AUTHOR: BENEDICT JACKA
Pages: 319
Date: 23/09/2013
Grade: 4.5
Details: no. 3 Alex Verus
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Alex Verus’ life is running as smoothly as the life of
an independent mage can run. He’s running his shop and training his apprentice
Luna and trying to live his life as quietly as he can but it isn’t as easy as
it used to be to keep his anonymity. His recent adventures and rather
unexpected victories have brought him to the attention of the wider community
of mages. So, when he is invited to travel to Fountain Reach to be a supervisor
during a tournament for apprentice mages he isn’t too surprised. But since the
past few times when he did accept requests for help from other mages have only
lead to danger and brought him close to losing his life, Alex has no doubts
when he reclines the mind-mage’s offer, despite her best efforts to control his
thoughts.
When he is subsequently asked to look into the
unexplained and suspicious disappearances of apprentices Alex does accept the
invitation. And before he knows it Alex finds that he and Luna are on their way
to Fountain Reach after all, where they will have to combine their efforts with
two independent and initially very hostile apprentices.
While apprentices continue to disappear, Alex finds
himself in an environment where spells don’t work as well as they should,
facing an unknown opponent who seems to know his every move before he makes it,
facing an long time enemy determined to kill him once and for all and not
finding any clear clues as to why the young mages are disappearing or who is
responsible.
And once it does become clear exactly what is going
on, who is behind it and why it seems that Alex may at last have found himself
an opponent he won’t be able to defeat.
This is the third Alex Verus book and just like “Fated”
and “Cursed” this is a face-paced, thrilling, original and at times
very funny story. Alex Verus is a wonderful main character. He is very likeable
but by no means perfect; he has his quirks, his weaknesses and his pride to
balance his inherent goodness and inclination to help those in an even weaker
position than he is. As a diviner, Verus can’t so much predict the future as
determine all the possible futures ahead of him depending on what choices he
makes. And because he doesn’t really have any other magical powers, this
ability to stay one step ahead of those around him comes in very handy.
I love that these stories are set in a London I recognise. This
is the real world into which a magical layer has been incorporated in such a
way that it is almost possible to believe that it really exists. I also like
that while these books are clearly inspired by Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and
this particular book has one or two features that reminded me of Hogwarts, the
stories are fresh and original and don’t own anything to anyone except Benedict
Jacka, the author who wrote them. On the other hand, it doesn’t surprise me at
all that these books come with a recommendation from Jim Butcher. If either
Harry Dresden or Alex Verus would cross the Atlantic
I could see these two get into all sorts of adventures together.
As this series progresses Alex is picking up some
rather interesting side-kicks. There is Luna, who because of her curse has to
stay well away from all direct human contact. And in this book Anne, an
apprentice life mage and Variam, an apprentice with control over fire are added
to his unlooked for collection of strays. I can only hope that these three
youngsters will be around in future books because they really add an extra
dimension to the story.
Like I said, this is the third book in the Alex Verus
series. And while it is perfectly possible to read this book as a stand-alone I
would advice anyone to read the two prequels first. Apart from the fact that
you’ll get more out of this book if you’re familiar with the background story,
the earlier books are just too much fun to miss out on.
If you’re in the mood for an urban fantasy with a
healthy dose of magic and lots of heart-stopping moments you could do a lot
worse than to pick up this book. I would be surprised if you didn’t find
yourself getting lost in this almost real, magical world only to surface after
the mystery has been solved, danger has been averted and the story has been
told.
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