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Arch Mage #4
Fourth Earth: A YA Fantasy Adventure to the planet of Mythical Creatures
A shattered prophecy. A siren queen ravaged by insanity. Can a courageous young woman unite warring factions before the universe is enslaved?
Agnes Anne Cavanaugh desperately seeks to bring peace to her friend's beloved Fourth Earth. But with magic dwindling from the planet, she scrambles to convince rival contingents to put down their weapons. And when her powerful boyfriend's magic mysteriously fades, he slips into a depression. While he keeps saying nothing's wrong, she's supposed to not worry about him and still stop certain planetary doom?
To make matters worse, Sharir the Endless, master to the previously defeated dragon of manipulation, is enraged by her prior success. The time for subtlety is past and he joins the fray himself, devastating the lives of billions.
Destiny can take many paths, but only one leads to peace. A single mistake and Agnes will fail to stop Sharir from enslaving the universe, losing all that is dear to her.
Fourth Earth is Book Four in the Arch Mage epic YA fantasy series that readers can't put down. If you like magical creatures, incredible worlds, exhilarating adventures, and journeys of epic proportions, you'll love this enthralling story.
Agnes Anne Cavanaugh desperately seeks to bring peace to her friend's beloved Fourth Earth. But with magic dwindling from the planet, she scrambles to convince rival contingents to put down their weapons. And when her powerful boyfriend's magic mysteriously fades, he slips into a depression. While he keeps saying nothing's wrong, she's supposed to not worry about him and still stop certain planetary doom?
To make matters worse, Sharir the Endless, master to the previously defeated dragon of manipulation, is enraged by her prior success. The time for subtlety is past and he joins the fray himself, devastating the lives of billions.
Destiny can take many paths, but only one leads to peace. A single mistake and Agnes will fail to stop Sharir from enslaving the universe, losing all that is dear to her.
Fourth Earth is Book Four in the Arch Mage epic YA fantasy series that readers can't put down. If you like magical creatures, incredible worlds, exhilarating adventures, and journeys of epic proportions, you'll love this enthralling story.
460 pages, Hardcover
Published November 24, 2021
About the author
Cami Murdock Jensen
6 books421 followersCami Murdock Jensen is the author of the Arch Mage Series, a complete five-book YA fantasy multiverse adventure. She writes about people the world has counted out — and what they discover they’re capable of when no one is watching.
The Arch Mage Series didn’t begin in a notebook. It began on walks.
When Cami’s daughter was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and chronic migraines, the illness brought deconditioning that made everything harder. To fight back, they started walking together — short distances at first, often painful, always difficult. To make it through, they talked. They invented a girl who understood what it felt like to live inside a body that didn’t cooperate: a protagonist who faced her challenges not after overcoming her illness, but while still carrying it, every single day.
Those conversations became the Arch Mage Series.
Agnes Cavanaugh is that girl. She is sixteen, a burn survivor from Massachusetts, chronically ill from neuropathy, and the only wizard on a planet that banned magic 5,000 years ago. Her power is unlike anything in the wizarding world’s history — and it is perfectly, stubbornly her own. In a multiverse full of deception, that makes her the most dangerous person in any room.
Alongside Agnes is Temnon Odonata — arch mage of First Earth, possessor of an extraordinary and rare gift, and the one person whose honesty might match her own. The road across five worlds is long. So is the slow burn.
Agnes’s neuropathy is never magically resolved. Her scars are never erased. She saves the multiverse anyway. That was always the point — and it came directly from watching a real girl find her strength one step at a time.
Cami grew up in Spanish Fork, Utah with two obsessions that seemed unrelated: science and storytelling. As a senior in high school she won the Sterling Scholar in science and cloned DNA at the state level. One year later she wrote and composed the score for her first children’s musical. She has spent her adult life teaching, directing, writing, and composing — and never stopped believing that the most powerful stories are the ones that make someone feel less alone.
She lives in Utah with six children and a husband who is a much better hero than any prince, and who also handles her marketing, which may be the most heroic thing of all.
The Arch Mage Series didn’t begin in a notebook. It began on walks.
When Cami’s daughter was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and chronic migraines, the illness brought deconditioning that made everything harder. To fight back, they started walking together — short distances at first, often painful, always difficult. To make it through, they talked. They invented a girl who understood what it felt like to live inside a body that didn’t cooperate: a protagonist who faced her challenges not after overcoming her illness, but while still carrying it, every single day.
