Fantasy

16+

$12.95

Guin, now King of Cheironia, has exposed the plague killing his subjects for what it truly is: nefarious black magic.  While he hunts the source of the city’s ills, he must battle lesser magicians and great beasts, as well as the advances of a particularly bodacious sorceress, unaware that he is also being assailed within his own royal palace.   

The action is amped up in this second volume of the trilogy.  It’s back to the Alley of Charms, as Guin, joined by Valusa, search for the magus responsible for the plague and evil face that hangs over the sky of Cylon.  They are joined again by Als, the Toque Rat, but, Als doesn’t seem to be the comedy relief he was made out to be in the first volume.  As more mages make their moves, they begin to battle each other for possession of Guin’s soul.

Guin finally gets to pull his sword out and put it to good use in this volume.  While he may not know who he is searching for, at least the search is something this man of action can do and feel like he is accomplishing something.  He’s in his element when he is battling one eyed, two hoofed monsters, and poltergeists.  However, since the foes are mages and not monsters, there’s not as much of it as I would have liked.  This is still Guin’s saga, side story or not.  He’s the hero and should be seen doing what heroes do: saving the day.

Instead, Guin is getting pushed around like a chess piece on a board.  From the Cylon to the Alley of Charms, to mages’ personal dimensions, and back to the palace, he’s bounced around like a pinball, trying to find answers and is instead distracted by other pawns.  All the while, the mages are fighting amongst themselves, seemingly trying to get close to Guin, either by charming those close to him, or through goodwill.  No one can be taken at face value.

This second volume of The Seven Magi moves the story along, but still at a slow pace.  We’ve seen more of the Magi that the title speaks of, but still too little of the why.  And the running subplot with Silvia and Guin’s rocky relationship doesn’t seem to have a point.  Hopefully, the final volume will give some insight for it’s inclusion.  The art is still fantastic, mostly, with Guin being the best looking.  Love that leopard head!

The Seven Magi is still an entertaining read, but more action and less maneuvering would have made it better.

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