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Millennial Mage #10
Voidbound
The iron-clad Reality of the world will not be denied. Arcanes and humanity continue in an incidental peace, the many true threats to Zeme contained for the moment. Humanity thrives for the time being, as Mages and Archons devote their lives to give their people that chance.
With Kit now soulbound, Tala finds her soul pulled further away from humanity, even as her ties to her people grow stronger. Continuing to plumb the depths of her soul, she comes to truly accept her identity as the Ravenous, Jealous Devourer.
What is hers will not be taken, and what she gives will yield a greater harvest than ever imagined. What she thought she knew will be tested, and Tala must choose how she will spend her resources, where to invest her immortal life.
Yet even immortality does not guarantee eternity, and no human is promised 'forever.' As she navigates the increasing dangers of life on Zeme, she also attracts more attention from those more powerful than she can hope to contest... for now.
With Kit now soulbound, Tala finds her soul pulled further away from humanity, even as her ties to her people grow stronger. Continuing to plumb the depths of her soul, she comes to truly accept her identity as the Ravenous, Jealous Devourer.
What is hers will not be taken, and what she gives will yield a greater harvest than ever imagined. What she thought she knew will be tested, and Tala must choose how she will spend her resources, where to invest her immortal life.
Yet even immortality does not guarantee eternity, and no human is promised 'forever.' As she navigates the increasing dangers of life on Zeme, she also attracts more attention from those more powerful than she can hope to contest... for now.
723 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2025
94 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
J.L. Mullins
15 books91 followersJ.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.
Find him on Patreon:
patreon.com/MillennialMage
Join his Discord:
discord.gg/FddACAjUrR
Find the latest on Millennial Mage here:
royalroad.com/fiction/47826
He lives with his wife, six kids, and their rescue-akita named Fenrir.
Find him on Patreon:
patreon.com/MillennialMage
Join his Discord:
discord.gg/FddACAjUrR
Find the latest on Millennial Mage here:
royalroad.com/fiction/47826
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 2, 2025
This is tenth in a series you should read in order.
Well, you know what you are getting and this is very much a continuation of the previous. Tala is Refined and working in Alefast as a Protector. She's figuring out what to do with the community building up in her dimensional storage with Kit (and preparing to soulbond with her). And Tala is finding a whole new path of magic for humanity made possible by her control over magical ambiance within her dimensional space—specifically, giving those born without humanity's curse of a magical gate (i.e. the gateless) a path to magic similar to the Arcane's magical gifts.
So there's lots of magic wankery. In a good way. And providing a home for those considered "broken" is something I'm always going to be interested in.
A good piece of this story is Rane trying to catch up with Tala and become Refined on his own. There's more than a thread through the story that his biggest roadblock is his motivation and that culminates in this story and he finally becomes fully his own person capable to stand with Tala as an equal in all ways.
One of the humans that Tala gifts with magic gets married in this book and I'm pretty sure this is the first time we see humanity's marriage tradition and ceremonies. I mean, I might have missed it but I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered loincloths and body paint and the consummation hut that gives the couple a literal glow after doing the deed. And I know I'd have noticed that sex literally produces a soulbond that is visible even non-magically for days after its creation. No wonder there's no casual sex in a society that treasures family, fidelity, and has a built-in siren that paints violators in bright light. And to be clear, this is apparently not even a human exclusive thing as they were talking about the souldbond of marriage in Arcane lands, too. And there's no casual sex there, either. Hmmmm.
Anyway, I loved the story. I was fully engaged. It was an easy five stars, though again, not a lot of conflict outside of Protector and cell inspection duties Tala fulfills.
A note about timeframes: The story is starting to compress time a bit here. The first seven or eight books were a year or so. The next two have been another year or so. I sense that the scale of Tala's objectives is becoming a bit much to keep on such a tight timeline and it wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing years elided in the next book.
