The Outcast Mage is the first novel in the epic fantasy series The Shattered Lands, which marks the long form debut of Annabell Campbell, published by Orbit Books. A story clearly inspired by classical fantasy tropes, subverts some of them, takes others to the limit, all to weave a story which paints a parallelism with some real world developments, all to create a compelling and engaging novel.

An ambitious story written with several POVs in mind, and that doesn't hold readers' hand. We immediately start following Naila, a prospective mage, training in the Academy of Amoria; despite she has magic, she's unable to perform any magical act, being called a hollow mage. Being an orphan, and with that condition, bullied by her mates, she finds herself out of place in the magical society; until her path crosses with Haelius Akana's one, finding hope and belonging under his tutelage. Haelius, one of the most powerful mages, and surprisingly, he will tutor Naila, as he can see in her another outsider, another one that didn't fit into a society that is increasingly becoming more intolerant.
Because here's where the secondary POVs become more relevant, as in parallel with Naila's coming of age, we see how the tension between mages and non-mage rises, as Lieno Oriven slowly manipulates the Council to be given absolute powers; using a rhetoric of mistrust and fear to manipulate the mages and use that as the base to exert the oppression over those that he deems as inferior.

Campbell's writing shines especially at characterization; not only we have a highly relatable Nalia, somebody that doesn't fit where she should, but also with how hard-headed Nalia and Haelius are. We even manage to see how, even if Haelius is incredibly powerful, he's a bit naive; and even in the magical society, we can see how they are easily fooled and fearmongered by Lieno, putting themselves in the hands of a tyrant. The characters are rich and complex, and honestly, it's quite easy to connect with them.

The setting has all the vibes of high fantasy, and how we are directly introduced to it only reinforces this feeling; but with all, we have hints of a big world, not only with the complexity of the society at Amoria, but also with the other nations that are part of the world. The magic system is well balanced with an exhaustion cost, making it interesting to read. The pacing is great, making this book easy to devour in a few afternoons.

The Outcast Mage is an excellent presentation letter from Annabel Campbell, a perfect novel if you are looking for something new in the high fantasy field but with a classic touch and really well written characters. I need to know how the Shattered Lands series continues, because I can assure you I want to read more about it!