The Outcast Mage is an enjoyable read. The world building is well done - and I feel that this will expand more with further books in the series. The best part for me was the development of the characters. I loved Naila and seeing how she grew throughout the story. The found family feel of the books was also really well done.

A superb fantasy action adventure that will have you on the edge of the seat right from page one. A must read that is highly recommended.

A lovely entertaining fantasy debut. It has a slightly slow start as some (most!) first fantasy novels do!

Essentially this is about a girl who is in a city where some have magical powers and some don't and whilst she does she can't bring them to the fore until she gets taken under the wing of a powerful mage. The book then develops from there until Nalia is forced to flee the city and then discovers there's a whole other world out there and her magic is not quite what it seems and is perhaps better than she thought!

Great read and bring on book 2!

I seriously wasn’t expecting this to be THIS good. I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but this cover is… not great. The colours feel off to me, especially the red and yellow. Still, I requested this because of the premise and I’m so glad I did! I loved how the story is told from many perspectives, which eventually meld together to create a full picture. It really feels like you’re seeing the development of the story from all angles, which is not an easy thing to do for a writer. It felt very complete and well thought out. The world building was also insanely good, I loved reading about the main city but also the smaller villages. I am so looking forward to the next one! 5 stars!!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free review ecopy in exchange for an honest review!

I am conflicted with this one, on one hand there is a vast and complex world of magic and political hierarchies which is exactly what I look for, then on the other hand we are drip fed some info whilst being info dumped repeatedly other aspects of the world/magic system

The use of elemental magic along side the dragons was a highlight for me, I needed more of it. If the author could find a better way of delivering the complex world that felt a little forced at times this could really take off

This was a slow burn. It’s a great pay-off but we climb a steep crescendo to get there.

In the end, I did enjoy this but I must admit that the first three quarters of the book felt like an extended opening chapter. It isn’t until the last quarter, when the characters leave the glass city and we get to see more aspects of the wider world, that things really start to kick off.

The world-building and the magic system are both really unique and quite enchanting, there are some gut-wrenching moments and some blush-worthy moments, and the book ends with hints of some great exploration to come.

The Outcast Mage is an intriguing mixture of political intrigue, academia, and epic fantasy, and I am left with theories, so I will be keeping an eye out for the sequel.

In the story we follow Naila, a young student at a magical academy. She is trying to successfully use magic, but even though she can feel it, she was never able to access it.

The Outcast Mage feels like a classic tale, but it wasn't a drawback, as it felt comforting to me. The magic system was pretty interesting, but what really shone in the story is the characters. I loved each one of them, and the found family aspect was lovely. Even though some of the characters have troubles, it's well explained as to what caused them to be as they are.

It is book 1 in a series, and it feels a bit like a prologue, but it already has a lot of action- it just feels as if it sets up a much bigger story.

It felt immersive and kept my attention the whole way through, and I've finished the last fourth of the book in one sitting, and that happens to me very rarely when it comes to physical reading!

If you're looking for a coming of age story that has a diverse cast of characters, found family, magical secrets, political intrigue and banter sprinkled in, this might be a book for you. 💜

4,5 rounded to 5 ✨

An entertaining fantasy debut.

A slightly slow start as the world building is gradual and expands as the book develops.
We start in a city protected by a magical dome. Its inhabitants are either those with magical powers or those with none (“Hollows”). Naila is a young girl who has magic but can’t bring it to the fore. The most powerful mage in the city takes on her training, but this is interrupted by city politics, hidden agendas and secrets.
Just as Naila starts to discover she has a different type of magic she is forced to flee the city and finds there is more to her world and her power than she ever suspected.

This packs in quite a lot, maybe “slightly” too much, but it is engaging and a good start to a series. Enjoyed this.

This is a good book. However, I don't think it will impress fantasy readers significantly. Some of the new stuff, such as the dome on top of the magic city, is not developed yet, as if left for the second book in the series. Other than that, the book has a good pace, is well written and has a good ending, but lacks of anything that makes it remark above most of the fantasy books our there. Overall rate will vary depending on how the story evolves in following books.

3.5 stars.