A note about Missing Faith: I don't know if this is deliberate, but the magic and culture in this story seems built around creating a heavy personal incentive for marriage and fidelity. The human society is already geared towards reinforcing social norms that would be very conservatively religious in our society. If so, it's very cleverly done and the author doesn't shy away from discussions of social engineering, community compacts, and the duties and rights of individuals. As such, I don't consider this an absence of faith that would leave unexplained holes left because the author just didn't want to deal with messy sex stuff. It's all very strongly supported, though not so overt that I don't wonder if the author ended up creating those explicit illustrative circumstances later and didn't have that strong of support in the beginning. Tala had her own reasons for being celibate and those were enough in the beginning. Maybe it's only as her relationship with Rane became close enough that modern audiences (like me) were wondering what the hold up is that the author gave it enough weight to bear up on its own. At any rate, this doesn't merit my missing faith tag, but it's close enough I thought I'd explain why. I do want to reread the first book or two to see if this cultural underpinning is there at all and I just missed it.
A note about Chaste: Tala and Rane are definitely in each other's intimate zone. Even a little bit physically. But not in a sexual or inappropriate way for even the highest sticklers of propriety. The book does end with . So this is very chaste and we'll see if we get to see Tala and Rane in loincloths, mussing each others body paint in the consummation hut...
Well, you know what you are getting and this is very much a continuation of the previous. Tala is Refined and working in Alefast as a Protector. She's figuring out what to do with the community building up in her dimensional storage with Kit (and preparing to soulbond with her). And Tala is finding a whole new path of magic for humanity made possible by her control over magical ambiance within her dimensional space—specifically, giving those born without humanity's curse of a magical gate (i.e. the gateless) a path to magic similar to the Arcane's magical gifts.
So there's lots of magic wankery. In a good way. And providing a home for those considered "broken" is something I'm always going to be interested in.
A good piece of this story is Rane trying to catch up with Tala and become Refined on his own. There's more than a thread through the story that his biggest roadblock is his motivation and that culminates in this story and he finally becomes fully his own person capable to stand with Tala as an equal in all ways.
One of the humans that Tala gifts with magic gets married in this book and I'm pretty sure this is the first time we see humanity's marriage tradition and ceremonies. I mean, I might have missed it but I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered loincloths and body paint and the consummation hut that gives the couple a literal glow after doing the deed. And I know I'd have noticed that sex literally produces a soulbond that is visible even non-magically for days after its creation. No wonder there's no casual sex in a society that treasures family, fidelity, and has a built-in siren that paints violators in bright light. And to be clear, this is apparently not even a human exclusive thing as they were talking about the souldbond of marriage in Arcane lands, too. And there's no casual sex there, either. Hmmmm.
Anyway, I loved the story. I was fully engaged. It was an easy five stars, though again, not a lot of conflict outside of Protector and cell inspection duties Tala fulfills.
A note about timeframes: The story is starting to compress time a bit here. The first seven or eight books were a year or so. The next two have been another year or so. I sense that the scale of Tala's objectives is becoming a bit much to keep on such a tight timeline and it wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing years elided in the next book.
A note about Missing Faith: I don't know if this is deliberate, but the magic and culture in this story seems built around creating a heavy personal incentive for marriage and fidelity. The human society is already geared towards reinforcing social norms that would be very conservatively religious in our society. If so, it's very cleverly done and the author doesn't shy away from discussions of social engineering, community compacts, and the duties and rights of individuals. As such, I don't consider this an absence of faith that would leave unexplained holes left because the author just didn't want to deal with messy sex stuff. It's all very strongly supported, though not so overt that I don't wonder if the author ended up creating those explicit illustrative circumstances later and didn't have that strong of support in the beginning. Tala had her own reasons for being celibate and those were enough in the beginning. Maybe it's only as her relationship with Rane became close enough that modern audiences (like me) were wondering what the hold up is that the author gave it enough weight to bear up on its own. At any rate, this doesn't merit my missing faith tag, but it's close enough I thought I'd explain why. I do want to reread the first book or two to see if this cultural underpinning is there at all and I just missed it.
