The Nothing Mage by J.P. Valentine

“There’s nothing there.”

The words may as well have been a death sentence to young Declan. Without mana, there could be no studying at the sky-piercing Pinnacle Towers, there could be no great monster hunts, and there could be no following in his father’s legendary footsteps.

He’d be a cripple.

But when a terrible accident forces him to flee, Declan learns the true nature of his mana. Just because it doesn’t resonate at any known frequency, doesn’t mean it isn’t magic. Just because he can’t cast the same spells as everyone else doesn’t mean he isn’t a mage. And just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

This was the first book I picked up as part of the Inn’s participation in this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, and I’m thrilled to say that I enjoyed it!

The Nothing Mage is a story about a young mage named Declan. When Declan grows to the age that he can be tested for mana, he is shocked to find that there is seemingly nothing there. His father, a famous fire mage, is perhaps even more shocked, as it turns out Declan is the product of an affair.

Within the first few chapters of the book, we learn that Declan has been cast out of his family home and made to work as a weeder for the property gardener. Declan resents being a “nuller” — a derogatory term for those without magic — especially as he has dedicated so much of his childhood to learning magical theory. Luckily for him, he soon learns that he does have magic… It’s just not the kind that can show up in any testing. Those around him are perhaps not so lucky. Declan’s magic is dangerous.

After an unfortunate confrontation, Declan manages to find his way into an underfunded, overlooked magic school. The majority of the story focuses on his magical education.

The magic in this book is roughly based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Different people have mana that oscillates at different frequencies, and the wavelength of that mana determines which “type” of magic they can do — water, fire, lightning, life, etc. It’s a slight spoiler, but Declan soon finds that his mana oscillates at a much, much higher frequency that everyone else’s. For a rough comparison, while everybody else’s magic effectively functions in the visible light range of the spectrum, Declan’s magic is more in the range of Gamma radiation.

The thing that struck me most about The Nothing Mage was how readable it was. The prose is clear and accessible with very few flourishes, but it has a bingeable quality to it that keeps you reaching for one more chapter. This kind of style seemed vaguely familiar to me, and so I wasn’t surprised to find out that The Nothing Mage was initially a web serial that has been converted into a trilogy of novels.

Now, if you’ve never read a web serial before, the one thing that you need to know is that they live and die by how suited they are to binge-reading. Successful serials like Worm, The Wandering Inn, and The Martian got their readers by hooking them such that they came back every week for new chapters. Web serial chapters are often written the week of publication, with authors sometimes writing 2-3 chapters per week, and so typos and the odd grammatical error are inevitable. As a result, there are quite a few of those dotted throughout The Nothing Mage ebook. I didn’t find these too egregious, personally, but I mention it in case this is a major turn-off for anyone reading this review.

In terms of character, though, The Nothing Mage fell a little flat for me. Declan has his struggles and internal conflicts, but the cast of side-characters too often felt like they were in service to his story rather than actual individuals. There are a few fun relationships, but these are rarely explored deeper than surface level. On several occasions, Declan veers too close to being the archetypical “chosen one” type character who can do everything he sets his mind to. But then, this isn’t exactly uncommon for progression fantasy stories such as this one. The book also plays a little with reader expectations in this regard, hinting heavily throughout that Declan may be more likely to become a villain than a hero.

The plot mostly focuses on Declan and his teachers playing around with his magic, figuring out how it works, and how to limit the danger Declan poses to those around him. The story has a “personal journey” feel to it, which makes for a surprisingly fun and relaxing read. The setting is pretty intriguing, too, with numerous mysterious, multi-storied towers scattered around the world that act as magic schools. There are also plenty of magical creatures (some inside the towers themselves), which mages may hunt in order to increase their mana.

To sum up my feelings on this one, The Nothing Mage can often feel simplistic, but I also found it very enjoyable. It seems quite inconsistent in terms of target audience — many sections feel very “young” (especially the opening), whereas others feel more adult. There also wasn’t any defined “ending”. This makes sense given that this is just the first few chapters chopped off of a much longer web serial, but will potentially harm its chances in SPFBO given that books will be judged on their merit as novels.

The Nothing Mage did have a few flaws in my eyes, but it was still a very fun (and very addictive) read. For those who love books that unabashedly geek out in their exploration of their magic systems, I would definitely recommend you check this one out.

At the time of writing, I have finished going through my initial batch of 8 SPFBO books. The Nothing Mage is one of two contenders for my semi-finalist spot as it stands, but I’ll be holding off on finalising that decision for now.

We received a copy of this book as part of our judging duties for the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. See the official SPFBO 6 Phase 1 page here.