Jyximus Faire is a scholarship student at the Academy of the Underground City, so frustrated by the slow pace of his magical education that he seizes every chance to race ahead — with reliably catastrophic results. When the dreaded Necromancer General Eufame Delsenza conscripts him as her new apprentice, Jyx finds himself waist-deep in royal mummies, unraveling conspiracies, and consequences that grow far larger than any one impatient student should be able to cause. The world is a vividly imagined subterranean city where necromancy, political intrigue, and magical hierarchy intersect.

Jyx is precocious, headstrong, and endearingly certain he knows more than he does — a boy-genius type who is just clever enough to get himself into real trouble and just resourceful enough to get back out. His dynamic with the cold, masterful Eufame carries the emotional depth of the books, shifting from wariness to grudging mutual respect as each crisis demands more from both of them.

Two novellas follow Jyx from his first disastrous mummy-related escapade through his next impossible mission: clearing his own name after being declared legally dead, while simultaneously stopping a Lord of Death from tearing the Veil between worlds and destroying the living. Each book gives him a complete adventure while building the Underground City's mythology and the relationship between Jyx and the formidable Eufame. Readers consistently describe the series as short but rich, satisfying, and desperate for more entries.