A note about Chaste: Tala and Rane are definitely in each other's intimate zone. Even a little bit physically. But not in a sexual or inappropriate way for even the highest sticklers of propriety. The book does end with . So this is very chaste and we'll see if we get to see Tala and Rane in loincloths, mussing each others body paint in the consummation hut...
September 9, 2025
Still good after 10 books
Quite the feat that it hasn't gotten boring after 10 books, truly had thought it would but still going strong.
Usually by now the character in a progression series would be overpowered or at least far superior to their peers but the MC here is constantly improving and while strong is still young so the experience of her peers show.
Still much to do and good pacing, I think the lack of a 'big bad' for so long has made it easier to enjoy each book and not feel rushed or waiting for something to finally happen. While there are world ending threats, it hasn't felt like the MC has to rush to save the world or human kingdom which is nice.
Now as for powers, good development and good use but does seem slightly lacking in incorporating her iron. Like her Siege orbs, of compressed air? What if she compressed the air for a core then put iron shards around it before compressing air attracted to the core. That way when she fired the orbs and the middle core broke, the working on the outer core would too and end up blowing iron shards around.
Then her scale vest, with those white metal scales like broad head arrows, what if down the center she had a iron spike with the tip at the very tip of the arrow head. Her working would work on the white metal not the iron but the spike would impact any magic first disrupting magical defenses. Then if it impacts and gets stuck in someone or something there would be iron inside them disrupting natural magics.
Just seems like she should incorporate iron more, at least have an iron shield attached to her bloodstar to block magic attacks. Iron club in off hand? Have iron lining her weapon's sides for both blocking and disrupting magic.
Even just attracting iron spikes with a sheath of tungsten on them to some a circle of air, like how she targets air to make her siege orbs, doing it to air high up in the sky then once it reaches that height having it retarget to the ground under a person's a monster's feet instead of locking on them. Then moving them into the path before increasing pull to the ground to make kinetic bombardment with iron spikes that magic won't affect would be quite deadly.
The fact the Mage Hunter basically had a Iron projectile railgun yet the MC does so little with her Iron with gravity magic seems like a great lack on her part. So hope that she invest more heavily into that between her experiments.
Still 10/10 and got to keep things to develop for the future books, just hope that is something that she'll develop.
Quite the feat that it hasn't gotten boring after 10 books, truly had thought it would but still going strong.
Usually by now the character in a progression series would be overpowered or at least far superior to their peers but the MC here is constantly improving and while strong is still young so the experience of her peers show.
Still much to do and good pacing, I think the lack of a 'big bad' for so long has made it easier to enjoy each book and not feel rushed or waiting for something to finally happen. While there are world ending threats, it hasn't felt like the MC has to rush to save the world or human kingdom which is nice.
Now as for powers, good development and good use but does seem slightly lacking in incorporating her iron. Like her Siege orbs, of compressed air? What if she compressed the air for a core then put iron shards around it before compressing air attracted to the core. That way when she fired the orbs and the middle core broke, the working on the outer core would too and end up blowing iron shards around.
Then her scale vest, with those white metal scales like broad head arrows, what if down the center she had a iron spike with the tip at the very tip of the arrow head. Her working would work on the white metal not the iron but the spike would impact any magic first disrupting magical defenses. Then if it impacts and gets stuck in someone or something there would be iron inside them disrupting natural magics.
Just seems like she should incorporate iron more, at least have an iron shield attached to her bloodstar to block magic attacks. Iron club in off hand? Have iron lining her weapon's sides for both blocking and disrupting magic.
Even just attracting iron spikes with a sheath of tungsten on them to some a circle of air, like how she targets air to make her siege orbs, doing it to air high up in the sky then once it reaches that height having it retarget to the ground under a person's a monster's feet instead of locking on them. Then moving them into the path before increasing pull to the ground to make kinetic bombardment with iron spikes that magic won't affect would be quite deadly.