Those conversations became the Arch Mage Series.
Agnes Cavanaugh is that girl. She is sixteen, a burn survivor from Massachusetts, chronically ill from neuropathy, and the only wizard on a planet that banned magic 5,000 years ago. Her power is unlike anything in the wizarding world’s history — and it is perfectly, stubbornly her own. In a multiverse full of deception, that makes her the most dangerous person in any room.
Alongside Agnes is Temnon Odonata — arch mage of First Earth, possessor of an extraordinary and rare gift, and the one person whose honesty might match her own. The road across five worlds is long. So is the slow burn.
Agnes’s neuropathy is never magically resolved. Her scars are never erased. She saves the multiverse anyway. That was always the point — and it came directly from watching a real girl find her strength one step at a time.
Cami grew up in Spanish Fork, Utah with two obsessions that seemed unrelated: science and storytelling. As a senior in high school she won the Sterling Scholar in science and cloned DNA at the state level. One year later she wrote and composed the score for her first children’s musical. She has spent her adult life teaching, directing, writing, and composing — and never stopped believing that the most powerful stories are the ones that make someone feel less alone.
She lives in Utah with six children and a husband who is a much better hero than any prince, and who also handles her marketing, which may be the most heroic thing of all.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 10, 2021
Uniting all the factions of Fourth Earth?
To fulfill a prophecy to stop the evil power, it would take everything and everyone fighting against monsters and overwhelming knowledge and magic ability, and only if all the requirements were met. But there is always some missed detail or unexpected discovery that prevents the expected final act from happening as expected.
In this case it it book #5 of the series. It is too bad that we have to wait. But maybe you can get it for Christmas in two weeks. Or not. Just remember the earring holds the Deer. That is the best clue yet. So make up your own ending.
To fulfill a prophecy to stop the evil power, it would take everything and everyone fighting against monsters and overwhelming knowledge and magic ability, and only if all the requirements were met. But there is always some missed detail or unexpected discovery that prevents the expected final act from happening as expected.
In this case it it book #5 of the series. It is too bad that we have to wait. But maybe you can get it for Christmas in two weeks. Or not. Just remember the earring holds the Deer. That is the best clue yet. So make up your own ending.
December 20, 2021
**I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the author and Reedsy Discovery. This is an honest, spoiler-free review, and all opinions are my own and not influenced by having received a free copy.**
When Arch Mage Agnes is tasked with uniting a world devastated by disaster and torn by war, can she and her friends defy the grim odds?
Agnes is a human girl from our world, but has been chosen to defeat a darkness so bleak that it can destroy the entire universe. Together with her friends, the seventeen-year-old burn-victim survivor must use her unique Light Magic of Truth and her uncanny ability to make friends in their biggest challenge yet: uniting races at war on a dying planet.
Fourth Earth: A YA Fantasy Adventure to the planet of Mythical Creatures is the first volume I've read in this series, but I must give the author huge props for making it 100% readable for new readers with no prior reading needed.
Wow... Fourth Earth will make you feel so many deep things while you're reading. Difficult topics like depression, suicidal thoughts, racism, war, and poverty are addressed in a way that would be ideal introductions for both Middle-Grade and YA readers.
There is no overt gore/overly described death mentioned, making it perfect for children transitioning into the teen years to prepare for some of the harder conversations in life in a fun way.
Agnes is a strong female protag who doesn't mind protecting her friends (including her boyfriend), but also acknowledges her own weaknesses and accepts help willingly. Her genuineness is refreshing, as she has learned to accept who she is in past books and now encourages her boyfriend Temnon to do the same.
There are some unpredictable twists and a sweet (clean) romance between two characters I never saw coming, but moved me deeply. The enemies are complex; there is so much going on that complicates whether or not they are being evil for evil's sake or not, making them deep and hard to peg.
Fourth Earth: A YA Fantasy Adventure to the planet of Mythical Creatures is a story that reminds me of the power books can have to uplift and empower young readers. Acceptance of both the good and bad parts of ourselves, forgiveness of ourselves and others, and the ability to be afraid while simultaneously courageously facing terrifying situations are themes that make Fourth Earth truly stand apart.
Readers who love high-stakes Middle-Grade/YA Fantasy like the later Harry Potter books mixed with the magical adventures of the Percy Jackson series will love Fourth Earth.
