The Wilds reclaim all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages and Archons create the only path forward.
While Tala is still burdened with an overly large debt, she needs to balance repayment with learning opportunities and surviving the arcanous creatures increasingly focused on her. Additionally, she must explore her newly acquired magical items, investigate a potentially lethal source of consumable power, and get back home with the caravan, trusting her defensive magics to keep her whole.
She has found that the world is bigger than she ever imagined, and what she had thought was the peak of power is only the beginning of her journey as a Mage.
J.L.Mullins has been writing since he was five years old. Blessedly, he has improved through the years, and while 'The Case of the Missing Stapler' will likely never see widespread publication, Mullins enjoys little more than sharing his newer stories—his worlds—with others.
He lives with his wife, six kids, and their rescue-akita named Fenrir.
This is second in a series that develops plot and character over time. Read in order.
You know what you are getting as this is more along the same lines. I liked many developments in the story, particularly with .
I don't have anything to add beyond that. It's still four stars with the same issue as the first (serial storytelling rather than an actual unifying plot) being the reason it isn't higher.
A note about Chaste: This one has a couple of boys who may be interested, but Tala is still kind of hyper-focused on her goals. So there's no intimacy and the little nudity is based on the magic being what it is and without any detail or gratuitous, um, description. So I consider it very chaste, but that's not entirely a given.
A note on rereading: So we get to see Rane in his over-eager foot-in-mouth glory. And yeah, there's still no indication that marriage is super cool and that sex gives a literal afterglow. That said, while you have a couple people obviously interested in pursuing a relationship with Tala, there's nothing that would prompt musings or thoughts of courting that would lead to the exposition about those social constructs.
Opening: My adventure through the Millennial Mage series by J.L. Mullins began in 2023 when I added book #1 Mageling to my personal SPFBO-9 TBR list. I enjoyed that read enough that I knew I would look to continue the series eventually.
Fast forward to March of 2025 and I finally got around to book #2 Mage. Honestly one of my only hang ups I had with book one was how young it read (the protagonist is young which is often a struggle for me) and this was seemed to progress from that a bit which allowed me to settle in and truly enjoy the time with book two.
Pacing: The pacing of the series in general is very smooth and quick. I would categorize the length of these books as middle of the road personally with them falling around 500 pages or there about. As much fun as I had with book one, I was able to focus and connect with book two even more. Now this could potentially be a timing thing as I am very much a mood reader. But the characters and story just allowed me to get intrenched very easily.
As with book one, I went with the audiobook version of Mage again. The narration by Tess Irondale continues to be a great performance. There are a lot of characters in these stories yet she does a wonderful job in giving each of them not only their own voice but their own character or feeling.
World Building: The Wilds are quickly becoming a very memorable world as I progress through this series. This world includes heavy magic as well as many fantastical creatures and perhaps gods. As our protagonist continues to come into her own, she seems to constantly be venturing away of the safety in numbers and get herself into trouble. For us readers though this makes some very entertaining adventure to experience!
I have to mention not only do we have a lot of variety within this world whether is out in the open Wilds or within the cities and towns, but it goes beyond that. I had such a great time visualizing these locations along the way. The author and narrator are really painting a picture of adventure with this story.
Character Development: The character arc of our protagonist Tala continues to show her growth as a younger lady as well as being a mage within this world. She continues to stumble along with learning her own magical capabilities. However, beyond that, in a more comical aspect is watching her stumble along in a more social environment with others around her. Namely young men who are also accompanying the caravan to her next destination.
There are some amazing side characters between friends, unsuspecting suitors and fatherly figures to enjoy within book two. There are some reoccurring characters carrying over from the first book which adds a nice bit of continuity to the series and allows me to keep up with reminders of things that happened a couple of years ago when read the previous book.
Closing: Mage has rejuvenated my interest in this series so much that I have a feeling I will be knocking out at least a couple more of these reads yet in 2025. I see that the ninth installment is scheduled to release in April of this year so I certainly have some catching up to do with the Millennial Mage.
I would recommend this series to readers of fantasy looking for smooth easy reading with excellent world building, plenty of exciting adventure and a right magical world.
Was wondering if the pacing issue from book one would be fixed.
