I freaking love this series. I read through all of them in 2021 and then sent everyone the first few books for Christmas that year. The finale is coming in just over a weak so I’m reading back through to prepare myself. The strength of the Mage Errant series lies in the world building. The continent of Ithos is huge and varied, with many wonderful creatures, locations and magics scattered around it. It’s got a depth and you can see that even in this first book. My favourite thing by far in the whole novel is a book called Galvachren’s Bestiary, which names and gives descriptions of numerous powerful creatures on the continent. And some of those mentioned will appear or be referenced in subsequent books. My kindle copy of this book is covered in highlighted sections where I note down if/when they turn up again or if we ever hear anything else about them. One of the creatures that was referred to offhand in this book appeared for like a single scene in the fourth book and I was so incredibly excited to see it. But I don’t know what’s cooler, the ones that do turn up again in some way or the ones that don’t. Because for something like that to be referenced and then just not seen again adds depth to this world and I love that.Into the Labyrinth is very much a set up book. It’s not all that long and, on paper, not all that much happens. But it sets up the world and things that will pay off in future books, plot wise and character wise, as well as explaining how the magic system works. Although this will be expanded upon later (in ways that really enhance it and make it one of my favourite systems) it gives you a good basis to enjoy the rest of the series.And yet, having said all that, I was pleasantly surprised as to how well this book holds up. The first book an author publishes is usually a lot weaker than the ones that come later, just because you learn a lot through writing that first book and a set up book usually loses rereadability as you already know a lot of what you’re being taught. But it’s really well constructed. There were things about the plot of this one book that I only noticed on this, my third or fourth read through, and there’s a level of subtilty here that was a joy to read. It’s short but it gives you everything that you need.And then after this the series explodes.