I can't wait to see what comes next for Arch Mage Agnes and her friends!
**Trigger Warnings: Death, war, racism, death of a loved one, genocide, starvation, abuse/injury/death of minor children under age 18 mentioned & shown, suicidal thoughts (in a minor child under age 18), burn victim, depression**
When Arch Mage Agnes is tasked with uniting a world devastated by disaster and torn by war, can she and her friends defy the grim odds?
Agnes is a human girl from our world, but has been chosen to defeat a darkness so bleak that it can destroy the entire universe. Together with her friends, the seventeen-year-old burn-victim survivor must use her unique Light Magic of Truth and her uncanny ability to make friends in their biggest challenge yet: uniting races at war on a dying planet.
Fourth Earth: A YA Fantasy Adventure to the planet of Mythical Creatures is the first volume I've read in this series, but I must give the author huge props for making it 100% readable for new readers with no prior reading needed.
Wow... Fourth Earth will make you feel so many deep things while you're reading. Difficult topics like depression, suicidal thoughts, racism, war, and poverty are addressed in a way that would be ideal introductions for both Middle-Grade and YA readers.
There is no overt gore/overly described death mentioned, making it perfect for children transitioning into the teen years to prepare for some of the harder conversations in life in a fun way.
Agnes is a strong female protag who doesn't mind protecting her friends (including her boyfriend), but also acknowledges her own weaknesses and accepts help willingly. Her genuineness is refreshing, as she has learned to accept who she is in past books and now encourages her boyfriend Temnon to do the same.
There are some unpredictable twists and a sweet (clean) romance between two characters I never saw coming, but moved me deeply. The enemies are complex; there is so much going on that complicates whether or not they are being evil for evil's sake or not, making them deep and hard to peg.
Fourth Earth: A YA Fantasy Adventure to the planet of Mythical Creatures is a story that reminds me of the power books can have to uplift and empower young readers. Acceptance of both the good and bad parts of ourselves, forgiveness of ourselves and others, and the ability to be afraid while simultaneously courageously facing terrifying situations are themes that make Fourth Earth truly stand apart.
Readers who love high-stakes Middle-Grade/YA Fantasy like the later Harry Potter books mixed with the magical adventures of the Percy Jackson series will love Fourth Earth.
I can't wait to see what comes next for Arch Mage Agnes and her friends!
**Trigger Warnings: Death, war, racism, death of a loved one, genocide, starvation, abuse/injury/death of minor children under age 18 mentioned & shown, suicidal thoughts (in a minor child under age 18), burn victim, depression**
November 20, 2021
Like with all the other Arch Mage books, I loved Fourth Earth! Every world in the Arch Mage series is richer, more vibrant, and more exciting than the last. This was nonstop action from start to finish, but still well paced so that nothing felt rushed. I love seeing how far Agnes has come, and love all the supporting characters just as much as I do our beloved Arch Mage. Without giving too much away, the ending was an incredible surprise, and I can't wait to see how everything wraps up in the next book!
November 20, 2021
Where to start! I have been a fan of this series ever since I discovered this book through twitter about a year ago, and I had the honor of receiving an ARC copy ahead of this book's release.
My Review:
Characters: As with all the other books, I continue to love the characters. I especially loved the ways Temnon and Rein continued to grow and develop, and how we learned more of Kinza. Agnes is great--as always--and I love seeing the contrast of her war experience in this book compared to when we first met her in First Earth.
World-building: I have continued to enjoy the world-building in this series. There are always new worlds for Agnes to explore, and each one has a unique history, set of characters, and customs. None of them ever fall flat or seem the same, and this book had me so intrigued in each of the mystical kingdoms on Fourth Earth.
Plot: The grand scheme of this series really comes into full view during this book, and I just absolutely loved seeing all of the mysteries from previous books revealed. I was so happy to be able to connect many of the hints the author left for us throughout the previous books.
Conclusion:
Definitely a five star read! Very original and extremely engaging. Probably the best YA series I've read since Percy Jackson, and I will be anxiously awaiting the conclusion to the series! It's a very clean YA read with real stakes and a lot of character growth. Love it
My Review:
Characters: As with all the other books, I continue to love the characters. I especially loved the ways Temnon and Rein continued to grow and develop, and how we learned more of Kinza. Agnes is great--as always--and I love seeing the contrast of her war experience in this book compared to when we first met her in First Earth.