It was not. The start is a slow crawl of tedious details. This takes up the first two thirds. The main character is just like a kid just going to college across the country from her family, and reveling in the freedom. She makes choices with no thought, just reflexive actions because she can. The last third is a lot of quick events crammed in. This is a boring read with a muddled ending about a careless character.
I liked the original and also really liked this sequel as well. It was very refreshing! The only drawback to me was how the MC let herself be bullied by the inscriptionist and a couple of others. Tough lady just letting someone push her around did not sit well with me. But it was a very minor part.
Great follow up and we see an ever expanding world around us. Progression is OK but I would be fine with faster, especially with everything that was revealed to us
This is a fun world, and I do want to spend more time in it. The story continues, from the first volume, to be in a sense simple and straightforward. Our protagonist is very good at everything, always finds exactly who she needs, and everyone likes her.
I gave the first volume an extra star because I assumed that the second one might have more edge, more complication. But it didn't really. I am enjoying being in this world, but everything is going so very well that it sort of lacks something.
This volume also has a few editing problems that I didn't notice in the first one. It slips incongruously into first person for a sentence or two now and then, which seems more like an accident than an implicit quotation. Not serious, but slightly distracting.
I also would have liked to see a little more amazement from her friends and associates after her particularly eventful absence; a mysterious and extremely powerful person she encounters in the woods, for instance, is almost never mentioned again. I assume it will probably come up in a later volume, but still.
Still having fun, and I hope that there is eventually more than one additional book in this series, because I know that I will miss it when there's no more to read!
This book continues smoothly on from the first and read back to back truly just feels like one lengthy book. The characterisation continues to be great, new and sort of new additions are excellent (terry becoming a fully fledged and endlessly charming character was very enjoyable), the dialog has great energy. As in the first the world is detailed and thought out with very compelling systems and intricacies to the magic.
Overall top notch slice of life progression fantasy just like it says on the tin. Definitely not as slow as slice of life can get — I wasn’t bored at any point. Still had that kind of laid back, we’re not moving to some grand battle necessarily, things are just happening as they happen and there’s stuff on the horizon but it will come when it comes vibe that’s very slice of life though. I find that tone really enjoyable.
Excellent characterisation, witty dialogue, compelling story and very detailed and intriguing world and systems. Sad I have to wait a whole day for the next book it’s really not fair but I’d 100% recommend this series.
I will start off by saying the book really deserves 4 stars. The only reason I didn’t give it that rating is because the couple things I dislike I find extremely annoying. Firstly is the magic system, im not sure if this counts as a cultivation based system but it suffered from the same problems as one. Which is a lot of time and energy spent on improvement for very little gain. Summed up the only magical thing the main character did for 70% of the book was be extra resistant. Even when she used her gravity it was twice in the entire novel. All that too say, that while the magic theory and environment is interesting, the actual magic use is boring and underwhelming. The second issue I have is the MC personality. I like strong sassy main characters but she comes off overtly confrontational a lot of the time. It’s cringe seeing her interactions with others sometimes. I also hate how Terry is a pet despite her saying he isn’t. She dictates to him all the time.
Mages, it turns out, are a lot like lawyers and doctors—after school, they have a lot of student loans to pay off. And if a mage wants to survive in the wilds, she must buy some expensive magic add-ons. The Millennial Mage series describes itself as a progressive, slice-of-life fantasy. Tala, our young heroine, has more talent than anyone suspects, so in every episode, she faces greater foes and wields more magical power: thus, progressive. There is also a lot of hanging around the campfire talking about magic and practicing martial arts. So slice-of-life. Tala’s pet Terror Bird requires big helpings of jerky made from the meat of slain magical animals. You don’t want to let your Terror Bird go hungry. Mage is lightweight fun.
Perhaps it's more the personality of the MC, but she has put great effort it seems to separate herself from desperate struggles so that there's still the occasion to struggle and be concerned, just the desperate part is missing. This isn't a stressful read, but it certainly is interesting, both with the places the MC goes and the people and things she meets along the way. She isn't trying to accomplish anything great, she's just moving to establish herself to have a good place, doing what she can along the way to explore and learn. I was quite happy to read this and the previous book and I'm looking forward to more!
Even when Tala tries to be as careful as she can, trouble and danger just seem to keep finding her!
Her time in the waning city of Alefast is well spent, and not just because she survived lessons to be more careful (though she can take little credit as she continues to not understand the level of risks she is taking).