The fact the Mage Hunter basically had a Iron projectile railgun yet the MC does so little with her Iron with gravity magic seems like a great lack on her part. So hope that she invest more heavily into that between her experiments.
Still 10/10 and got to keep things to develop for the future books, just hope that is something that she'll develop.
September 13, 2025
I tend to try to ignore weirder points of worldbuilding, but truly the weakest part of this series is the human society.
Soulbounds get made... by literally people having sex after marriage? Are you shitting me? Is this all it takes? Does no one have sex at all before marriage? Is no one fucking around? Polyamory is not a thing? Screwing around is not a thing? Breakups literally damaging the soul?
I'm not even discussing homosexuality or anything more interesting than that.
There are so many set-ups here for complications, however, the author is just writing out of existence half of the messiness of humans and their romantic and sexual relationships. Good job making these humans either look more alien than most aliens in sci-fi (without acknowledging any of it). It could make sense since these humans are not the same humans as we have here in the real world, but it's still eerie. It's like reading about Stepford Wives except they are legit just happy here and everyone the only dystopia here is that the world is fucked.
Normally it's not a problem for me and I can ignore all of that well, but in this book the focus ARE relationships and marriage. Unfortunately, they are both presented in a rather boring way AND highlight most creepy part of this series, so, ugh.
Soulbounds get made... by literally people having sex after marriage? Are you shitting me? Is this all it takes? Does no one have sex at all before marriage? Is no one fucking around? Polyamory is not a thing? Screwing around is not a thing? Breakups literally damaging the soul?
I'm not even discussing homosexuality or anything more interesting than that.
There are so many set-ups here for complications, however, the author is just writing out of existence half of the messiness of humans and their romantic and sexual relationships. Good job making these humans either look more alien than most aliens in sci-fi (without acknowledging any of it). It could make sense since these humans are not the same humans as we have here in the real world, but it's still eerie. It's like reading about Stepford Wives except they are legit just happy here and everyone the only dystopia here is that the world is fucked.
Normally it's not a problem for me and I can ignore all of that well, but in this book the focus ARE relationships and marriage. Unfortunately, they are both presented in a rather boring way AND highlight most creepy part of this series, so, ugh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2025
My favorite in a bit!
I never stopped enjoying this series but this one has been my favorite in a while. The relationships between the characters and themselves was really fun this time around.
Then the cells have been really cool the idea of little pocket dungeons has been fun and a nice way to explore more powers and ideas. The montage check-ins with various characters we haven't seen are nice reminders of loose strings we'll get back to. And of course the name of book 11 is very exciting 👀
I never stopped enjoying this series but this one has been my favorite in a while. The relationships between the characters and themselves was really fun this time around.
Then the cells have been really cool the idea of little pocket dungeons has been fun and a nice way to explore more powers and ideas. The montage check-ins with various characters we haven't seen are nice reminders of loose strings we'll get back to. And of course the name of book 11 is very exciting 👀
August 22, 2025
A wonderful book of... Beginnings?
I'm not sure if it's a book of beginnings or not. There are beginnings, but I'm not sure that's what this book is about.
No, I'd say that it's a book of connections.
And one that I couldn't put down.
Not because of dramatic tension or events, those are easier for an author to do.
It's just... A good book. :)
(And Terry has been, and always will be, terrifying.)
I'm not sure if it's a book of beginnings or not. There are beginnings, but I'm not sure that's what this book is about.
No, I'd say that it's a book of connections.
And one that I couldn't put down.
Not because of dramatic tension or events, those are easier for an author to do.
It's just... A good book. :)
(And Terry has been, and always will be, terrifying.)
August 24, 2025
existential crisis much
This is really a 3.5 star but I’m feeling generous. The book was mostly about the mc and side characters personal growth and finding themselves. I really hope the next book can do more than self reflection. I don’t need constant action but I’m not sure I can deal with another dive into self reflection psychoanalysis.
This is really a 3.5 star but I’m feeling generous. The book was mostly about the mc and side characters personal growth and finding themselves. I really hope the next book can do more than self reflection. I don’t need constant action but I’m not sure I can deal with another dive into self reflection psychoanalysis.
November 3, 2025
Amazing character work
This book is great. The world building remains cool and interesting. The character work is amazing. By its nature slice of life has a lot of character focus, but, also by its nature, it is usually not particularly deep. This book dives deeply into its characters, and it does that spectacularly.
Overall, I highly recommend.
This book is great. The world building remains cool and interesting. The character work is amazing. By its nature slice of life has a lot of character focus, but, also by its nature, it is usually not particularly deep. This book dives deeply into its characters, and it does that spectacularly.
Overall, I highly recommend.
December 21, 2025
Only problem? It ends.
J. L. Mullins continues to flesh out the world of Zeme while his characters continue to grow in different ways. There's adventure, philosophy (not too much), fun with how far ideas can be pushed and deadly danger. He works to make this book accessible to new readers but there's plenty of new things for regular readers. I'd recommend.
J. L. Mullins continues to flesh out the world of Zeme while his characters continue to grow in different ways. There's adventure, philosophy (not too much), fun with how far ideas can be pushed and deadly danger. He works to make this book accessible to new readers but there's plenty of new things for regular readers. I'd recommend.
August 23, 2025
chewy
The stage of progression is one that requires a lot of insight into philosophy, so the pace is much slower and the narrative seems a bit scattered.
Pre-ordering book 11 because it’s still a good read.
The stage of progression is one that requires a lot of insight into philosophy, so the pace is much slower and the narrative seems a bit scattered.
Pre-ordering book 11 because it’s still a good read.
Read
August 26, 2025Wanting more
Each book in this series always makes me wish there were more pages, knowing I'll have to wait for the next book. As ever I highly recommend the entirety of the series.
Each book in this series always makes me wish there were more pages, knowing I'll have to wait for the next book. As ever I highly recommend the entirety of the series.
September 12, 2025
Amazingly good
Really, I’m constantly amazed by the imagination of JL Mullins. The challenges, creatures, and situations faced by Tala and her companions are detailed and inventive. Amazing!
Really, I’m constantly amazed by the imagination of JL Mullins. The challenges, creatures, and situations faced by Tala and her companions are detailed and inventive. Amazing!
September 24, 2025
Great book!
I love this series, so I'm leaving a review to support the author. This is book 10 though, so I recommend going to book 1 to start there.
Well written characters, story, world, everything really.
I love this series, so I'm leaving a review to support the author. This is book 10 though, so I recommend going to book 1 to start there.
Well written characters, story, world, everything really.
September 1, 2025
This book is much slower paced with progression being focused in areas of self-reflection and relationships more than anything else. The slice of life of the story definitely comes through in this story. There is still some good action in different points of the story and the MC comes to some realizations with her relationships that took near death experiences to get there. Terry is also debating if he is ready to take the next step in his relationship with Tala.
I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2025
I liked this book along with the rest of the series, but Kindle wouldn't let me rate it. This is the second time I've seen this issue recently.
Amazon is failing you...
Amazon is failing you...
August 31, 2025
Another excellent addition to the series.
September 2, 2025
YES!
The Ravenous Jealous Devourer is AWESOME. Man, that ending fight with the wolf!? At last progress between Tala and Rane. Terry FINALLY deciding?! I'm so freaking STOKED for the next book!
The Ravenous Jealous Devourer is AWESOME. Man, that ending fight with the wolf!? At last progress between Tala and Rane. Terry FINALLY deciding?! I'm so freaking STOKED for the next book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2025
Still enjoying this series :)
November 17, 2025
“I defer to my husband” 😒
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews