Is mage awful early game?

Even when wearing some heavy armour (Rising Fighter), you still feel very squishy. Mana runs out after just a few spell casts and takes an age to regen. Spells need to be farmed in order to craft (yes there's eternal spells though I only have one) and/or grown by the ton. Holding multiple spells takes up a ton of inventory space, especially when combined with the fact you need multiple wands for elements. Wands durability burns out so fast for meh damage and terrible range/tracking. Swapping between spells is clunky, pressing your bow button when the staff is out raises the staff rather than swapping to bow. +3 Intelligence food is hard to find and has to be cooked, whilst the strength variants comes by the buckets from orchards and is eaten raw. Healing spells are incredibly awkward to aim and heal barely anything even with int stacking and healer perks, chain heal can't target yourself; even with the bounce.

I end up mostly using a melee weapon and a bow for range with the odd burst from bone spear. Feels like I'd have an easier and saner time by just playing melee.

The only spell that feels any good so far is Chain Lightning. Which needs 20 flint and copper bars, which means mining and smelting on top.

I want to like Mage but I've never played such a frustrating mage class in 30+ years of gaming.