The premise of this book is really interesting, one that I was sure will make a high fantasy lover like me gushing after reading. The fmc, Nalia, is a mage training in the Academy of Amoria, but she is branded as a hollow mage. She can't perform magic, even the simplest forms. Nalia is the typical fantasy, and I really looked forward to her rise as a powerful mage. I crave for that rising point of the story, where the seemingly incompetent character level up. The 3 stars I gave this book are all for Nalia. I feel like her arc is worth to follow, and that's why I'm very much interested in reading the next books. The idea of a hollow mage is too interesting to pass.

Well, despite some of things that I think could've been better.

First, for a high fantasy, this is not as "high" as I expected. Also, high fantasy is know for the complex and intricate plot and world, and yes this one has those, however, I have an issue with the exposition. It was almost like there's no exposition in the beginning of the story; it felt like I was thrown in a story that I was supposed to already know the world and everything in it, but of course I didn't yet because this is first in the series. I really thought the book needs more exposition in the first quarter of the book. But aside from the lack of exposition in the beginning, the fictional world is actually amazing. I did love the dark academia vibe.

As for the characters (except Nalia), honestly, I didn't feel them enough. It's like they're not distinct enough as characters individually so I didn't connect with any of them. But who knows what book would bring.

Pacing-wise, it was fine. This is not a bad book at all even though I rated it only 3 stars.

3.25 stars!

Going into The Outcast Mage I expected to dive into a world and tale of much grander scale. Instead it turned out to be a story (or beginning of one) that was more contained and on the simpler side, which took some adjusting. Still, the story hooked me enough early on to keep me interested and get me through the slower start.

The plot was very much front and center here, but the pace at which it moved forward dragged at times, and there was a lot of tell, particularly in the beginning, with the way information was introduced. I usually prefer to experience the world with and through the characters, the connection I have to them tends to have the biggest impact on how I absorb a story. And while I liked some of the characters and even started to feel a little bit invested, especially in Haelius, there was still some sort of detachment towards most of them. I love tropes like found family and stories with mentor/mentee type relationships, and I could see the building blocks here, however, the execution didn't fully land for me. Another quibble I had was that some character choices and plot points felt somewhat inconsistent or not developed enough beforehand, which led to some frustration.

Having said that, there was also something about the story that made it very intriguing and a breeze to get through. The magic system felt familiar, yet different, and I liked a lot of the ideas the author had. I guess, my biggest criticism is that there just wasn't enough - enough world building, background, character depth & development. But I am hopeful that all these elements will be explored further and expanded upon in the next installment, and I'm certainly looking forward to finding out!

As I have mentioned before, I don't like epic fantasy. Why did I request a review copy of this book then, you ask? Sometimes you need to try the things you don't usually like and you find out you actually like it this one time - doesn't work with everything though, trust me, I am still trying to get my son(19y/o) to eat his greens.

Why did I like this book? Bear with me, I'm trying to make sense of it, but I might be rambling.
First of all, the story has a refreshingly modern feel to it. A lot of the story is set in a glass domed city that is in the middle of the desert. That alone made me interested in the story, how do they manage this; apart from the obvious answer: magic.
Then there is the protagonist Naila, a seventeen year old mage with no magical abilities. Let's not beat about the bush, she is a chosen one, but she's not the kind who suddenly can do all the things, suddenly knows what she does is for a good cause, yada yada. No, she is full of doubt and makes stupid yet very understandable decisions and mistakes. I felt for her and with her, and might have done the same in her situation. She's a very believable teenager. Ms Campbell, well done, you have no idea how often I normally get a sprained eye muscle from rolling my eyes so much.
Third, the disaster mage. Loved this character. Like Naila, Haelius is grounded in real life. He is the most powerful mage of the city, but he makes mistakes too and doesn't have all the answers. He doesn't sit in an ivory tower, he doesn't wear pristine robes, he likes to get his hands dirty, he likes to investigate what goes on in the city and that means visiting the non-mage parts of the city too.
Fourth, plot, world-building and character development move along at a good pace, there is no info-dumping and I got to know the characters due to the multiple-POV narration. Here's where you can see that the author of the book is an avid board and video game player and has a background in sciences. It's obvious that Ms Campbell thought about how she wanted to build the world and the magic system, she organised her thoughts and ideas and brought them to paper in an orderly fashion; and no, I do not mean bullet points, but information stacked on instead of information all over the place and looping back to the beginning and leaving out important parts.


In short, give this book a try if you want to read a fantasy novel with a fresh twist.

The Outcast Mage is my first book by Annabel Campbell and its a high fantasy story will found family and a cast of loveable characters. This makes the traditional professor-student training to a new light. It's a fast paced action mixed with a slow academia book. I feel like the setting of this world is unique and i felt like it had some inspirations of the South West Asia and North African cultures.

The pacing was good but a bit slow at some points, however, the world building was well done and it's an amazing book about magic schools and quests. I would have enjoyed for a bit more detail on some aspects of the book, such as the training between Naila and Haelius. It takes place at Amoria and we watch as the city dissolves into division due to political play's and unknown powers.

I felt like a lot of the events of this book were an introduction to some of the plot of the next instalment of this series and i'm looking forward to it. I think this was an enjoyable new read and i recommend it to fans of the genre.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eArc!

The Outcast Mage is a fun read. If you like high fantasy with found family, flawed-yet-loveable characters, and just the tiniest hint of maybe dragons, there's a good chance you'll like this.

While in many ways it feels like a classic or conventional high fantasy, it subverts a number of expectations. The plot was genuinely surprising start to finish, but not in a chaotic way. Campbell has done a great job writing, building, and pacing the sense of threat hanging over the story. She also turns a troubling character stereotype on its head quite early on, which was wonderful to see.

There are a few things I didn't love, but none were dealbreakers. At the start of the book, I felt like some scenes doubled up on giving character information or explaining the world. For example, of the first three scenes, I personally think only two were needed. However, this drops off quickly once the world has been introduced. So many characters have so much plot armour, which at times makes the stakes feel lower than intended; but at the same time, I really liked the characters so I also liked knowing I'd get more of their stories. And finally, the book's pacing makes it super clear early on that this isn't a standalone. I'm ambivalent about this: I like that it's telegraphed early to manage expectations (no surprise cliffhangers!), but it does feel like a really slow-burning plot as a result.

With that said, the book does deliver a complete story and an ending that feels satisfying, for now at least. I loved how the ending was handled, as it wrapped the initial story up well, while also hunting at exciting stuff to be explored in the next book. I'll definitely be reading the next books.

Dnf at 53%

I have never felt more disconnected from a cast of characters. It took me half the book to realise I didn't care about what happened with them or where the story lead.

The worldbuilding could have been interesting, but instead it's just vaguely gestured at then abandoned in favor of dry character interactions.

Part one of however many, this is the episode where all the pieces are put on the board and we're shown that Something is Wrong. Next episode, Finding Out; episode after that, Doing Something. Characters annoyingly don't talk to one another and more revelations could have been shoved further forward. I'll read the next one because I'm interested now but getting there was a slog.

4.5⭐️s

What an incredible fantastical world! I absolutely ATE this book up. The world and the characters are a familiar structure but simultaneously like absolutely nothing else I have ever read before.

The Outcast Mage takes your traditional professor-student training plot and twists it around and shakes it all about. It’s fast paced action meets slow and steady academia and it all blends together flawlessly.

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the character of haelius. Beautifully humble with silent confidence and power that you can feel off the page. His complex relationships with Naila and Larinne especially are what make this book; watching them all interact with their own quirks was fantastic. Naila is a great FMC, readers really sympathise with her and I felt myself really rooting for her from the literal get go (which is so incredibly hard to do at the beginning of a fantasy book!!!). I loved the characters of entonin and kara and their ever evolving relationship. The side characters are loveable and well flushed out and I quickly found myself very very attached.

One of my unexpected favourite parts were the creepy underlying tone that followed the story - even in happy monents in Amoria, I could feel dread in the back of my mind reminding me that all was not as it seemed - this was HUGELY supported by the interlude chapters. Wonderful!

The pacing was overall good but sometimes we skipped alot of time and I would have liked to see what happened there e.g. I would have loved more detail on the training that Naila and Haelius do.

Overall, a wonderful book that is a love letter to quests, magic schools and fables that may just turn out to be true. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eArc!

3.5 stars

A very promising book that will appeal to fans of Trudi Canavan (how awesome it is that Trudi Canavan herself has blurbed the book) - It is kind of comfortingly traditional and tropish but the author distinguishes this from the others by packing in so much stuff. The book flows brilliantly pretty much all the way but I think the last 15-20% kind of took me out of the magic of the book a fair bit. The book went too big too quickly introducing the bigger world and that shifted the stakes of the book from what it was from a character perspective....

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to review.

The Outcast Mage is the start of a new fantasy series set in a mystical world. Taking place primarily in the mage city of Amoria, we follow a cast of characters as the city dissolves into division, political play, and unknown powers changing what they know of magic. Our titular character, Naila, is a student at the mage academy in this city but has shown no magical talent despite being noted as a mage. While she struggles to learn magic, she gains the aid of a wizard, one of the most powerful mages in the world, and together they try to unlock the secrets of her power while trying to stop the city from collapsing into a war between the mages and the “hollows,” the non-mages.

The setting of this world is unique, and takes on inspiration from multiple cultures of our world, notably some South West Asian and North African culture which makes this fantasy world feel separate from many other fantasy series’ of the like. Amoria itself is a city made of glass, making for some spectacular imagery as you read through the story. While most of the story takes place in the city, we gain a little insight into the rest of the world and the political relationships between the rest of the regions, which feel like an introduction to possible plot points in future instalments into this series. Between gods and religions, a unique magic system, and even ancient dragon lore, this story brings a lot to build a world you just want to know more about.

Despite all of this, I did feel like the world building wasn’t explained the best in the story. I would have liked a little more understanding for the history behind the regions. I was trying to decipher where our mages came from, who was allied with who. Some of this was explained but I feel like the author was a little too afraid of exposition to give us a full understanding of the history she probably knows herself.

I also found the characters to be mostly unlikeable. While I feel like this is probably just my personal preference, our four point-of-view characters felt almost indistinguishable from each other. While some had a unique personality trait, each one felt like they slipped into anger far too easily and almost all the time. While this would have been fine in one or even two of these characters, it felt repetitive to have this happen with every character in every chapter. I also felt like these characters were trying to be too many things. The wizard Haelius Akana was hot headed with political leaders, quick to act and egotistical in his own power, but would become soft and a gentle teacher with Naila. Naila herself was timid and shy, living in a city that didn’t like her and left her without a place, but would quickly become sarcastic and witty when snapping at her teacher. While later in the story she does grow as a character, this early characterisation made it hard to understand who she is as a person. While some of these characterisations have a place within the story, the back and forth between these multiple personalities were jarring.

I also found the political storyline a little too ham-fisted. While the plot point of the oppressed versus the oppressor is not new, it didn’t feel earned within this story. We watched as leadership within the city stepped aside to allow our antagonist to gain all the power within the city, mostly in ways that felt too convenient to him and with little to no fight from anyone outwith our POV characters. It was frustrating to read through, especially in today’s current political climate. While there is a real need for exploring politics within stories, this book’s attempt just felt too hopeless and uninspiring, which I personally do not think is necessary combined with our own politics. I am sure most of this will be answered within future instalments as well, especially as some of my critiques felt like they were close to being answered within the epilogue of this book, but it did not lead to a fun reading experience for this first book.

While there are some fantasy elements that are fun within this story, I am looking forward to the next instalment as I hope It can deliver more where this book lacked for my personal tastes. For anyone who is interested in any of the plot points mentioned throughout my review, I think this is a good read for the experience of them, and perhaps they are executed more to your tastes than they are to my own.

Wow! What a start to a new fantasy series. I was hooked from the start. The Outcast Mage is set in a city of Mages, trapped within a huge dome that keeps them safe. When a political leader starts to whip up hatred against the non magical people, mages have to decide what part they'll play in the coming days. This book was everything I want in my fantasy. A unique magical system set in a fascinating world that's complex yet easy enough to follow and understand. The cast of characters are brought to life brilliantly. There are multiple POV's in the book and I enjoyed each and everyone. Naila and Haelius are my favourites. The pacing is perfect and I'm chomping at the bit for the next book in the series.
This is a real must for anyone who loves fantasy. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an e arc in return for an honest review.