"Good Decisions comes from experience, and Experience comes from bad decisions" is a rather succinct explanation of her journey so far. Will Tala live long enough to truly benefit from that maxim is the question.
It's an incredibly unique and interesting world feels very full and with a lot of potential super excited to see what's to come. Downside of that is how slow the story is progressing time wise it'll take another like 20 books to finish the year but I assume the author deals with that at some point. For now I'm just enjoying the ride and it's a really fun one to be on.
I so enjoyed the first book, 'Mageling' I immediately read #2. Our fearless and sometimes foolish mage Tala comes back to her home town on her second caravan trip.
Along the way, she deals with two suitors and begins to learn hand-to-hand combat. She also meets a a new mage, Tang, picks up a pet, and begins her journey to the next level of magedom.
So there's a lot of characters, and lot of great personal interaction, and some great action. Don't miss this one!
This is the second book in the series. Our MC has continued to grow and is preparing to head back out into the wilds and eventually back home. She has acquired some interesting artifacts as well as some interesting and helpful new connections.
She has a terror bird following her around, luckily, or she may not have survived her midnight capture off the top of the caravan. She had to fight off a flock of very large birds, debuff a request from a powerful magic wielder to be a servant, and make the trek back to the caravan while fighting off a horde of terror birds with the help of her own terror bird.
Overall, it’s a really entertaining and fun story. I definitely recommend reading the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Another good mix of slice-of-life, action, exploration and mysteries. Tala continued to grow in power in different ways (I especially liked the magical items and Terry) and now I kinda feel that some of the dangerous encounters aren't random coincidences. There was also a sinister implication from her encounter early in the first book (that she forgot about) - but perhaps there's more to it than just future danger to come.
As expected, this book brings the characters to the forefront. There are lots of fun interactions and some new characters that shake things up.
The world building, surprisingly, continues to take up a large portion of the book as well. This time it's better integrated with the plot, allowing more excitement without sacrificing the sense of exploration and discovery.
It's exactly what I'd hoped for at the end of the first book.
20 minutes of work, the rest of the day to get into mischief, or study, but that leads to even more mischief. And there’s lots of mischief when you’re super inquisitive, have enormous potential, and are awakening to the vast levels of magical power available beyond Mage academy.
Half the job done, shopping for rare magic items (including the ever useful bag of holding, and self repairing clothes), and back to the originating city.
As Tala grows from a small fish she starts to realize along with us that her small pond is part of a very big ocean. Comedy, action, and well measured revelations, a fitting sequel to Mageling and I look forward to the next book (if you don't like waiting either it's already written).
So this is still a great story however I'm finding it a bit silly and confusing that they talk about archons being so rare and great yet not only is Tala on here way to bring one, but she's met two others about to become archons and had met 3 actual archons... It's a little silly.
This one was a little bit shorter than the first book. It picked up right after the first one ended. The editing was excellent as far as I could tell. I'm off to read book three. Don't forget that if you're all caught up you can keep reading the story on Royalroad. No mistakes were found for me to list on Goodreads.
For how similar the overall plot is I didn't think I'd come of this one as high, but I liked how much the world was expanded on, the new characters that were introduced and the scales of power that were starting to see more of, just a lot of fun ideas coming together like the first book
First, I devoured this book and the previous. I the world, great background. I really enjoy the characters. Issue one: as is common now, MC is stupidly OP.compared.to anyone else of her level. Second issue: going along with OP, she also learns everything at immersion breaking speed.
And it shows. Intelligent, quirky, slightly naive character with just enough hints of potential over powered possibilities within her level, yet masses more challenge of all kinds to be getting on with. Intentionally leisurely paced slice of life, enough action to make the magic worth.
Great book, but not quite up to par with the first in the series. The pacing was a bit off and having two “final battles” in a row didn’t seem super necessary. I love the series though and am very much looking forward to the last book in the trilogy. Would give it 4.5 if that was an option.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If you enjoyed Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes, then you will love this series as well! Action packed but somehow restful as well. I can not recommend this book enough!
Excuse me, how on earth did we get from a confused human mage, to someone making friends and learning the hard way? I enjoy all the characters and their interactions with each other. I enjoy learning about the magic system and all the places to eat.