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Just Cause Universe #2
The Archmage
NOTHING LESS THAN THE WORLD The would-be Archmage has slain nearly all the magic-users in the world, taking their power for himself. If he succeeds in killing the Lucky Seven's own mage Stratocaster, the Archmage's power will become absolute and plunge the world into darkness under his cruel reign. But not if Mustang Sally and the rest of the Just Cause superheroes have anything to say about it. OUT OF TIME Only time will tell if Sally can run fast enough to escape the Archmage's clutches, fast enough to outwit his evil plan, fast enough to save the world. Praise for JUST CAUSE, the first book in the Just Cause Universe series "Ian Healy's Just Cause is a slam-bang good superhero story: part JLA, part Young Romance, with some splashes of Our Army at War to keep you on your toes. I thoroughly enjoyed Mustang Sally's adventure and look forward to reading more of Healy's work." -Rob Rogers, author of Devil's Cape "Ian Healy's Just Cause is solid, serious superhero action in the classic tradition, with tons of interesting characters, extremely well-crafted action scenes, and real depth. Highly recommended." -Van Allen Plexico, author of The Sentinels "The best thing about Ian Healy's books is the accessibility of their worlds and characters. He welcomes us in and takes us for a fun and memorable ride, and unlike other superhero universes, we never feel like the understanding of an entire mythology is out of our grasp-or would take thousands of reading hours to accomplish." -Allison M. Dickson, author of The Last Supper "Mr. Healy clearly loves superhero fiction. He has taken tried and true superhero tropes, made them his own, and crafted an excellent world, story, and characters. I highly recommend." -Corey L. Bishop, Creative Commoners podcast "Ian Healy's Just Cause is a great superhero book because it creates a world that is so close to our own we almost think that maybe these things did/are really happening, it's just that we don't live in the right city, and don't maybe have that special brick touch pattern to get us to Diagon Alley." -Jenn Zuko, Nerds in Babeland "It almost feels like you're watching a movie instead of reading a book when the superheroes are battling the villains." -Megan Bostic, author of Never Eighteen
296 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Ian Thomas Healy
127 books100 followersIan Thomas Healy is a prolific writer who dabbles in many different speculative genres. His superhero novel Deep Six: A Just Cause Novel was a Top 100 Semi-finalist in the 2008 Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award. He’s a seven-time participant and winner of National Novel Writing Month where he’s tackled such diverse subjects as sentient alien farts, competitive forklift racing, a religion-powered rabbit-themed superhero, cyberpunk mercenaries, cowboy elves, and an unlikely combination of vampires with minor league hockey. He is also the creator of the Writing Better Action Through Cinematic Techniques workshop, which helps writers to improve their action scenes.
His goal is to become as integral to the genre of superhero fiction as William Gibson was to cyberpunk and Anne Rice was to urban fantasy.
Ian lives in Colorado with his wife, three children, and a plethora of housepets. When not writing, which is rare, he likes to take road trip, enjoys watching football and hockey, and listening to or playing music. His ebooks can be found on Smashwords, Kindle, Nook, iBook Store, and other online retailers.
His goal is to become as integral to the genre of superhero fiction as William Gibson was to cyberpunk and Anne Rice was to urban fantasy.
Ian lives in Colorado with his wife, three children, and a plethora of housepets. When not writing, which is rare, he likes to take road trip, enjoys watching football and hockey, and listening to or playing music. His ebooks can be found on Smashwords, Kindle, Nook, iBook Store, and other online retailers.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 8, 2014
A story about superheroes, a villain, and the cause of justice. Rollicking good fun, with action sequences that kept the plot moving and twists that made the plot compelling. A fast, fun read. Not much substance here, but it isn't really the kind of story that demands substance.
August 18, 2025
A solid superhero story that utilises many of the genre's best tropes — though possibly let down by some characterisation choices.
There's a lot of fun to be had with Healy's Just Cause series; a world of established superheroes facing off against threats great and small. This story presents a threat on the latter scale, as a powerful magician threatens to alter reality to his whims
Just Cause steps up to stop him.
The story, whilst nothing mind-blowing, is entertaining and delivers several surprises, including (minor spoilers) a trip to the past. I love the dynamics between the team members, and it was fun to see them out of their element.
