Mage in the Undercity

Stars and Bones #2

by Beatrice B. Morgan

The unbeatable Juniper Thimble has been broken. Outed as a mage, she has lost the love of her squire and gained a king’s ransom on her head. Meanwhile, Ison is tormented by memories of what the demon-summoning apostate made him do. To stop such a powerful evil, they must survive suspicious knights, old masters, and an underground cult. But can the assassin embrace her magic or the mage overcome the blood on his hands?

417 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2021

About the author

Beatrice B. Morgan lives in southern Illinois. She loves the country but hates bugs. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s playing a video game. Beatrice is a steadfast optimist, casual nerd, and caffeine addict. She often plays her music (a mix of classic rock and pop) too loud and drives too slow.

She also published under the pen name, B. B. Morgan.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another really fun read.

If you've made it to book 2, you must have survived the improbable backstory of book 1, and it's at least no worse in this one. The beginning was slow.... really slow... we endured a lot of "they don't know what to do with Juniper, so she's learning magic." Like, a lot of it. There was a lot of "The next 5 days were filled with..." which made it obvious the story was trying to hurry on, but yet there were chapters and chapters and chapters of this??

The second half, however, was worth the wait! Action, excitement, more friends, many new things learned about the overarching series plot. Good stuff.

I don't know, the author's writing is super readable to me. Even the chapters where not much was happening still were fast to breeze through.

Content: Author's description at the beginning of the book was accurate. Lots of discussion of sex, a fade to black scene, some violence, some strong language. 17+ was a pretty good rating.

[Beatrice Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm only slightly biased.

[Gypsy Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a worthy follow up to Thief in the Castle. There were things I loved about it and things that I thought fell short. I loved Ison. I love that he’s quiet, awkward, unsure about himself, and the guilt he harbors makes him rounded character. He also makes a great contrast to Juniper. I loved that we got to see a lot of the book from his point of view. And I continued to love Juniper. She’s confidant, cocky, and trying to talk herself out of a sticky situation. I also loved Bois. Very inventive character. I loved that we got to see more of the city this time around. Rather than just being a generally bad and shady place, the Undercity had children, and families, and poor people just trying to make a living, and the mages who escaped the Marca who weren’t evil, but normal people forced to live in hiding. What I thought fell short was Reid. He’s a coward, a jerk, and more interested in his job than anything else. He verbally abuses Juniper quite a few times in this book. And the fact she still continues to mope over him, lessens her as a character making her look rather masochistic and like a doormat. I was totally rooting for Ison and Juniper to become a thing. So, for all their friendship, it felt really out of character for when they got to the Undercity, it was like she completely forgot about him. The whole Undercity part, while I loved seeing the city, it felt like it meandered, spinning its wheels without really any direction. The politics of the castle bored me, and then the end set up for the upcoming adventure felt overly complicated, but I’m still looking forward to a change in scenery.

[Ellie Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

~About

Notorious thief Juniper Thimble is to remain at Bradburn Castle until the spell tying her life to Prince Adrian’s can be severed. As Juniper learns how to control the magic that allowed for the death of the core demon, squire Reid finds himself torn between his feelings for her, his childhood born hatred for mages, and his solemn duty to the king.

Meanwhile, mage apprentice Ison struggles with the knowledge that he was largely responsible for the demon summonings and related deaths that recently plagued the castle, a knowledge that is worsened as the unknown mage behind it all makes their presence known once more.


~Characters

The three main players of book two were Juniper, Ison, and Reid.

Juniper, a notorious thief, retained her sneaky ways as she once again found herself on the run from the royal guard. Her journey mainly revolved around her emotional conflict regarding Reid: how she lost his affections after he discovered she had magic. There was an increased sense of vulnerability in this second instalment, which made me feel more deeply for her character’s plight. Her journey also revolved around her learning to control the unusual magic that lay within her.

Ison, Bradburn Castle’s mage apprentice, was similarly as timid as he was in book one, however, he has since changed into a simultaneously more troubled and more daring individual. He seemed more willing to take risks, even when he felt uncomfortable about the potential outcomes. As much as I liked some aspects of his character, I also found myself conflicted at times, due to some of his particular actions.

Reid, a squire in training, possessed his same stubborn and loyal to a fault persona. However, book two also showed him in a new light. Here, I saw his deeper emotional conflicts, between his feelings for the girl he loves and a traumatic past which forever shaped his view of mages in general, and his wider duty as a squire.


~Likes

As usual, B. B. Morgan’s work possessed many positive elements, which I’ve bulleted below.

.A close third person narration style, switching mainly between Juniper and Reid, kept me in the loop about their personal conflicts.

.The tension between Juniper and Reid was well built up and helped hooked me from the start.
.The characters were realistic, with deep emotional conflicts that made me feel for them on a deeper level.

.I like that we got to see more of the Undercity in book two, with a stark contrast provided between it and Rusdasin above ground. It was interesting how the Undercity wasn’t everything that the people from above ground expected it to be: we see this through Ison’s eyes as he acclimatises to his new surroundings half way through the story, how his prior perceptions of the place were shaped by mere rumour and hearsay.


~Overview

Overall, Mage in the Undercity, by B. B. Morgan was a gripping, dark, evocative, and deeply personal journey of love, magic, and betrayal.

My Rating: 5 stars.
Recommended to: lovers of exciting fantasy series.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable installment in juniper’s adventures she’s unwittingly thrown into. I enjoyed watching her grow into the role of hero almost out of stubbornness and spite and essentially start her hero’s journey. I loved getting to see and live in the world of the undercity, what a good time! The communities that make up the fringes of society are often very dangerous and ugly worlds. But they are also strong in community and social support and it was nice to see that demonstrated in this workday. Xavier is such a chaotic neutral and just a good time. Also I am concerned for my best boy Adrian. Can’t wait to read the book!

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I didn't think this book quite lived up to the first one in the series, it was still such a fun read and I am totally hooked on the series. I loved getting out of the castle and into the Undercity. There were lots of new characters (or characters we only saw a tiny bit of in the first book) that were fun and intriguing. The plot took an interesting turn but I'm totally here for it.

The biggest issues I had were the pacing (slow, felt a bit rambling at times) and the lack of Juniper+Reid. That is one of my pet peeves in fantasy romance, and based on the way the book ended I'm a little concerned it will be a while before they reunite.

That being said, I am still obsessed with this series and highly recommend it to anyone on the fence about continuing!

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another page turner, I was a bit wrecked by all the turmoil! I object to both the book title and blurb giving away a plot that doesn’t develop until halfway through the book, I spent the first half of the book waiting for it to happen. The side relationships were all a nice surprise, but it’s to the point with the romance that I hardly want to see them together, Reid is so awful.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but this one in particular fell flat for me. It felt like nothing particularly new was discovered. Despite a lot happening in this book, it felt like very little was accomplished. I will probably not be continuing the series at this time, but I'm not completely writing it off yet.

[isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enjoyed the first book better, but i still liked this one enough to finish it. i will still continue the series and hope that the next book shows more development.

[James Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the book was really good. I spent every waking moment reading it. I’m looking forward to reading the next three books.