Taken by Benedict Jacka

TAKEN is the third book in Benedict Jacka's amazing series about Alex Verus, a mage with a gift for divination and a willingness to kick a bad guy in the crotch to save a life. He may not be able to throw down with the biggest and baddest in terms of sheer strength but he's still the one I'd bet on in a fight since he's cunning, practical, and ruthless when necessary, even though he's a good guy through and through. How can you not love a hero like that?

In TAKEN, Alex is recruited to investigate missing Light apprentices. They've disappeared without a single clue and so Talisid calls on Alex to look into the matter, after his men have no luck finding the perpetrator(s). From the outset, you know it's going to be a doozy of a case; Jacka excels at writing mysteries and TAKEN is quite strong on this front. Alex has a complex and dangerous mission and the outcome is not something you can predict but makes complete sense. The journey to the answer is filled with twists, turns, and scary encounters with powerful bad guys and you'll love every minute of it. TAKEN is loaded with suspenseful moments and thrilling action sequences, including  a fantastic car chase that's so well described I could picture every step in my mind.

There is also some nice development in terms of Luna's apprenticeship. She's not a typical apprentice since she's an adept -- basically a one-trick pony -- thanks to her curse. But Luna's curse is so weird that it makes sense on some levels. And I found it gratifying to watch her start to come into her own, her confidence growing and her control over her curse improving significantly. Luna is such a unique character and I'm quite curious to see what will become of her as the series progresses, especially since sucks seems to be steering clear of a romance between Alex and Luna, at least while they have this official relationship. 

Alex Verus has often been compared with Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden, which was what initially caught my eye. And while there are some similarities, be assured that Alex Verus is his own man and he lives in a most interesting world. Jacka has done a marvellous job of creating a dangerously magical London, filled with politics, wonder, and death. If you're looking for a series with a reluctant hero surrounded by a great supporting cast, you should definitely be reading the Alex Verus books.

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by Tynga at Monday, February 17, 2014

 Ace, Adult, Alex Verus, Benedict Jacka, mage, Penguin, Purchased, Review, Urban Fantasy  Leave your mark

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Interview with Benedict Jacka + giveaway!

I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Benedict Jacka to the blog today. I fell in love with his first Alex Verus novel earlier this year and so I'm a little giddy right now. =) Today, Benedict's here to talk about the second Alex Verus book, CURSED, which was released last month.

Read on to get to know Benedict and to learn more about CURSED. And stick around for a chance to win a copy of CURSED from the lovely folks at Penguin!

 

 

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Welcome back to the blog, Benedict! We're excited to have you back with us.
To begin, could you tell our readers what to expect with CURSED?

Thanks – good to be back!

Cursed is the second book in the Alex Verus series, and though it follows on from Fated it can be read as a standalone. Alex and Luna are the focus of the story, and there's more action than Fated as a series of enemies target Alex for reasons unknown. New characters arrive and old ones return, including Arachne, Sonder, Starbreeze, Cinder, and Deleo – some are friends and some enemies, and Alex has to figure out which are which.

One of the things I adore about your books is that Alex has to use his smarts to get out of trouble because his divination powers only give him information, not solutions. How did you decide to make Alex a diviner, rather than giving him a flashier ability like some of the other characters?

Fated is actually the fifth book I've written in the setting, and in books one through four I did give the protagonist one of the more flashy abilities. The problem I found with those, though, was that the more I wrote the harder I found to keep resolving conflicts in an interesting way. The most natural solution to any problem tended to be for the protagonist to brute-force it rather than use their magic to maneuver or give information. So when I sat down to write Fated, I had the idea to try out a story where the main character's primary ability only gave information. Alex developed from there.

Luna's curse is very interesting and I love that we get to see her learning more about it in CURSED. Will she ever be able to control it?

Depends what you mean by control! It's not going away anytime soon, but she's getting better and better at using and directing it with each book.

My favourite character (other than Alex) is Sonder. Can you give us any hints about his future?

Sonder's the most "white hat" of the main cast – he's got much less of a dark side than the rest of the primary characters. That's going to cause some friction in the future, but he's still going to be around!

FATED got a lot of positive buzz, including some major praise from Jim Butcher. How did it feel to interact with him and hear all of the comparisons between Alex and Harry Dresden? Do you feel extra pressure now?

Getting to talk with Jim was awesome – he's an incredibly nice guy and the advice he's given me has been really helpful. The comparisons between Alex and Harry Dresden, though . . . eh, I pay less attention to those. I can see where they come from, but I know so much about both characters that I notice the differences more than the similarities. Not enough to make me feel any pressure, anyway!

Are there any other authors or public figures you'd like to be able to sit down and chat with?

Heh. Lots, but I doubt I'll get the chance – I still feel like I was lucky to get to talk to Jim! Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, and Lois McMaster Bujold for a start, but they're all way more established than me.