That said, the writing of the protagonist, Mustang Sally, can be challenging at times. She's 18/19, and the writing does dive into her immaturity; this, though, can make her somewhat annoying, as it very much embraces the stereotypes — and yet she's also likeable in how she grows and matures.
I think, at times, there's a dated quality to some descriptions, but I'm hoping that changes as the series progresses. Overall, though, good quality.
One other complaint is that the time spent in the past stalls any storytelling about the modern day threat. I think this is a story for which I would have preferred a secondary POV that showed what was happening whilst the main cast were ... absent.
A strong continuation of the series. I'm looking forward to picking up the next one.
There's a lot of fun to be had with Healy's Just Cause series; a world of established superheroes facing off against threats great and small. This story presents a threat on the latter scale, as a powerful magician threatens to alter reality to his whims
Just Cause steps up to stop him.
The story, whilst nothing mind-blowing, is entertaining and delivers several surprises, including (minor spoilers) a trip to the past. I love the dynamics between the team members, and it was fun to see them out of their element.
That said, the writing of the protagonist, Mustang Sally, can be challenging at times. She's 18/19, and the writing does dive into her immaturity; this, though, can make her somewhat annoying, as it very much embraces the stereotypes — and yet she's also likeable in how she grows and matures.
I think, at times, there's a dated quality to some descriptions, but I'm hoping that changes as the series progresses. Overall, though, good quality.
One other complaint is that the time spent in the past stalls any storytelling about the modern day threat. I think this is a story for which I would have preferred a secondary POV that showed what was happening whilst the main cast were ... absent.
A strong continuation of the series. I'm looking forward to picking up the next one.
March 30, 2018
This second book in the Just Cause universe is again primarily told from the perspective of 3rd generation speedster Mustang Sally, but this time the stakes have definitely been raised as one of the magic users on the planet is seeking to become the archmage and the only way that he can accomplish that is literally over the dead bodies of all the other magic users on Earth since their power travels to the nearest magic user when they die in a somewhat Highlanderesque manner.
Besides Sally, the book features a supporting cast that mostly consistent of characters who we previously met in the previous novel and on the whole they are all developed nicely in this installment, as is Sally herself who could have easily ended up filling the sterotypical 'chosen one' role which mostly isn't the case here, albeit the author's need to emphasise her youth at one point in the book was probably a little heavy-handed.
I do not want to go into too much detail on this plot as it is written in a very entertaining manner and it is probably going to be most enjoyable for people going into it fresh, but if I had to sum it up then think Avengers meets LotR with a dash of Back to the Future 3 for luck.
The narrator of this first novel returns to the same duties in this one and does another quality job, bringing Sally to life very effectively while also giving suitably distinctive performances for the rest of the supporting cast.
Overall, I thought this was noticeably better than the first one in the series and I still found that one to be enjoyable, so I would recommend people check out both of them.
[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]
Besides Sally, the book features a supporting cast that mostly consistent of characters who we previously met in the previous novel and on the whole they are all developed nicely in this installment, as is Sally herself who could have easily ended up filling the sterotypical 'chosen one' role which mostly isn't the case here, albeit the author's need to emphasise her youth at one point in the book was probably a little heavy-handed.
I do not want to go into too much detail on this plot as it is written in a very entertaining manner and it is probably going to be most enjoyable for people going into it fresh, but if I had to sum it up then think Avengers meets LotR with a dash of Back to the Future 3 for luck.
The narrator of this first novel returns to the same duties in this one and does another quality job, bringing Sally to life very effectively while also giving suitably distinctive performances for the rest of the supporting cast.
Overall, I thought this was noticeably better than the first one in the series and I still found that one to be enjoyable, so I would recommend people check out both of them.
[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]
February 18, 2013
This book is the second in the Just Cause series, picking up a few months after the first one ended. Often, sophomore novels are a dissapointment, but I'm happy to say that isn't the case here. A wonderful blend of super heroes, time travel and magic,with a bit of rock and roll thrown in for good measure, there's enough action to keep things moving along, but not so much that the plot plays second fiddle.
You can read this as a stand alone novel without a problem, but I'd recommend picking up the first in the series as well. The balance of smash-em-up adventure to emotional thoughtfulness should provide appeal to both men and women.
