The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell Review

I received a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review

CW’s: Violence, some bigotry.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

So Orbit has produced a lot of bangers for me, and one dud (*Once Was Willem)* and I read this book coming off of *Greenteeth*, a five-star read, so that’s the context for when I read this book.

It wasn’t bad to start. It did feel very generic initially but got better as it went on, and I didn’t quite feel that same electric grab-your-attention feeling as I did with *Harvest of Hearts, Lucy Undying,* and *Greenteeth.* But it wasn’t bad at the beginning either. And it wasn’t really boring either, not quite.

It was actually pretty entertaining as the book went on. I really like Naila’s chapters. Her development was a bit cliche, for sure, and it was kind of run-of-the-mill fantasy in a lot of ways. But I definitely didn’t see a *lot* of copy-paste stuff from other books. I liked the more scholarly aspect of the magic, and I thought the “linguistic” aspect of magic (that doing magic was about memorizing phonemes). The magic system was really cool, and I liked it a lot. I think Naila really was a good and realistic character in that aspect.

Small detail I liked, the endearment “habibiti” which is an arabic/middle eastern term of endearment. Which, as a woman of Middle Eastern descent (my dad’s persian) I loved! And there did seem to be some of that influence in some of the naming conventions.

I will say I was back and forth over who I shipped. In a perfect word, it would’ve been Naila and Ko’lani, but I suspected it’ll be Haelius and Naila, which I’m okay with too. My favorite dynamic is “pretty little cutie with weird little (big) freak” and I think I’m just in that mood for that dynamic lately. And this book was just a bit too…I don’t know *normal* for me. I like a little edge of weirdness or oddness to my books. I like a little eccentric-ness in my characters and I didn’t get enough of that from Haelius, Naila, or any of the other characters. And honestly, for me, Naila and Haelius were the only ones that felt developed enough for me to care about them. The other POVs more felt like set up for the political world building. Larinne and Dailem were more interesting that the others, and I think there was a really interesting angle the author used by creating a world with Ancient Rome vibes (with the Senators) but allowing women to be in those roles. The others, I just didn’t care that much about and they felt kind of flat to me.

I do have to praise the world building here. The magic system was cool (though I wish the phonemes bit had been focused on more) and I liked the political system too (which I also think could have been focused on more). The threat of war did feel real, as did the class divisions and divisions between factions and mages vs. non mages. I did feel some of Naila’s loneliness and this “hollow” vs. magic type of deal they had more viscerally.

I still can’t figure out where the romance is supposed to be going (or if there is a romance at all) by the 70% mark. The chemistry just isn’t there for me between anyone. And by 88% I guess Larinne and Haelius are a thing?? I don’t see it, honestly.

The ending was okay, I guess, eventful, fairly impactful, but it just felt rushed, honestly. I think it could’ve been spaced out more. In the end, I just don’t think I plan on picking up the sequel. I think it might be psychological because I tend to not really be into sequels and want sequels from stand alones.

Not a bad book! Just not my favorite.