This is a short-story collection featuring the  “origin story” of the characters in The Mage-Born Chronicles. I read this with no knowledge of the universe and I didn’t have any trouble following along or anything, so if you want to you can read it before Sorcerous Rivalry. There are six main stories and two bonus ones, that don’t follow the main cast of characters.

Blurb:

Before the Mage-Born Bounties:

Before they became known as the dangerous mage-born bastards, Reshi’s brothers and sisters were young mages growing into their powers in a kingdom that forbids the use of magic. This collection of short stories follows Eagan, Kila, Velyn and the rest of Reshi’s magical siblings as they develop their magic and learn to survive during the period known as the Great Mage Hunt. From the political intrigue of noble houses, to the secrets of the Order of the Great Canvas, from the great seaside ports to the mystical lands of the fae, each of the mage-born come up with their own unique solutions to living in a world that will kill them if their secret is discovered.

Six thrilling stories of magic and adventure, featuring Reshi’s siblings, plus two more stories set within the vast kingdom of Zarapheth!

This is gonna be one of those rambling reviews just listing things I liked

The stories 

The really cool thing is how different all the stories all from each other. They all show how the MC deals with finding out they are Mage-Born (which is not a safe thing to be in this world), but they each take it differently, and the stories’ settings are also varied.

There’s the bookish introvert having to deal with it at fancy school, the young nobleman at court, the warrior at the military academy, the scholar at a sort of religious/astronomy school, two young fishermen trying to scrape enough money to buy their own boat, the girl in a traveling troupe.

There are also two related bonus stories at the end, one of which involved a fairy and that turned out to be one of my favorites.

The characters! 

The characters are so cool, Reina is just the best. She just wants to be left the fuck alone to read her books and not have to socialize or go outside, where the are bugs and dirt and things. There’s so much to relate to there, I loved her from the start and she remains my favorite. I was sad to learn she’s not a PoV character in the main series.

There’s a character in the second story, Tresance, who’s basically the best and most clever friend a person could ask for. Eagan the MC from the main story was probably my least favorite of the siblings.

Kila, from the third story, is the best weapon’s fighter in her class, because she’s been training longer and harder than her classmates since she was 5. She’s tough as nails, but she also has to acknowledge and deal with her fears.

I really liked both Velyn and Tawny from the 5th story, and how strong their friendship was, and how their relationship grew.

The worldbuilding was presented in small bites, details that come together to paint a bigger picture. I guess if you’ve already read the other books in the world it’s a different effect, but for a first contact I really liked the way it was done. It was a light touch, but enough to tell me what I needed to know. The world itself is glum, with an ongoing genocide of mage-born people, but the general tone of the stories is not dark, and there’s of fun moments. I liked how adoption is included, though not being adopted myself I can’t say if it’s good rep.

The LGBT+ one of the siblings is gay, one is bi and a side character is trans. I still haven’t gotten round to reading it, but I think the main series is has a central m/m romance.

Goodreads link