It’s rare for me to review a book on here that I bought for myself. But I have a reason for posting a review for this one…that being that I’m on an Instagram tour for the second book! I’m very excited to get my copy and give it a read, and so I finally got my ass into gear and read this one! It had been in a few TBR piles, but when I had to cut the pile down for various reasons…it kept being the book I removed.
So this is the first book in a prequel duology to De Castell’s Spellslinger series. It follows Ferius, the Argosi mentor from the original books as a child, as she finds her way. Her goal is to hunt down and kill the mages who killed her family, but on her journey, she meets an Argosi wanderer called Durrall, who tries to teach her their ways.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t love this book as much as I did the Spellslinger series. I adored Ferius in the original books, but as she’s coming into her own in this…I’m not as huge a fan yet. I still enjoyed it, but not as much as I did the majority of the Spellslinger books. However, I didn’t enjoy the first Spellslinger book as much either, so it could be another case of that.
So, obviously, Ferius was going to be different in this book. She was younger and going through a lot, but all of her anger mixed with the fact she didn’t always remember things? I don’t know. It didn’t quite work as well. By the end of the book, it felt like we were getting more of the Ferius sass. And I definitely appreciated that.
What I was a big fan of was the family dynamics. Ferius was adopted by two knights early on in the book and, her memories of that are sweet. I loved the way that even years later, she still admired them. Then you get the parent figures you know of from the Spellslinger books with Durrall. He’s not in the book as much as I expected from the summary, but I do love seeing how their relationship changed. He’s going to be a great parent for her, and it’s adorable.
The action was pretty good, and the villains were pretty despicable. I was interested in the political turning point near the end with the Jan’Tep, and I actually kind of liked the prince in this. I can’t remember if he was in the Spellslinger books or not, but man, am I intrigued. And I was kinda into it, won’t lie. The main Jan’Tep villains were kinda…meh, even if they were pretty despicable. The whole curse aspect…I dunno. I didn’t believe it as much as I did the curses in Spellslinger.
That said, the plot of the second book is a lot more intriguing. I’m really excited to get it and see what happens. Hopefully, we’ll get a bit more sassy Ferius and get to see her flirting with a few more ladies in the next one!
The final note I have is that the covers for these books are still gorgeous! I love these covers so much, and they’re a stunning addition to my bookshelf. I wish I had room to store them face-out!
4/5 Stars
Title: Way of the Argosi
Author: Sebastien De Castell
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Young Adult
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Release Date: Out Now
BUY LINKS
Lace and Dagger Books 