I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula Published by Del Rey on March 31 2026
Genres: Adult, Historical fantasy
Pages: 464
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: History and magic combine in this engaging debut fantasy story.
The Geomagician wasn’t quite what I expected, but I ended up enjoying so many elements, even if there were a few things that didn’t work for me. Debut author Jennifer Mandula has taken a real life figure from history—Mary Anning, an English paleontologist in the Victorian era—and built a fantasy story around her. The author adds lots of scientific details about fossils and paleontology, but she also explores things like women’s rights, religion versus science and the politics of magic. The story is being labeled as “romance,” however the romance elements are overshadowed by everything else. Once I adjusted my expectations, I found myself enjoying the story much more.
Mary Anning lives in Lyme Regis, an area rich in dinosaur fossils. Mary’s late father taught her how to hunt for fossils, and she’s found some incredible finds over the years. Unfortunately, her talent hasn’t translated into personal success. She longs to become a geomagician and join the Geomagical Society of London, but women aren’t allowed in the prestigious men’s club. Instead, she resorts to selling the fossils she finds and pawning her magic just to keep food on the table.
Until one day, she’s searching for fossils with her best friend Lucy and makes a startling discovery: an intact skeleton of a Pterodactyl, and beside it, an unbroken egg. The Pterodactyl skeleton alone will bring her quite a bit of money, but it’s the egg that captures her attention. As she’s cradling it in her hands, Mary is shocked when the egg begins to crack and a baby Pterodactyl emerges! How is this possible?
Mary immediately writes a letter to her good friend William Buckland, a respected member of the Geomagical Society and someone she trusts with her impossible find. Buckland rushes to Lyme Regis, bringing with him Mary’s ex fiancé Henry Stanton, another geomagician. Mary intends to sell the skeleton and the baby Pterodactyl to the Society, even though she’s forming a bond with the little baby dinosaur which she names Ajax. Buckland agrees to let her accompany the men to London and even promises to nominate Mary for admittance into the Society, hoping they will make an exception to their “no women” rule base on Mary’s extraordinary finds. But a political uprising is on the horizon, those who oppose the Society’s actions and beliefs, and Mary is about to be caught in the middle.
I loved the idea that fossils are used to store a person’s magic (called”reliqs”), and because Mary is a fossil hunter, she is able to make money from not only by selling dinosaur bones, but selling the magic she captures in her own personal reliqs as well. I did find the magic system a bit confusing at times, especially since there are so many parts to it. We learn there are witches, who can do magic without reliqs. Sorcery is an illegal type of magic that is banned by the church, and at first Mary’s ability to bring the baby Pterodactyl to life is thought to be sorcery (which is punishable by imprisonment or even death), but luckily she’s able to pass a test that proves it’s not.
For me, the most interesting thing about the magic in The Geomagician is that there are two factions with different beliefs. Most people believe that magic is a gift from God, but Henry believes that magic comes from nature. This conflict is one of the main themes of the story, and while I wasn’t too keen on the religious content, I thought it was balanced pretty well with Henry’s more scientific approach. It also shows the changing times during this era, moving to the invention of steam powered machinery for example, as well as Mary’s push to be accepted into a male dominated field of study.
Mary is an interesting character, although she’s not always likable. Of course I loved her tenacity and her belief in her abilities, but she does come across as selfish at times, and she’ll do whatever it takes to get what she wants, even at the expense of her friends. I was shocked when she agreed to sell Ajax to the Society, especially since I was expecting the little dino to play a bigger part in Mary’s life (although don’t worry, Ajax’s story takes a nice turn at the end of the story). I was also confused by Mary’s relationship with Lucy, who is supposed to be her best friend. It seems they are constantly fighting, mostly over Lucy’s involvement with a radical group who is trying to reform the reliquary system so that it benefits poor people as well. Considering Mary is one of the poor, I thought she might support her friend more, but nope, she’s too caught up in elevating her own status.
