The Outcast Mage is a mix of political and adventure fantasy that reminds me of Engines of Empire. This has a great cast of characters with flaws, richness, boldness, fire, and hope. I'm hungry for the next book already. I can't wait to adventure where these characters lead.

I want to thank Orbit Books for this ARC via Netgalley.

Beautiful and super engaging high fantasy with political intrigue and scheming, a strong female main character in Naila, and a world where magic is the defining element of life itself. Amoria was so beautiful in my mind, and the magic of this novel in the worldbuilding was stunning. I loved the way the writer used the descriptions to really bring the setting to life while so much character development and plotting was also going on. I think this book would be perfect for those who like John Gwynne, James Islington, and Samantha Shannon. The epic build up takes a lot of context and rich storytelling, but it is so worth it. I always love a story with a magic academy, and this one definitely delivered. The characters felt like the perfect perspectives for telling this tale, and so the multi-POV shifting was perfect. I also thought the deeper themes of belonging, adapting, and developing an identity will resonate with a lot of readers of the genre. Haelius was a really great mentor and teacher and counterpoint for Naila's strongwilled personality. I really like Campbell's writing style and looking forward to reading more of her work and picking up a physical copy of The Outcast Mage for my bookshelf as well!

Thank you to Annabel Campbell, the publisher, Orbit Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Outcast Mage. I will share my review to Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble as well.

Thanks for the chance to read this Netgalley and to the publishers.

This high fantasy started out a bit confusing for me. I was unsure where we were and really what was going on at first. While the story and stakes also hide things that could of explained a bit better or simpler, I did end up enjoying this a ton.

The big highlight for me was the magic system. It was well explained and thought out enough to understand easily. The implications with it at the end was a big moment!

Getting a fantasy these days with a minimal romance presence is rare. But definitely welcomed! While this was a bit slow to get into, the payoff was worth it. Definitely recommend!

This book reminded me of, like, a hundred different things, and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. (I'll include the references below my review because there are so many of them).

The Outcast Mage is a high fantasy novel that takes place in a city of glass with an academy of mages. Like I said before, it reminded me of a dozen other books and movies, and I really liked the vibes. The worldbuilding itself took a little bit to get used to, as the book dumps the reader directly into the world without much explanation. I'm still a little unclear on some aspects of the lore, but I understood what was necessary for most of the plot.
Naila is a mage at the academy, but she has a problem...she can't do magic. With threats of exile looming on the horizon, Naila's only hope is the eccentric wizard Haelius Akana, who also happens to be the most powerful living mage. The plot admittedly takes a while to get into (I wasn't invested until 50%, and I didn't really get invested until about 80%), but the ending feels worth it. None of the plot twists felt extremely crazy to me, but the main one didn't really feel predictable. I'm hoping that the pacing issues will be resolved in book two.
Similar to the plot, it took me a while to get attached to the characters. Naila wasn't super intriguing to me because I primarily read YA fantasy, and she fits in well with the protagonists I typically read about, so she wasn't anything special. I didn't mind Ko'ani, and I look forward to seeing where her arc goes in book two. Entonin took a while to adjust to, but I like him now, and the same goes for Karameth. Also, I just want to say I appreciated the mild romance in this because it's a welcome break from heavy romance. Larinne was the underdog because I didn't like her at first, but she was one of my favorites by the end. Haelius was my favorite character just because I'm basic, and I see a sad man with a tragic backstory but silly tendencies, and I immediately love it. Those are the main main characters, but there are enough other characters that I think a dramatis personae could've been beneficial.
The Outcast Mage is a high fantasy novel perfect for fans of academia, political regulation of magic, and found family vibes.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.5/5



References:
Skyward Sword - (video game) - I think because of the academy vibes?
Lisa Frankenstein - (movie) - Ko'ani just gives the vibes of Lisa's stepsister
Crown of Bones - (book by A.K. Wilder) - the main character had similar vibes but also, again, magic school
Harry Potter - the evil government reminded me of the Ministry of Magic
A Darker Shade of Magic - (book by V.E. Schwab) - magic collars and elemental affinities
Keeper of the Lost Cities Nightfall - (book by Shannon Messenger) - dome
Shadow and Bone - (book by Leigh Bardugo) - "hollow" magic
The First Binding - (book by R.R. Virdi) - just vibes

My rating system is as follows for any ARC book:
1 star = DNF, wouldn't recommend this to anyone and found significant flaws in it
2 stars = Finished, not something I would recommend but some may find it good
3 stars = This is a good book, nothing too spectacular but I enjoyed the read
4 stars = This was a fun and intriguing read, would talk about it and look for other works by this author
5 stars = An amazing book, would re-read

Overall rating: 5 stars
This is a wonderfully intriguing debut novel. While Annabel Campbell does struggle at times to find their voice on the page, once you're past a quarter of the way through you are hooked. The world is riddled with magical mystery, complex politics, and the lovely found family trope. What starts out as what seems to be an intriguing academic focused story soon falls apart into a world saving (or destroying) epic. The characters are wildly complex even if their initial impressions are shallow or simple. Cannot wait to see happens next in this world that you only just start to see unfold in this first book.