World-building: I have continued to enjoy the world-building in this series. There are always new worlds for Agnes to explore, and each one has a unique history, set of characters, and customs. None of them ever fall flat or seem the same, and this book had me so intrigued in each of the mystical kingdoms on Fourth Earth.
Plot: The grand scheme of this series really comes into full view during this book, and I just absolutely loved seeing all of the mysteries from previous books revealed. I was so happy to be able to connect many of the hints the author left for us throughout the previous books.
Conclusion:
Definitely a five star read! Very original and extremely engaging. Probably the best YA series I've read since Percy Jackson, and I will be anxiously awaiting the conclusion to the series! It's a very clean YA read with real stakes and a lot of character growth. Love it
October 25, 2021
The fourth instalment in the Arch Mage Series is a fascinating fantasy story combined with a touch of science-fiction. The author throws us into magical worlds where a strong heroine must battle powerful foes, using her magical powers, her scientific knowledge and her wits. Even if you start reading book 4 and are discovering this series for the first time, the story is easy enough to follow, so I recommend giving this highly acclaimed, spellbinding YA fantasy story a try!
August 27, 2022
Once again Arch Mage Agnes underestimates her abilities as we continue with her in this fourth part of the journey. With a seemingly impossible mission of unifying an entire planet, she rises to the challenge. She stumbles and doubts if she’s doing any of it right half the time, but she doesn’t give up. And her methods at times… well they’re not all-powerful mage magic. Not to say that she doesn’t have a fair number of scenes that we’re like, “wow, that was awesome,” after she lets it loose. Agnes’ strength though is so much more than that. She brings out the best in every person she touches, and they want to help her. Part of it is her gift of truth. Even if it’s hard to hear sometimes, when truth is spoken it can’t be ignored in the end. And that’s what she does repeatedly, wooing the groups to see the chasm that stands between them is not nearly as big as the threat that promises to destroy all of them. Sometimes her wooing is far gentler than other times, but she’s not afraid to let the truth be told until it finds its mark.
This is a tougher journey for her though in some ways because all of her efforts to “fix” one person seem to be useless. She watches her boyfriend go through the motions of trying to help while he loses more and more of his magic and his depression deepens. The one person she would give anything to help and she’s at a loss. And we’ve seen Temnon too and we know who he is with or without his magic, why she fell in love with him in the first place. It’s terrible to watch him walk such a path and we feel her helplessness as well. For Temnon, he finds the battlefields created in our minds and hearts can be just as devastating as any found on a physical battlefield. Breaking through the defenses takes a far different weapon than he envisioned.
And the supporting cast shone in this part of the journey. I especially enjoyed Rein, the siren prince. We always knew he could be this incredible leader and we caught glimpses of it previously. He fully had embraced that role as his planet stood in the balance. Beyond the leader, we saw another part of him that made us love him even more, the one that lived up to the true prince we imagined he always could be.
They will need each other like never before in this journey. A planet hangs in the balance. Countless lives stand to be extinguished in a moment. And that’s only the beginning. One planet at a time will face the same fate unless they can accomplish the impossible. Sharir looms in the darkness, counting on them to fail. We can only hope he does so in vain.
This is a tougher journey for her though in some ways because all of her efforts to “fix” one person seem to be useless. She watches her boyfriend go through the motions of trying to help while he loses more and more of his magic and his depression deepens. The one person she would give anything to help and she’s at a loss. And we’ve seen Temnon too and we know who he is with or without his magic, why she fell in love with him in the first place. It’s terrible to watch him walk such a path and we feel her helplessness as well. For Temnon, he finds the battlefields created in our minds and hearts can be just as devastating as any found on a physical battlefield. Breaking through the defenses takes a far different weapon than he envisioned.
And the supporting cast shone in this part of the journey. I especially enjoyed Rein, the siren prince. We always knew he could be this incredible leader and we caught glimpses of it previously. He fully had embraced that role as his planet stood in the balance. Beyond the leader, we saw another part of him that made us love him even more, the one that lived up to the true prince we imagined he always could be.
They will need each other like never before in this journey. A planet hangs in the balance. Countless lives stand to be extinguished in a moment. And that’s only the beginning. One planet at a time will face the same fate unless they can accomplish the impossible. Sharir looms in the darkness, counting on them to fail. We can only hope he does so in vain.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews