'Servant Mage' by Kate Elliott: Elemental Magic System, Revolutions & Demons

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to the author, Tordotcom & NetGalley for this free copy.

Title: Servant Mage
Author: Kate Elliott
Publisher: Tordotcom
Pub. date: 18 January 2022
Series: standalone
Page count: 176
Source: NetGalley
Genres: novella, fantasy, adult

This post uses affiliate links and I may receive a small commission for purchases made through my links at no additional cost to you.

In Kate Elliott’s Servant Mage, a lowly fire mage finds herself entangled in an empire-spanning conspiracy on her way to discovering her true power.

They choose their laws to secure their power.

Fellion is a Lamplighter, able to provide illumination through magic. A group of rebel Monarchists free her from indentured servitude and take her on a journey to rescue trapped compatriots from an underground complex of mines.

Along the way they get caught up in a conspiracy to kill the latest royal child and wipe out the Monarchist movement for good.

But Fellion has more than just her Lamplighting skills up her sleeve…

Content warning: blood & gore, death, executions (hangings), infant death, slavery, talk of superior race

I read Kate Elliott’s Court of Fives years back and I loved it. The world-building was great and I loved that her stories weren’t centered around romance. I was excited to hear that Elliott would be releasing a new fantasy standalone, so I grabbed a copy on NetGalley as soon as it went up!

In a world where mages are looked down on because of the demon wraiths they house in themselves, Fellian is a Lamp, meaning she uses her power over the fire element to form lamps in the establishment she worked in.

Fellian gets recruited by rebel Monarchists who want to free fellow men who are trapped in a mine. However, they soon run across a scheme to murder the latest royal baby by the Liberationists and are soon caught up in a race against time.

The worldbuilding was absolutely intriguing! I was fascinated by the war-ridden history of Fellian’s world and the story behind the mages.
The magic system gave me major Avatar The Last Airbender vibes! Elemental magic and the fact that some people could sub-specialise was so cool! I was disappointed that we couldn’t see more of this magic system in Servant Mage.
I liked the political intrigue with its focus on power, class and choice in this novella. In addition to being believable, it echoed real-life issues we see in the world and in history.

This novella is packed with way too many events and details. I honestly feel that Servant Mage would have done a lot better as a full-length novel or even a series. I have no idea if the author intends to re-visit this universe in the future, but I would certainly be there if she does!
The pace of the story was too rushed so I did not really have the time to relate to the characters or really see much development.
Since the characters weren’t really delved into or developed enough, they were quite forgettable. I did not like that because these were major players in the Monarchists’ plan to take back their cities and I kept forgetting who was who.

The worldbuilding and magic system in Servant Mage was great to read about and showed so much potential. However, the rushed pace, the unnecessary details in the writing and the poor character development kept me from really falling in love with what the author was trying to achieve here.

More Servant Mage content: Angela’s review, Kate’s review and Hamad’s review

Kate Elliott has been writing stories since she was nine years old, which has led her to believe that writing, like breathing, keeps her alive. As a child in rural Oregon, she made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction. Her most recent novel is Unconquerable Sun, gender swapped Alexander the Great in space. She is also known for her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series, the Afro-Celtic post-Roman alt-history fantasy (with lawyer dinosaurs) Cold Magic and sequels, the science fiction Novels of the Jaran and YA fantasy Court of Fives, and the epic fantasy Crossroads trilogy with giant justice eagles. Her particular focus is immersive world building & centering women in epic stories of adventure & transformative cultural change. She lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes & spoils her schnauzer. You can find her online at kateelliott.substack.com and @KateElliottSFF on Twitter.