Taken (Alex Verus #3) Review

Taken (Alex Verus #3)

Benedict Jacka

Publisher: Orbit

Welcome to Fountain Reach. Ancient seat of the Aubuchon dynasty. Majestic setting of the White Stone tournament. 
Alex Verus' (not necessarily reliable) reputation attracts all sorts. Most are plain bonkers. Yet there's one invitation he just can't refuse. At Fountain Reach, Alex is perfectly placed among the noted and notorious to figure out why apprentices have been vanishing. But the tournament is a minefield of ancient grudges and new threats and Alex can't afford to miss a trick as his elusive adversary stays one step ahead in this most dangerous of games...

This series is starting to growing on me. I have got my head around Alex Verus gift – as a diviner he can see the future – but only in the short term if a decision is made and only if he is focusing on it. Otherwise he can be surprised as much as anyone else. With Luna now officially his apprentice and the change this has brought to their relationship, Alex is much more involved in the world of wizards and the Light Council affairs. So when apprentices start to go missing, Alex is asked to investigate.

Alex has been slowly gathering his own ‘scooby’ gang of friends and acquaintances who also become involved in his adventures and these characters are fascinating; Luna with her unique curse, Sonder and his book-learning, Arachne and her tailor skills. This time round we are introduced to two other apprentices – Anne and Viriam who are just as appealing and different. I love the different relationships Alex has with each of them and they have with each other. It really fleshes out the world and anchors Alex. Alex himself is still a bit of a mystery. He had a tough upbringing and doesn’t trust easily. He protects his own fiercely – whether that’s his life or his friends and doesn’t hide from conflict – but prefers to be sneaky as it gives him an edge. I think that element alone makes him fairly unique in protagonists. He has no ‘honour’ as such. That doesn’t mean that him won’t stand up for himself, but he will try to do everything to give himself the advantage.

The investigation and action are neatly intertwined and the plot pacey. The pages were easily swallowed up as I became engrossed in the story. The writing has become smoother and the plotting more natural as the series as progressed (It wasn’t bad before but you can tell this is an author relaxing into his craft and evolving). The magic system is one I like especially the changes in how Luna can control and manipulate her curse now.

There is one thing that bugs me slightly – some of the bad guys always manage to escape at the end which makes it feel like there are a lot of loose endings. I can understand the reluctance to kill of an intrigue foe but after three books in the series, it seems a little repetitive – like always playing the same attack in a game of chess. However, overall this is series is evolving and I look forward to the next instalment – I’ve even pre-ordered it from Amazon already!

Recommended for fans of Suzanne Johnson and Ben Aaronovitch. 7.75 out of 10

Cursed (Alex Verus #2) Review

Cursed (Alex Verus #2)

Benedict Jacka

Publisher: UK – Orbit

Since his second sight made him infamous for defeating powerful dark mages, Alex has been keeping his head down. But now he's discovered the resurgence of a forbidden ritual. Someone is harvesting the life-force of magical creatures—destroying them in the process. And draining humans is next on the agenda. Hired to investigate, Alex realizes that not everyone on the Council wants him delving any deeper. Struggling to distinguish ally from enemy, he finds himself the target of those who would risk their own sanity for power...

This is the second book following the adventures of Alex Verus, a diviner with the ability to see possible futures who prefers to make his living with a little magical shop in Camden, North London. Having established the rules and background in the first book, Fated, there is less explanations this time round although on occasion Alex can be a little repetitive explaining his actions. The good news is this makes the story much tighter with the plot moving at a brisk pace with few detours.

Alex seems like a nice guy, who cares for his friends and will do anything to save them, but other than that his personality is a little beige – not unpleasant, but not particularly memorable. This is a shame as some of the other characters are really intriguing! Luna, Alex’s apprentice has a more central role here as her struggles to maintain friends while living with her curse takes on a larger role. The character of Arachne will always linger in the memory as well and I like Sonder, Alex’s bookish friend. Cinder his sometime enemy/ally proves that there are shades of grey in this world with the Dark and Light Mages closer to dark Grey and Off-White that straight forward good and evil.

While the majority of the story takes place in London, it doesn’t really become much more than a backing for the story – it could be set in any large city. However, the writing is easy to gel with and this is an easy read. I am looking forward to the next instalment but this hasn’t jumped into my favourite series, just yet. But it has potential – after all the first few Dresden books are not the best!

Recommended for fans of Jim Butcher and Ben Aaronovitch. 7.5 out of 10

Fated Review

Fated (Alex Verus #1)

-          Benedict Jacka

Publisher: Orbit

Alex Verus is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop in London. And while Alex's own powers aren't as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future--allowing him to pull off operations that have a million-to-one-chance of success. But when Alex is approached by multiple factions to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever's inside must be beyond powerful. And thanks to his abilities, Alex can predict that by taking the job, his odds of survival are about to go from slim to none

A new urban fantasy set in London that is similar to the Dresden Files? How was I going to resist that? I am unashamedly biased towards my home town and any stories set there give me a little shiver of pleasure and pride – especially when the details are done right.

Upon meeting Alex Verus for the first time, we find a relatively isolated mage living in Camden who happens to be able to divine multiply future probabilities and learn from them. After some trouble in his past, he keeps mostly to himself and tries not to get involved in the magical community too much. That is until several parties want to use his gifts in order to retrieve a rare item and his almost-apprentice brings him a special type of magical object…suddenly Alex is a very popular man and it might just get him killed.

This is the first in a new series and there is a lot of world building as Alex introduces us to his world. The beginning of the book especially has a lot of ‘to a mages eyes the world looks different’ phrases that can throw you out of the story as you are being told rather than shown the differences. However, this soon settles down and we really get to see the world. Alex’s gift for divining the future is a little erratic – it only works when he concentrates on it so he can be surprised – and would make for a dull book otherwise! While I liked Alex I never really felt like I got to know him particularly well. Some of the smaller characters really stood out – I loved Luna and her curse makes live very interesting while Archane makes me almost like spiders again. In later books I would love for Alex to let his guard down a bit more and relax so we can get to know him better.

The story is pretty quick with plenty of different scenes and some really interesting concepts – the dream walking and labyrinth in the relic are wonderfully described – I almost felt like I watching a film at time. They had very cinematic aspects to them and I can’t help thinking Alex Verus would make a wonderful movie hero – similar to Nicholas Cage in National Treasure! Overall, this is a decent to a new series – and like some of my favourite series has a lot of potential. Both the Dresden Files and Kate Daniels books weren’t strong starts to the series but rough cuts to what have become must-buy books. I think this has the same sort of potential and I will be looking forward to the next book in the series, Cursed which is currently sitting on my TBR pile…

Recommended for fans of the Dresden Files and Ilona Andrews. 7 out of 10