You can read this as a stand alone novel without a problem, but I'd recommend picking up the first in the series as well. The balance of smash-em-up adventure to emotional thoughtfulness should provide appeal to both men and women.
March 5, 2018
My review is based on the Audiobook. This is a great series. I would recommend reading book 1 first to get the full story and character backgrounds. It is fast paced and action packed. I really like how some of the characters abilities are not the norm. The narrator does a fabulous job bringing the story and characters to life with easy to understand and distinguishable voices. I look forward to more in this series.
February 16, 2017
Wow! Superheroes, magic, fantasy and time travel all wrapped up in one book! Crazy! I appreciate the complexity of the storyline and the way different events throughout "The Archmage" kept building up the story to a fantastic final finish at the end of this 2nd book in Just Cause series. Like I said! Crazy!
I received this title at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I received this title at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review.
August 1, 2017
The second entry in the just Cause universe was just as fun as the first. If you enjoy old school comic book superhero fun, but the comic today just aren't cutting it, give the series a try. Superheroes, magic, and even some time travel mixed in with this chapter in the Just Cause lives.
December 14, 2018
Another fun superhero fantasy.
June 19, 2016
With all due respect to the author (as I know writing takes a lot of creative energy and spirit) aspects of this story were bad. very bad. very very bad. the overall plot was actually strong. the theme elements were...mostly strong. So where did it go wrong? Now, obviously this is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but one criticism is that the writing was to heavy handed at times. Best to leave mysteries without over explaining them to the reader. The reader will pick up on more than one thinks and they like connecting the dots. Then there was the elephant in the room echoed from the previous novel in the series...the one dimensional boy friend character who is flat. I feel bad about it, but I kind of keep wishing he'd get taken out so the writing could move away from that relationship and onto more interesting aspects of this series. Now there may be readers out there that love the Sally Jason relationship...but, yeah, not feeling it. And for me, the love scenes seem over done. TMI. Do we really need to know what position Sally prefers? Sometime less is more. Also, the writer has a bad habbit of picking names that sound to similar. i.e. Sally and Shanon, Jason and Juice. I know other creative works do the same, but they succeed despite this, no because of this. Some of the motif was unappealing to me, but I think that was just me. Some readers are probably loving the rock band motif that keeps creeping into the super hero story. To me, it kind of makes the story hard to take seriously. Here's the thing though: At times the writing was beautiful and the overall plot was wonderful. With a bit of fine tuning this could have been a good if not great story. For example, when the world freezes when Sally goes into super speed mode...that felt as it would be and was well done. The *spoiler* timey wimey stuff was potential also wonderful. The scene with Sally's great great etc grandma was also interesting to show a perspective on evolution of super powers and was a nice hand touch to realisim. So yeah, this was probably a 2.5 star. Maybe book 3 will be better?
April 10, 2021
Oh wow, I am just loving this series. So glad I discovered it. This is the second book in a series that takes super hero's off the big screen or from the very pages of a comic book and brings it to life for your audible enjoyment. I just love the characters and all the different powers on show in this book, but it is the banter and camaraderie between them that really makes it work. There is plenty of action and twists, which leads the author taking you in different and interesting directions. He certainly puts his imagination to good use in this book, where else are you going to find cowboys and Indians one moment and then flying dragons the next and the best thing it all works and the book gels together to make a great adventure. I can't wait to see what the author has in store the characters next.
Every 100 years or so a mage will hunger for more power and the only way to become the Archmage is to kill off all the other mage's and absorb there magic to become all powerful and control magic. The time has come again and there is only two mages left in the world. Stratocaster belongs to the lucky seven super hero team and is all that stands in the way of a new Archmage. Can the Just Cause team fight a foe that can use magic to summon dragon's or even turn team members against each other? Maybe if half of them wasn't sent back in time. Mustang Sally and four other team members including the leader Juice will have to find a way to get back to there time line before they can come up with a plan to stop the archmage.
