Journeyman

Guild Mage #4

by David Niemitz

After surviving the attack on Coral Bay, Liv Brodbeck's most deadly secret is in danger of being exposed.

To protect her, Archmagus Jurian sends Liv, Wren, and Arjun with a group of Journeymen to the fortress-city of Akela Kila, in Arjun's homeland of Lendh ka Dakruim. The Well of Bones, grave of the Vædic Lady Costia, is erupting, spewing forth an endless tide of re-animated corpses, and Liv will need to use everything she's learned to survive.

But the true danger waits for her back at Coral Bay, where the future of the Mages Guild is thrown into turmoil by the new monarch of Lucania...

Genres: Fantasy

355 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2026

About the author

Dave Niemitz is a writer and teacher; he lives with his wife, son, a black cat named Charlie, and a Pug named Duncan.

Reviews

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyable

I’m not a huge fan of split narrative, with two parties acting separately and taking it in turns to drive the plot. But as one is clearly subordinate, it works.

Going to buy the next.

[Patrick Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic read

I really want to know what’s down there in the Tomb of Celris. I haven’t stuck with a series in a long time, but this is a good one! And the way the author crafts the spells the characters use is actually quite impressive

[Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I read what you can consider a rough draft online. I completed the story on royalroad.com. I am going to listen to the audiobook when eventually comes out in February. To those who can’t wait I highly recommend reading this book online.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continues to be a great fantasy epic that leaves me coming back for more. From a big picture view, I feel like this is a weaker book in the series, but not because it's not good. Rather, this is the first time where the story feels less structured as a standalone book, and more as a continuation of an ongoing story, to the point where it doesn't offer much in the way of exposition or reminders (which I prefer over reading the same clunky reminders during every book in a series). Liv's story in this book covers 3 shorter arcs, and while each arc has a solid conclusion, none of them is fully resolved, and I desperately want to know what happens next. Sometimes an ongoing story needs a bridge to get from one point to another, this is an Empire Strikes Back kind of book and that's ok.

My only minor concern is that with how busy the events of the book are, I do wish we had a few more moments to slow down and have the characters talk. Rose was absent for the first third of the book and some more interactions between her and Liv would have been nice, but I suspect there will be more of that coming. I would have loved some more conversations between Liv and Arjun throughout the events of this book, but hopefully they will get a chance to deal with some trauma together in the next book.

[Amalga Mat1on · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly a 3.5, but...

The repetitive theme and the over arcing plot is starting to become too frustrating. The characters are still entertaining for the most part. Unfortunately, they're getting smothered by two glaring issues that are starting to weigh on this series.

1.) Every book seems to have those obnoxiously arrogant villains that have egos that surpass not only the interesting magic system, but dang near all common sense. It's usually rewarding when they get their comeuppance, but this book didn't stick the landing anywhere near as well as it did in the previous books.

2.) You can only ignore an apocalyptic event for so long. Signs, upon signs, upon signs show that something terrible is going to happen or is happening. When it seems that the only person that truly understands is one half-elf girl and her ragtag friends in an entire kingdom, and everyone else just ignores it...You start hoping for the great magic known as Darwinism to be cast.

It seems like things are going to pick up from this point on, yet I think I'm going to wait until the entire series is finished before moving to the next book.

[Topher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading this on RR, but will likely transition over to adding it to my KU list instead at some point (very likely starting with #5).

[Roberto Flores · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heavy handed politics combined with a general refusal to deal with situations makes this entry very forced. This series has really declined.