The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell Series: The Shattered Lands #1
Published by Orbit on January 28, 2025
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Source: Orbit Books
A mage bereft of her powers must find out if she is destined to save the world or destroy it in this glittering debut fantasy perfect for fans of Andrea Stewart, James Islington, and Samantha Shannon.
In the glass city of Amoria, magic is everything. And Naila, student at the city's legendary academy, is running out of time to prove she can control hers. If she fails, she'll be forced into exile, relegated to a life of persecution with the other magicless hollows. Or worse, be consumed by her own power.
When a tragic incident further threatens her place at the Academy, Naila is saved by Haelius Akana, the most powerful living mage. Finding Naila a kindred spirit, Haelius stakes his position at the Academy on teaching her to harness her abilities. But Haelius has many enemies, and they would love nothing more than to see Naila fail. Trapped in the deadly schemes of Amoria's elite, Naila must dig deep to discover the truth of her powers or watch the city she loves descend into civil war.
For there is violence brewing on the wind, and greater powers at work. Ones who could use her powers for good… or destroy everything she's ever known.
An outcast, the world’s most powerful wizard, a priest, and a senator walk into an inn. It sounds like a joke, but it’s actually a glimpse of just how much The Outcast Mage has to offer. This debut fantasy novel has everything—found family, layered politics, ancient prophecies, dragons, magic, and the chosen one trope. I was expecting The Outcast Mage to be mainly an academia focused novel, but it ended up being so much more than that.
The Outcast Mage immediately sucks readers into the intense political climate of its world, the mage city of Amoria. This glass city feels like it’s one spark away from burning itself down in a fire of hatred. Unlike many novels magic users are the minority, in this city, it’s quite the opposite, with non-magic users vastly outnumbered. A rising faction of mages seeks to segregate (or to do much worse to) non-mages, known derogatorily as hollows. Main character Naila is uniquely poised to show off this world to readers, as she is the only one of her kind—a mage without magic. Testing positive for magic, Naila is enrolled into the magic academy only to possess no ability to harness her supposedly intrinsic magic powers.
“‘Haven’t you realised yet? No book will make any difference to you—you’re still a Goddess damned hollow.’
Naila felt a fire light in her blood, tingling through her veins. ‘I’m a mage,’ she spat. ‘I have a right to be here.’
‘No, you’re not…. You’re a liar and a thief, and you’ll never be more than that.’”
Unfortunately, this means that Naila is often the whipping boy of not only her classmates, but also her teachers. The latter consider her a waste of their time and resources, resenting having to expend the effort on a student with no aptitude for magic. I immediately felt for Naila, as it’s clear the poor girl is beyond burned out by fighting a losing battle to prove herself and has completely given up on having any kind of happiness in her life.
Despite sympathizing with Naila, she is a young woman, so she makes a lot of very unwise decisions, which made me want to scream in frustration. Making matters worse is her new teacher, Haelius Akana, supports all of her decisions, no matter how hare-brained or high the stakes. I can blame the fact that she’s young, but Haelius is the most powerful wizard in existence, so it must be his hubris fully on display. Though the two quite often bring out the worst in each other’s decision making, their father-daughter relationship still manages to be endearing and I couldn’t help but to root for the two to succeed at all of their endeavours.
“I’m trying to protect us—if you’re not willing to do what it takes to stop this war, then it’s at least time to admit you’re in it. Pick your side, Haelius.”
Surprisingly, my favorite character of The Outcast Mage was not Naila, Haelius, or any of the other members of their found family which include some very strong female characters, but a priest. I really loved the character, named Entonin, whether reading from his perspective or seeing him from another character’s point-of-view. I really enjoyed his sense of humor and his often deadpan commentary on things. He added some much-needed levity to often very dire situations and when most of the cast was taking themselves very seriously, he was never short on a quip. Although much of his background and his religion is very mysterious and vague, The Outcast Mage sets up for both things to play a bigger role in future entries in the series, which I find very exciting.
Though I was incredibly invested in the characters and the story from the get go, I do think some readers might dislike how the novel throws them right into the world without much context. Personally, I did not find learning the terms of the world difficult, and I was able to figure things out pretty easily from just reading along and paying attention. It was not an overwhelming amount of information or new terms like some fantasy novels I’ve read that employ similar storytelling tactics. Each sentence was still comprehensible. However, I know there are plenty of readers who find this style of world-building alienating.
On the other hand, I did have some trouble with the pacing of The Outcast Mage, which was pretty inconsistent. Sometimes I never wanted to put the book down, but then things ground to a halt while characters, and consequently, the readers waited for the other shoe to drop. Likewise, some parts of the novel could have had more tension if they had relied less on telling versus showing, but it didn’t render the novel unreadable or anything.
I also think that most, if not all, of the problems in the novel could’ve been solved if the characters had simply taken a moment and communicated with one another, which would have been pretty easy as they all have magical methods of telepathic communication and teleportation. This was a little frustrating to read, but it definitely added to the tension and drama of the situation, especially with the enmeshment of the found family of characters and their sometimes conflicting allegiances.
Though The Outcast Mage didn’t end up being exactly what I was expecting, I still enjoyed the direction the novel went in. It honestly ended up reminding me of one of my favorite novels, The Priory of the Orange Tree, and I am super excited to see where the next novel ends up taking the characters. Overall, I think this was a really promising debut fantasy novel, as it manages to hit all of the classic hallmarks of the genre and still put a fresh spin on them.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Anne – Books of My Heart