I’ll admit I wanted more scenes with Ajax, who turns out to be more of a minor side character. If you’re expecting a cozy fantasy story with a cute animal side-kick (which I was!), you might be disappointed. Poor Ajax winds up in a cage when he’s taken to London and I didn’t like Mary’s attitude about the whole thing, to be honest.
The ending brings all the different conflicts together in an exciting (although somewhat over the top) finale. I did love Mary’s redemption at the end, as she comes to realize certain things about herself and takes the first steps to change them for the better. It’s my understanding that there will be a second book at some point, and I’m very curious to see what happens next for Mary, Henry, Ajax and the rest of the characters.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
An excellent review! I haven’t got to this one yet, so I was fascinated to learn of your experience with it. Like you, I’d thought it was more of a romance – so it’s useful that my expectations in that direction have already altered. That said, I’m excited to get to it as it sounds like an intriguing read:).
Thanks Sarah! I am very curious to hear your thoughts:-)
Wonderful review! I think I would like a lot of elements. Better as a fantasy than a romance.
Thanks Anne! I agree, I didn’t miss a romance heavy story.
I’ve always found the real Mary Anning to be such an interesting person. I think it’s fun that the author has used her as the main character. But what really makes me want to give this one a go is the baby pterodactyl! I love books with dinosaurs in them. I think it’s that kid in me that never really grew up. ;D
The dinosaur/Victorian magical society combo was so interesting!
Oof, the fact that the baby pterodactyl just gets sold off makes me so much less inclined to read this, I must admit!
Right? I was so sad. I mean to be honest, Mary was pretty sad too, but she got over it.
So often these reviews remind me of movies or series. The female paleontologist and pterodactyl brought to mind the French movie by Luc Besson, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, which I think I’ve mentioned in another review. And the magic from god/nature element reminded me of two related anime series, A Certain Scientific Railgun, with powers related to science, and A Certain Magical Index, with powers related to religion. Fun stuff!
I love that you compare books to movies! If I watched more movies, I probably would too.
I can see where you’re coming from totally, but I really did like this, even though Mary could be puzzling, like you, at first, I was shocked that she sold Ajax, I saw the two becoming entwined whereas he fades into the background a little – which was a bit of niggle for sure. I hope there is a second though, I’d be really interested to pick it up.
Lynn 😀
I’m glad you loved it so much! I definitely want to read the next book:-)
Im glad this one ended up going better for you than it did for me, although it does sound like we shared a couple of struggles, like Mary’s selfish nature and the believability of her friendship with Lucy. In my case I don’t think it helped that I’d hyped it up in my mind as an Emily Wilde/Lady Trent style read and it ended up being vastly different than those expectations. Here’s hoping you get to spend more time with Ajax too in the sequel.
I completely forgot about the Emily Wilde comparison, and I’m glad I did, because this is really nothing like it!
Paleontology + Magic??? This looks so good! I was a dinosaur child, and it sounds like this is going to bring back a bit of that old wonder. Really excited to grab a copy of this
I hope you love it!
This sounds like a lot of fun, but I’m really torn on it. It seems a really long book to have a selfish main character (I get more picky about how much I like the characters as the page count increases). But on the other hand, magic + dinosaurs. I guess we’ll have to see if I come across a copy at a time when I’m feeling like reading it!
I wanted more magic and dinosaurs and a little less politics, but I’m glad I read it:-)
I also wanted more scenes with Ajax, haha. I agree with most of your points here, especially about it just not being quite what I expected. I found the magic really interesting, too–I would’ve loved even more about it.
I’m curious about the next book, hopefully it will answer some of our questions, lol.
I can’t believe I haven’t read this one yet! But to be honest, I am also glad because your review will help me quite a lot. Because I was expecting something cozy and I may need some preparation before meeting Mary because she doesn’t sound so nice!!
Such a beautiful cover! I love the historical aspect of this one. I might have to check it out. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/04/08/e-galley-review-the-name-game-by-beth-oleary/