Mage Errant Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Mage Errant Books
Into the Labyrinth | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Jewel of the Endless Erg | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Traitor in Skyhold | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Lost City of Ithos | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Siege of Skyhold | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Tongue Eater | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Last Echo of the Lord of Bells | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The “Mage Errant” series is a set of fantasy fiction novels by John Bierce, a bestselling fantasy fiction author that is best known for the “Mage Errant” series of novels.
The author spent his childhood in rural Kansas and studied History and English at the University of Kansas before dropping out. He would then work a range of door jobs including being a bouncer at a bar, door to door voter registration.
He would then move to Portland Oregon where he went to Portland State University to study biology and yet again dropped out as he intended to become a professional writer.
Things went very well initially until freelance work dried up and he just could not break into comics. He would then become a grocery store greeter to make ends meet.
It was during this time that he began writing manuscripts in the “Mage Errant” series to show his spite against his circumstances. John was surprised with the success of “Into the Labyrinth,” her debut which he published in 2018.
By the time he published his third novel, he had become a full-time author. Following that, he became a digital nomad traveling all over the world until he got trapped by the pandemic and had to live for two years in Vietnam.
After he met his wife there, he decided to make his home in Hoi the Vietnamese city where he now lives with his wife and three felines, a few minutes from the beach.
As for how his love for writing originated, John Bierce has said that it came from reading “Misery” by Stephen King while he was in early high school.
While he does not believe he is a masochist, it is weird that work about being tortured and kidnapped would be the inspiration for his novel writing career.
It was from Stephen King that he first heard an author talk about their writing, their lifestyle, and their prices. It struck a chord in him which just grew stronger over time.
He had several false starts along the way as he just could not decide what he wanted to be. At some point, he wanted to be an English teacher in high school, then a Medieval Europe historian, an intellectual development historian, and then a geologist.
He would actually have attained the latter if only he could have completed his degree in geology. Bierce has also said that if he was not a writer he would happily be a research scientist.
When he is not writing his fiction novels, he can usually be found studying history and science. He also likes to travel, hike, swim, and camp, but books are also a huge part of his life.
The “Mage Errant” series of novels by John Bierce is set in the fantasy world of Anastis. It is a world with several continents each with some massive cities with extradimensional components just to add intrigue to everything.
This is a world with Powers that can be sentient magical creatures or powerful mages.
Apart from these are the Great Powers who are super powerful as some rule massive cities while others are heavily sedated given that they would be a danger to everyone if they were left to roam as they pleased.
The constant bickering and shifting of political allianceS result in a fascinating plot. The author also takes things further by introducing several races including Sphinxes, dragons, storm mages, Turtles, and Sunmaws.
Throw in a few liches, demons, griffins, gorgons, and imps and you find a world full of the most fascinating and diverse creatures.
The magic system is also quite complex and unique with contracts, attunements, and affinities making for a lot of variety from the whimsical dust mages to the usual elemental mages.
“Into the Labyrinth” is the first novel of the “Mage Errant” series of novels that introduces Hugh of Emblin.
He believes he is the worst student to ever study at the Academy at Skyhold. He is terrible at casting spells and when he casts spells they usually are an explosive failure.
As if that is not bad enough, he has attracted the wrath of a student hat is the most promising in his class. The worst thing is that the irate student also happens to be the king’s nephew.
Hugh lacks any talent and has no friends and did not expect to be chosen as an apprentice to a mage for the upcoming Choosing.
He is shocked when that is what happens and suddenly things start becoming better for him. But he still has to worry about the ultimate test for first-year students.
All of them will have to go to the labyrinth below Skyhold and survive in order to proceed to the next level.
“Jewel of the Endless Erg” is the second novel of the “Mage Errant” series of novels that continues from where the first left off. After he survived the dangerous labyrinth of Skyhold, Hugh and his colleagues look forward to a quiet summer.
Alustin their teacher just hire a sandship to take them on an expedition to the Endless Erg, a vast sea of sand. They are to learn by targeting the powerful and wealthy desert city of Theras Tel.
It has been a long time since Hugh has been this happy and he is excited for the sunshine, air, and quiet. Given his luck, summer promises to be tumultuous as they are about to be plunged into a dangerous world.
It is a world of warring cults, monsters, pirates, flesh tearing storms. Lastly, is the massive conspiracy against the dragon queen of the land Indiris Stormbreaker. At least Hugh is going to get plenty of sunshine and fresh air.
The second novel of the “Mage Errant” series of novels is “A Traitor in Skyhold.”
Hugh and his friends have been attracting a lot of attention from the Skyhold student body. They have learned that surviving the labyrinth and being front and center in stopping a coup tend to attract a lot of attention.
If it was up to Hugh he would prefer to be just another anonymous student as he has too much to deal with as he embarks on his second year of studies.
He has to deal with navigating long-distance relationship training as a prospective candidate to the Errant Librarians and a crushing load of schoolwork.
Things have only been made worse by the fact that Hugh and his friends have been roped into a quest to try to catch a traitor leaking secrets from the Skyhold Council.
Book Series In Order » Characters »