Book Review: The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

 The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Geomagician

Publisher: Del Rey (March 31, 2026)

Length: 464 pages

Author Information: Website

I confess, I went into The Geomagician expecting something lighter and fluffier with a heavier romance angle, but this is one of those rare cases where I’m glad to be wrong. Instead, the novel delivers a story with far more substance than I anticipated, blending historical inspiration with magical charm and bigger, thoughtful thematic ideas embedded in a strong narrative that kept me hooked.

The book follows Mary Anning, an aspiring geomagician who grew up fossil hunting along the English coast in the small, humble village she calls home. All her life, she’s dreamed of joining the elite Geomagical Society in London, a group of scholars who can harness magic from fossils. But as a woman, that path is firmly closed to her. For now, she has to settle for building a reputation through her remarkable finds, selling fossils to tourists and the very geomagicians who benefit from work she’ll never be credited for.

But everything changes when Mary stumbles upon a fossil bed containing an intact egg which, against all odds, hatches into a living baby pterodactyl after she channels her magic into it. All of a sudden, she has something the Geomagical Society would be desperate to have. Maybe even enough to finally offer her a place among them? She quickly reaches out to her mentor, hoping to turn the discovery into an opportunity, but when he arrives, he brings along his colleague Henry Stanton, the man who was once her first love before breaking her heart. Though Henry’s presence complicates things, Mary is determined not to let it derail her plans. And yet, as she pushes ahead to London, she finds herself caught in a tangled web of politics, rivalries, and conflicting beliefs about magic, forcing her to confront just how far she’s willing to go to claim her place.

To start, I loved the world-building, which is easily one of the book’s biggest highlights. The idea that fossils can store and channel magical energy to accomplish incredible things is such a cool concept, and the story really digs into it from multiple perspectives, featuring strong tensions between science and the book’s fictional church, with different factions holding opposing beliefs about where magic comes from. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that this conflict ends up shaping a lot of what happens, and on top of that, you’ve got layers of social hierarchy, gender barriers, and shifting political viewpoints, all tied to bigger questions about power. Who gets to have it? Who controls it? Should magic belong to an elite few or be accessible to everyone? All these questions and more are woven into the plot naturally, giving the world a depth that feels lived in.

And then, of course, there’s Ajax, who completely stole the show. Honestly, I wish we’d gotten more of that little pterodactyl, along with more of the prehistoric elements in general. For a book so rooted in fossils and ancient creatures, it feels like this should have been featured more prominently, especially since the whole science and scholarship angle in addition to a woman fighting for her place in that world are one of its biggest draws. That said, this book still taps into the same appeal as series like Emily Wilde by Heather Fawcett or The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan, both of which feature ambitious female protagonists driven by their pursuit of knowledge and academic curiosity. I think if you are a fan of those types of stories, this one will be quite the treat.

In the end, The Geomagician ended up being a really entertaining novel and meatier than I expected, all in the best ways. It’s got a unique premise, a richly developed world, and just enough emotional weight to balance out its airier moments. If you’re in the mood for historical fantasy with a strong sense of place and an emphasis on ideas as much as plot, this one is definitely worth the read.