‘The Malevolent Eight:' A Book Review

Geek Dad

22-05-2025

The follow-up to The Malevolent Seven is, perhaps inevitably, called The Malevolent Eight. I wanted to make a joke about people asking in shops for the first 6 books in the series, but author Sebastien de Castell does that in his acknowledgments, so whilst I can mention it, I can't claim to have thought of it first. As an aside, de Castell writes the best author thank yous I've ever seen, adding some bonus merriment to all his books.
The Malevolent Seven was a standalone novel, filled with sass and antiheroes. Now, I guess, it's not standalone. If you haven't read Seven, then you probably want to check out my review and read that first. You won't regret it. It's a fun novel full of ignoble people defying the odds and their natures to (maybe) save the world.
At the end of Seven, Cade and his band of misfits had sworn to stop the battle between the Lords Celestine (who I can't help but see as Stormcast Eternals from Age of Sigmar ) and the Infernals from destroying their realm. As the Malevolent Eight opens, that plan isn't going too well. Death and destruction are everywhere, and the innocent citizens of the mortal realm are being ground to dust in the crucible of war.
Cade soon finds himself in more hot water and, once again, negotiating from a position of weakness. Sinister forces are at work, and when a beautiful woman with a brand new type of magic turns up and demonstrates she can kill Cade and his friends without breaking a sweat, things become even more complicated.
Who is playing who? Who are the real bad guys, and who can Cade work with to give his world some respite? These are the questions posed in the Malevolent Eight.
If you enjoyed The Malevolent Seven, then you should definitely pick up this follow-up. That said, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book. I struggled to feel my way into this one. Perhaps it's old age, but I couldn't remember enough about the characters and setting to draw me into the exploits of this second volume.
Nevertheless, once I'd overcome this hurdle, I enjoyed the book. Sebastien de Castell's skill in the Malevolent series is to take essentially dislikable people and make you care what happens to them.
Underneath the violent and bleak outlook engendered by the forces Cade and his crew are up against, there is a deep-rooted story filled with empathy. It's a surprising and stark juxtaposition that makes the novel's denouement hit all the harder. There was a risk of the book becoming a series of merely a procession of visceral and explosive set pieces. Again, the surprising depth of Cade's humanity keeps this in check.
Perhaps because I struggled finding my way into the book, I did find it a little disjointed. Sometimes I felt like stuff was happening because it needed to. Not least the giant blood-sucking kangaroo that had randomly turned up since the first book. While its presence is explained later, I'm not going to lie, this one felt like a joke that just wouldn't go away.
One thing I do really like about these books is the nature of their magic. It's not super fleshed out, but the traits of the different magical attunements are interesting, and de Castell has had great fun exploring different ways in which his magic might manifest.
Whilst The Malevolent Eight is not a perfect sequel, I certainly enjoyed it enough to want to read the promised numerical follow-up. The Malevolent Nine is coming!
If you would like to pick up a copy of The Malevolent Eight, you can do so here in the US and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
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