Publisher's Weekly Review

De Castell's second fantasy novel featuring Kellen, a 16-year-old mage "who combines whatever paltry magic he can muster with every trick he can learn to stay alive," offers more of the same: a fast-paced story most likely to appeal to a teen audience. In the wake of the events of Spellslinger, Kellen, who has a price on his head, has been living as an outlaw for months, travelling with a "gambler who never gave [him] a straight answer" and the Rocket Raccoon-like Reichis, "a homicidal squirrel cat whose favorite food was human eyeballs." The bounty on Kellen results in attempts on his life, and he meets someone who claims to have a cure for Kellen's shadowblack, the so-called demon plague that gives him painful visions and manifests in black markings encircling Kellen's left eye. The quest for survival and a cure, and the political machinations back in Kellen's hometown, are familiar genre tropes, and De Castell's variations on them aren't novel enough to stand out. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.