Specific feedback:
As stated above, the prose isn't as polished as many debut authors as of late. Annabel Campbell does find the prose that works for her in this story by the midpoint but it made the first 10% of the book rather jarring and difficult to keep up with. She seemed to want to paint a pretty picture but did so in wild and unrefined strokes. But this ceased to be an issue well before the midpoint and by the end of the book the prose fit everything perfectly.
The characters though are so much more complex than initially described and I absolutely fell in love with Entonin and Karameth. They developed in ways that were unexpected and delightful. Naila and Haelius were an unforseen delight as I really love a good student/teacher found family subplot.
This book was a wild ride for me, in a good way. It started a little rocky with the prose that kept it hard to follow but by the end I could barely put the book down! Cannot wait to read more :)

DNF at 30%
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
I am very disappointed to say that I am DNFing this book at 30%.
I was really looking forward to this book, but between the way too many POV characters and the overly complicated names titles and alternate names for what feels like a large cast of characters already I’m way too confused to keep going.
The massive infodumps in the first 10% I could deal with, but the only characters I wanted to actually continue reading about are Naila and her tutor Haelius and they aren’t in it enough for me to continue.
I sincerely hope that when this book is published there is a character guide or list at the beginning of the book because I know I needed it and I have already seen other reviewers on Goodreads mention the exact same problem.

I'm happy that I will have another high fantasy recommendation. If you are looking for an academia high fantasy book you may like this book. There's a hierarchy in this world where mages are revered and magicless people are outcasted. Naila is on the verge of being outcasted if she couldn't control her magic, enter Haelius , a powerful mage who has a lot of enemy who will help Naila control her powers. This is a high fantasy book with academia element which a lot of people of younger would love to see in a book these days.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this fantasy book that will be published in late January of 2025.

This was a very intriguing book with great characters! It is a good mixture of dark academia and epic fantasy. However the world building started off a little slow and sometimes things were hard to follow when new characters were introduced, but it all culminated into a great story at the end that will take off again in the continuation.

There's an interesting magic system, political intrigue, and a great student-mentor relationship, which I at least have not seen done often in today's literature, usually more classic epic fantasy. It was also interesting to see how the main character Naila comes into her own, and we're still finding out so much about her and her capabilities. I will definitely be picking up a physical copy of this book and book 2 when it comes out!

Well written, but very slow paced. Just not enough action, not even much dialogue. Took too long to understand the relationship between characters.
Not a slow burn, more like a slow sizzle.

I was very intrigued by the summary of The Outcast Mage and I was very thankful and excited to receive an eARC from NetGalley and Orbit Books. In my normal reviews, I would like to briefly summarize the story as well, but unfortunately, I can't. The writing was beautiful and poetic, which I felt was a detriment to the story as a whole. The pacing was very slow. I was confused between all the characters and the names. I am not saying this story was bad. My review is based on the fact I could not connect with this story or characters.

There is very little to no world building. Campbell thrust you into this world with little or no explanation of terms and it feels as if the reader has to just understand what is going on. I am very big into world building in fantasy novels and it just was not there for me.

The characters all seemed to blend together for me, and it was hard to keep track of who was who since again there was little explanation about backstory's or character descriptions.

I felt very disconnected with the storyline as it was VERY slow paced. Do not except a high stakes fantasy with this book.

Again, I am always appreciative of NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The world and relationships in this were astounding, but the villain needed some work. I would've like to see more of why Oriven had such lust for power. I loved the mentor/mentee relationship between Naila and Haelius very much. A well-developed mentor/mentee relationships tends to be one of my favorite things to see in media and this book definitely delivered in that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the arc! This had promise, it started strong, and then it lost all momentum and petered out by the middle. It continued to drag until the end. I lost all interest unfortunately. I will not continue with this series, assuming it is that. There’s not much else for me to say. -3 stars

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this, and I hate having to wait for the next one.

This is a unique world - a city enclosed in glass, dominated by mages, and while Naila has magic, she can't make it work and thus is the outcast. She attracts the attention of one of the most powerful wizards in the city, who tries to teach her. But the politics intervene and their entire world falls apart.

I loved the relationships - I love Naila and Haelius's mentee/mentor role, and there is also a very very very very slow burn romance between some other characters. The mystery of who or what Naila is was very well done - and not quite answered, so I'm very much interested in seeing where this series goes.

Things I struggled with - one note villains. I'd prefer some complexity to Oriven and his lust for power. Though there are clearly greater forces at work than just him and again, it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

THE OUTCAST MAGE is such a treat to read. Throughout the story, little mysteries are constantly unfolding all the while the reader is becoming more and more endeared to the cast of characters. I'm excited to see where the rest of this series takes us.

I will admit that I struggled with this one. I could not connect with the characters. The premise was really interesting but ultimately I lost interest.

This book was just OK. This book was a bit juvenile for my liking, I feel like it should be labeled as a YA book. I love the magical themes in this book, but the writing was a little bit boring to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

The mix of magic and political intrigue hit the right notes in this one. Add in the relationships between the character and the strong heroine and you've got a great read.

The Outcast Mage is like the love child of your favorite epic adventure fantasy and a dark academia novel, taking the best of both to create an unforgettable reading experience. With a unique magic system, found family, and political intrigue, there is a little something for every reader. I just could not get enough of the characters, staying up late into the night in order to finish this book in one sitting!