Kate Elliott

Kate Elliott's Servant Mage is a fun secondary world fantasy from one of the best writers working in the genre. They choose their laws to secure their power. Fellion is a Lamplighter, able to provide illumination through magic. A group of rebel Monarchists free her from indentured servitude and take her on a journey to rescue trapped compatriots from an underground complex of mines. Along the way they get caught up in a conspiracy to kill the latest royal child and wipe out the Monarchist movement for good. But Fellian has more than just her Lamplighting skills up her sleeve... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Servant Mage

They choose their laws to secure their power. Fellion is a Lamplighter, able to provide illumination through magic. A group of rebel Monarchists free her from indentured servitude and take her on a journey to rescue trapped compatriots from an underground complex of mines. Along the way they get caught up in a conspiracy to kill the latest royal child and wipe out the Monarchist movement for good. But Fellian has more than just her Lamplighting skills up her sleeve...

This is an interesting novella. It's very anti-monarchy. But it's also very anti-capitalist and anti-communist as well. The magic system is interesting. And I think it's trying to say something, but ultimately it undercuts it's own message by having the Protagonist's original intended purpose for entering the story being to do something incredibly banal and basic. Everyone in the story is an important character of nobility or granted power... Except the only people we actually care about. So it sacrifices the achievement of the protagonist just to undercut how all political structures abuse the proletariat in one way or another. The call for a fourth system is hazy and hard to see. I don't know. I liked it but I'm not sure I'd pay novella prices for it. Get it from Libby or your local library.  

Laura Kehoe

Servant Mage was such an interesting story. I found myself really drawn to the characters and the world Elliot creates. But, I feel like this book just scratched the surface and left me needing a bit more.

This book is short, especially for a fantasy novel. I didn't mind the length, but I feel like because it was shorter, the story moved a little too fast at times. There wasn't as much character development or world building. I got glimpses of those and I liked what I saw, but I would have liked more. 

The world building that was present made me really intrigued. I'm looking forward to learning more about this world and how magic plays a part. There is so much to learn about and explore! I feel the same about the characters. I got to know them well enough to feel interested in their story, and what I did see really drew me in. 

While I wish there had been a little more to this book, I did still enjoy it quite a bit! I wish this wasn't a standalone, because I'd love so much more!

Sahi K

More of a 3.5. 

I haven’t read any Kate Elliot books before but I definitely have heard of some of them, especially the science fiction. But it’s no surprise that I decided to try a fantasy novella first. 

I’m not 100% sure what to make of this little story. It has a lot going on - the ruling Liberationists who want to keep all the mages in control through intense propaganda and brainwashing, Monarchists who are in rebellion trying to protect their people and form an army, indentured mages who are forced to serve with no choices of their own and who can never be sure which side might actually be good for them - along with a little action and quite a bit of history and lore. And for the most part, it was written well, is very fast paced, has interesting characters whose motivations you can’t be sure of but you want to like them, and quite an unexpected ending. So, while I quite enjoyed it, it almost felt like setup for a bigger story or a prequel for a new series; hence, I feel a little dissatisfied. But I’m definitely intrigued by the author’s writing and would probably checkout her previous release, Unconquerable Sun.

Kaeli Wolf 

Overly descriptive of mundane things such as the "flagstone pavement" as if this is something most people would notice. It feels like the author is trying to use any university-level vocabulary they possibly can just to make them sound smarter, but it's far overused.

Servant Mage

Reviews