sworn knight who claims he has proof the monks are consorting with demons, a diabolical inquisitor with no love for the Greatcoats, and a mysterious young woman claiming to be Estevar’s ally but who may well be his deadliest enemy. Armed only with his famed investigative talents, his faltering skill with a blade and Imperious, his ornery mule, Estevar must root out the source of the madness lurking inside the once-sacred walls of Isola Sombra before its chaos spreads to the country he’s sworn to protect.
Investigate alongside Estevar and the most heroic mule ever to appear in print in this thrilling swashbuckling fantasy mystery by Sebastien de Castell, author of the Internationally acclaimed Greatcoats and Spellslinger series! Crucible of Chaos may be read as a stand-alone fantasy novel and as a prelude to Play of Shadows, the first official novel in the Court of Shadows series!
My rating:
Review
I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I am a huge fan of Sebastien’s work, and the Greatcoats series is honestly banging. So I was most excited when I found out Estevar was getting his own book!
This is exactly what I hoped for and more. It’s twisty, supernatural in the best way, slyly funny in a way only Sebastien does, and smart to boot. Yes, I miss our other Greatcoats cohorts, but honestly, Estevar deserves his own book. And space to mock Falcio in his head 😀 Plus he has the best steed one could ever wish for in Imperious. An excellent Mule! And with Caeda as his investigative sidekick and Greatcoat wannabe, we get something more akin to a supernatural murder mystery than the fantasy swashbuckler of the Greatcoats series. As I love a murder mystery I am more than happy about this!
I would say this is a little darker than Greatcoats, and definitely hints at where we may expect the Court of Shadows series to head. I am very excited about finding out more about that, which is good as Play of Shadows is sat on my shelf right now waiting… 😀
5 stars. Read this. Read Greatcoats. Read Spellslinger. Thank me later!
Buy Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell from Waterstones or Blackwells.
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