I like the narrator. She gives each character there own voice which helps bring the story alive. You might even say she weaved her own magic over the listener.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Every 100 years or so a mage will hunger for more power and the only way to become the Archmage is to kill off all the other mage's and absorb there magic to become all powerful and control magic. The time has come again and there is only two mages left in the world. Stratocaster belongs to the lucky seven super hero team and is all that stands in the way of a new Archmage. Can the Just Cause team fight a foe that can use magic to summon dragon's or even turn team members against each other? Maybe if half of them wasn't sent back in time. Mustang Sally and four other team members including the leader Juice will have to find a way to get back to there time line before they can come up with a plan to stop the archmage.
I like the narrator. She gives each character there own voice which helps bring the story alive. You might even say she weaved her own magic over the listener.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
June 28, 2021
Fast-paced and fun.
February 1, 2023
Gritty hero action....Before the fists start flying, and especially after...Which makes this an above the usual superhero novel, and WORTH READING!
December 17, 2022
Mustang Sally and the Lucky Seven take on the Archmage!
The Archmage was my introduction the Ian Thomas Healy’s writing/storytelling and what I came to realize was essentially an excellent graphic novel. My review is based on listening to the audiobook version of this book. I will also have to admit that I haven’t read or listened to Just Cause, the first book in the series, but that’s something that will be rectified in the very near future.
Full disclosure I love comics and graphic novels, Archmage ranks at right up at the top of my list – how can you go wrong with plenty of characters with powers not to mention adding a helping heaping dose of magic just to sweeten the story – ok it was integral to the story, after all how can you have an Archmage without magic?
Along with a very cohesive story line and easily likeable characters, the action and situations the characters found themselves in made for an extremely enjoyable/entertaining story. Leslie Howard’s narration turned this story into a truly sensory experience, she brought the characters to life, provided the nuance necessary between Sally and the characters she interacted with, not just the Luck 7, but all those she interacted with.
If you enjoy a good superhero story, or graphic novels this story is well worth your time and if you have a few spare audible credits, why not use a couple for the Just Cause series and have some good old-fashioned fun.
I received a copy of The Archmage through an author giveaway contest and chose to provide this review.
The Archmage was my introduction the Ian Thomas Healy’s writing/storytelling and what I came to realize was essentially an excellent graphic novel. My review is based on listening to the audiobook version of this book. I will also have to admit that I haven’t read or listened to Just Cause, the first book in the series, but that’s something that will be rectified in the very near future.
Full disclosure I love comics and graphic novels, Archmage ranks at right up at the top of my list – how can you go wrong with plenty of characters with powers not to mention adding a helping heaping dose of magic just to sweeten the story – ok it was integral to the story, after all how can you have an Archmage without magic?
Along with a very cohesive story line and easily likeable characters, the action and situations the characters found themselves in made for an extremely enjoyable/entertaining story. Leslie Howard’s narration turned this story into a truly sensory experience, she brought the characters to life, provided the nuance necessary between Sally and the characters she interacted with, not just the Luck 7, but all those she interacted with.
If you enjoy a good superhero story, or graphic novels this story is well worth your time and if you have a few spare audible credits, why not use a couple for the Just Cause series and have some good old-fashioned fun.
I received a copy of The Archmage through an author giveaway contest and chose to provide this review.
June 26, 2022
A big disappointment of a book packed full of misogynistic crap. All the women have to be paired off with guys as soon as they hit the ground. The guys (big, muscles ...) get all the strength, invulnerability while the girls (petite of course) can run, heal and turn invisible and hide. When the weapons are handed out who gets the swords and maces and who has a longbow, Sally has the smallest derringer in the shop while the guys get a .44.
As for Jason, he is the very definition of wooden, like another reviewer I kept hoping for him to be killed so the series could move on without his pathetic presence.
I hate time travel as a plot device - it is author laziness and in this case pure padding.
This book could have easily been folded into #1 if all the romance garbage and time travel crap had been edited out.
As for Jason, he is the very definition of wooden, like another reviewer I kept hoping for him to be killed so the series could move on without his pathetic presence.
I hate time travel as a plot device - it is author laziness and in this case pure padding.
This book could have easily been folded into #1 if all the romance garbage and time travel crap had been edited out.
July 8, 2025
I like the descriptions, the dialogue, most of the characters, most of the plot, and the pace in this novel. I like the epigraphs in most of the chapters in this novel. I don’t like that four of the sentences in this Kindle eBook aren’t grammatically correct. I rate this Kindle eBook four out of five stars.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews