Mageling

Millennial Mage, Book 1

By: J.L. Mullins

Narrated by: Tess Irondale

Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

The Wilds relentlessly reclaim all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages create the only path forward.

Tala had to fight tooth and nail in the Magic Academy to forge a path to power that was her own. She knows it’s her duty to use that power to serve humanity, defending them against the creatures of the untamable wilds. However, she skipped a few steps in her education, like apprenticing to someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

Now, Tala has to balance learning as fast as she can with paying off the veritable mountain of debt the Magic Academy dropped on her shoulders for the opportunity; not to mention staying alive.

Even though she should only be a Mageling, the world considers her a Mage. Bless the stars she directed most of her magic toward survival.

©2023 J.L.Mullins (P)2023 J.L.Mullins

hard start, great over all.

author is ridiculously descriptive. hard to follow at first but improves over time, great story.

Great story made better with Tess at the helm

Pretty much what I said in the title. It is creative, fun and Tess always makes stories more pleasant.

great book

a great slice of life book. i cant wait for more. def recommend for easy listening

Fun, Upbeat Inkmage Adventure

This was a fantastic start to a new adventure. The overall story is a fairly light-hearted slice of life story so far with a significant dash of magical world discovery. The MC falls into the category of being OP because they have a few special talents/secrets they are trying to keep hidden, an impulsive streak a mile long because they trust themselves completely, and most importantly a willingness to suffer unimaginable agony for a slight edge in completing her goal. It was also good to see a new take on the inkmage/tattoo mage type systems, and I really thought the particular implementation was very well done. It doesn't go into exhausting detail, but gives the reader a feel for how things sort-of fit together as the MC starts making some discovery.

Tess Irondale does an amazing job with this book, and really brings out the voice of the characters. She really highlights the humorous situations and lighthearted banter, and brings a huge enhancement to the experience. She's a fantastic narrator, and it really shows with this novel.

This book brings to the table pretty much everything I'm looking for in this genre: a fun story, a consistent magical system providing a sense of progression, dangerous discovery, and a fun MC whose character traits keep things interesting, and an over-arching mystery that's been alluded to so the pressure can build for the next few books while the MC finds her feet from the incidents at the beginning of the book. I'll definitely be getting the next book in the series when it comes out on Audible.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Actually Quite Good

I was a little worried that the MC was going to be a true millennial, in other words a sheltered, entitled snowflake with terrible interpersonal skills and the common sense of a house fly. While some of these are partially true, the MC is likable enough. The world the author paints is also unique enough to hold interest. I did find a few instances where things felt contradictory with previous information and there were quite a few times when the author made the MC ignorant about something that she clearly already understood earlier in the story only so the reader could hear the explanation. This happened a number of times and was really my only gripe with the book, otherwise I might have given it five stars. I did enjoy it very much, though, and will be continuing with the series.

My first slice of life experience!

This is my first slice of life book I have listened to. I loved it. I listen while I am in the shop and the story made the time go by so fast.

The introduction to this world was fun and I love the rate of the release of information. No info dumping. Just narrative driven exploration.

The magic/inscription system is fun. The characters are great. I bought and gobbled up book two.

I can't get enough of this series!

I loved this book! i binged this book and the second one. I'm only pausing to write this review before starting the third, loving every minute of them. I couldn't put them down. I'm starting the third and couldn't be more excited

Hidden gem

I enjoyed this one quite a bit I was hesitant to but it because it has so few reviews. I should have bought it sooner because it was very enjoyable and I’ve read much worse books with many more reviews. This one is worth taking a chance on.

completely captivating and delightful.

The story is as delightful and entertaining as it is slightly odd and unconventional, just like Tala.

This isn’t your standard fantasy adventure of a plucky hero running off to save the world from magical beasts. It is not grandiose; no big bad evil dude needs defeating; no calamity, crisis, or existential threat needs tackling. It’s just an odd girl, with odd mannerisms, odd powers, and an odd outlook on life, learning how to survive in a dangerous world and pay off her debts. Tala is an unconventional main character but is positively delightful and well written. She doesn’t possess some unflappable moral compass that forces her to do good, she doesn’t have a chip on her shoulder that forces her to be evil and vengeful, she’s simply going about her life in the most direct way she can.

Tala approaches Mary Sue status, but I don’t think she crosses it. Her powers are strange but not unheard of. She’s just weird, and it’s so refreshing to see a character that feels like a real person, odd quirks and all. She is the embodiment of the “Poke it with a stick and see what happens” scientific mindset. Everything is a question that needs to be solved. Everything is more data, and sometimes the results of poking something with a stick and seeing what happens might just kill you.

The magic system within this series is probably my favorite in any novel I’ve read, which is a lot. It has hard set rules, it follows its rules, and then pushes and expands the borders of those rules as the story goes without ever breaking them. The reader learns the boundaries of the rules and where they can be pushed and stretched along with Tala as she experiments with things beyond her understanding.

I highly recommend this book if you like stories with a simple premise but deep exploration of the world with a very unique main character. For comparison, I’d liken the writing style to Denis E Taylor and the Bobiverse series, or Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, but set in a fantasy world where the tone is more Slice of Life and less “Save the world”.

It goes without mentioning, but Tess Irondale crushes the performance at every step of the way, as always. She nails the delivery and tone throughout for all of the characters. It’s always easy to differentiate who is speaking even when multiple characters are involved.

Good intro to a new world

Good story, loved the new magic system, did a good job with the world building, and I am looking forward to the next book.