Reviews - A Mage's Guide to Human Familiars

225 reviews for:

A Mage's Guide to Human Familiars

A.J. Sherwood

4.04 AVERAGE

johannasophie_x's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

dejunk's review

5.0

So good!

Loved the story, the characters; really fun.
I listned to the audio and it had the best choices for each of the MCs. Definitely a great way to experience the story. Highly recommend!

humphrey_hedgy's review against another edition

3.5

It had a fun premise of modern mages and magic, but the characters were very one dimensional to me. None of the characters felt realistic, the dialogues felt very unnatural at times.
No conflicts in the book carried any tension and was quickly resolved.

yulia's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I really liked that premise of the book and the characters are fun and loveable!
Unfortunately didn't enjoy a lot of other parts: any conflict is resolved immediately, everyone over explains themselves, so it comes across as very unrealistic. However it may make it a comforting read for some.

Content Warnings

ditten's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I originally picked up this audiobook purely because it has three of my fave narrators - Michael Ferraiuolo, Greg Boudreaux, and Tim Page.

I'm so glad I did because this book was GOOD! It's fantasy, magic, mages, familiars, and it has an actually well-balanced poly relationship between the three MCs that works so well!
I've read quite a few MMM books at this point, and my list of ones I love is sadly short but just got a bit longer with The Mage's Guide.

Bel, Nico, and Garen are all amazing and I adore them together. The book is very lighthearted and just a fun, easy read. I'm excited for more of these guys and their world in book 2

settleforhalf's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was a fun, silly time. The writing was really basic and gen z-ish to an almost unnecessary degree, but I didn't mind it in context.

I like the lore and worldbuilding, though I feel it got overshadowed by the goofyness of everyone involved and basically killed any percieved sense of danger the careers all these people are in should logically imply. Late stage Marvel-esque, in a way.

The characterization felt weak across the board. I can't think of a single person that didn't get flanderized or cardboardified to hell and back by the end. Nico took the worst hit by far. How anyone let the person he is by the end of the book into the military is beyond me.

Also.. who talks to their relatives about their sex life this much? Is it a demon lineage thing? Is Gramps a freak? Am I just a prude? I don't want to know, honestly. It just had strange vibes.

Considering this is the first in a series, its sorely missing the setup for some big bad we need to work towards defeating eventually, and that makes me think the other two books are going to be episodic procedurals with mostly interpersonal drama as well. The romance was the plot and it got resolved. That being the case, I prefer to drop the series here and leave this read as a standalone.