London magic - Alex Verus series
– Jim Butcher
I never saw before a book so highly recommended by Jim Butcher and since I am a huge Dresden files fan, I had to see what Benedict Jacka has to offer. I was not disappointed.
The main character, Alex, is a diviner, a mage who can see the future, and while this may not seem much when others can throw fire, fly or blow up things, imagine what it means to be able to see what happens every time before it happens. It gives you an insane advantage in almost any kind of circumstances.
It also gives you nightmares because to avoid a disaster you need to see it happening to you and learn what you can do to avoid it. So you get to see yourself shot, blown up, sliced, burned, torn to pieces and these are only few things that pass before Alex's eyes when he finds himself in dangerous situations.
Alex Verus series has eight books till now:Fated, Cursed, Taken, Chosen, Hidden, Veiled, Burned and Bound, and the next one, Marked is scheduled for April 2018.
The action happens in London, the home of the Light council, the government body of the magical English society and it shows a different world with Light and Dark mages, intrigues and politics, hidden and open battles. The Light mages are theoretically the good guys but their political aspirations and their continuous cold war with the Dark mages makes them seem no better than their enemy. The Dark mages are ruthless people with serious power and zero conscience. Their credo is: if you want something you get it, no matter if it is a thing or a human being. If they cannot stop you from getting it, it is their fault.
Alex is an independent mage by choice. He was apprentice to a Dark mage, Richard Drakh along with two other girls, Rachel and Shireen and a guy Tobruk, and he and Rachel are the only survivors of the apprenticeship. Rachel is Richard's Chosen and quite insane, and the only reason Alex is alive is because he escaped from Richard's grasp before the final test.
He is content running his shop Emporium Arcana and has a low number of friends like a mythical creature, Arachne, who lives in a cave in the Heath, an air elemental with the memory of a goldfish and a girl with a strange curse called Luna.
But his past catches up to him when an old friend, Kyle drags him into Council business with a job offer. What starts like a one time thing proves to be the beginning of a series of events that signal the end of his quiet life.
On the positive side, his circle of friends increases with the addition of Vari, a fire mage, and Anne, a life mage, and one thing is sure, you can never have too many friends or allies, especially when your name is Alex Verus and you have a knack of making the impossible possible.
Benedict Jacka is a master story-teller. The characters are different but work together very well. The magical society, not so different from today's political world with intrigues, revenges, games for power, assassination attempts has its own display of powerful characters and you find yourself on several occasions disliking the good guys and favoring the bad guys.
Luna's character slowly evolves from the shy girl with a magic curse in book one into Alex apprentice and help in battles. Her curse is like a silver spiderweb around her and protects her from harm but re-directs itself towards the people around her which means that she cannot get close to anyone without causing various levels of harm. The harm can vary from a bleeding nose to being crushed by a truck.
Vari is a temperamental fire mage and Anne, the quiet Anne is an extremely skilled life mage which makes her an excellent healer and the most deadliest enemy you can have. She can heal almost any wound with little effort and just as well she can take your life away. She is a very good person who resents her power's dark side and ends up as Alex closest ally and friend.
There is a different action in every book but still everything is connected and works so well into the final and totally unexpected ending of book eight. To say that I am looking forward to the next book is an understatement. I count the days till its release and this should tell you something about the books.
They are on my favorite list and they will remain there for a long time.
Enjoy a truly magical adventure!
Comments
Post a Comment