Getting back to your books, what can we expect from TAKEN? Will that be the last we see of Alex Verus?

Taken's going to be a shift of pace from Cursed – slightly less combat and more poking around in dark corners. There are still action scenes, but they're more integrated into the story. The book focuses more on the apprentices of Alex Verus' world, and what life's like for the younger mages. It also introduces a couple of new characters who are likely to be long-term additions to the cast (one of them made a very small cameo in Cursed, but it was of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it sort).

And finally, one last question before we wrap up: One of the plot points in CURSED involves the monkey's paw, a magical item that can choose its bearer and grants his or her wishes (with a catch). If you could have catch-free wishes, what would they be?

I actually used to think about answers to that question, about ten-fifteen years ago. Now that I look back on it, nearly all the things I would have wished for would either have been pointless, or out-and-out counterproductive (because getting them without working for them would have taken away the whole point of the experience). So while I'm not saying I'd turn them down, I'd think REALLY carefully before making them!

Thanks for having me here on the blog, and hope you enjoy the books!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, Benedict! I'm so curious about who this new long-term addition is. I think I'm going to re-read CURSED and try to figure out who it might be. =)

Here’s the scoop on CURSED:

Things are going well for Alex Verus. He’s on moderately good terms with the Council, Luna’s settling in as his apprentice, and nobody has tried to kill him in weeks.

But when a mysterious woman bursts into his shop one night with a construct assassin on her tail, he’s thrown into the middle of a plot to revive a long-forbidden ritual for draining the power from living creatures. Alex’s old enemies Cinder and Deleo are after the secret, as well as a Council mage named Belthas and a mercenary named Garrick; at least one of them is trying to get Alex killed, and unfortunately for Alex he doesn’t know which. And finally, Luna’s found a boyfriend.

In between dodging assassination attempts and trying to keep Luna in one piece, Alex needs to figure out who’s really playing who – and whose side he should be on. He can see the future, but knowing who to trust is something else.

Jenn's thoughts

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Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

And in case you haven't had a chance to read FATED yet, here's the scoop on Alex Verus' first adventure:

Alex Verus is a diviner, able to see the future. This is impressive to most people but less so to other mages, who can do things like throw fire, disintegrate things, and fly. Right now Alex has a problem – a site’s been discovered containing an ancient and powerful relic, and lots of people are looking for a diviner to open it, including a trio of dark mages, a faction of the Council with an agenda of their own, and a shadowy figure out of Alex’s past, all of whom are looking to recruit, press-gang, or kill Alex, not necessarily in that order.

As if that’s not enough, Alex has to take care of his would-be apprentice, who has some connection to the relic which is making her a target as well . . . and who also just happens to carry a curse that’ll kill anyone who gets too close, assuming the mages hunting her don’t do it first. His allies are an air elemental with the memory of a goldfish and a creature living under Hampstead Heath that would make most people run screaming.

Sometimes seeing the future isn’t as fun as it sounds.

Jenn's thoughts

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

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Penguin is graciously offering one (1) copy of CURSED to a lucky reader!

To enter the giveaway, fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

US only

Ends Thursday, July 5, 2012

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by jenn at Friday, June 22, 2012

 Benedict Jacka, giveaway, Interview, mage, Penguin  20 People left their mark

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Cursed by Benedict Jacka

Cursed by Benedict Jacka

Book Stats:
Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban fantasy
Trade paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release date: May 29, 2012

Series: Alex Verus #2

Source: Review copy from Penguin

Reviewed by: Jenn

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Things are going well for Alex Verus. He’s on moderately good terms with the Council, Luna’s settling in as his apprentice, and nobody has tried to kill him in weeks.

But when a mysterious woman bursts into his shop one night with a construct assassin on her tail, he’s thrown into the middle of a plot to revive a long-forbidden ritual for draining the power from living creatures. Alex’s old enemies Cinder and Deleo are after the secret, as well as a Council mage named Belthas and a mercenary named Garrick; at least one of them is trying to get Alex killed, and unfortunately for Alex he doesn’t know which. And finally, Luna’s found a boyfriend.

In between dodging assassination attempts and trying to keep Luna in one piece, Alex needs to figure out who’s really playing who – and whose side he should be on. He can see the future, but knowing who to trust is something else.

(This is the blurb from Benedict Jacka's website, not the one you'll see on the back of the book.)

I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter with Alex Verus and so I was thrilled when my review copy of CURSED showed up. (Thank you, Penguin!) FATED was such a strong series debut and so my expectations were rather high for CURSED. And you know what? CURSED completely delivered. It has all of the things I loved about FATED and more.

CURSED picks up a few months after the end of FATED. Alex is a bit more on the radar and he's been working with the Light mages more, though he remains unaligned. He's developed some good working relationships but he still doesn't really trust anyone except for his closest circle. He finds himself sucked into a new mystery when a barghest is found dead and stripped of its magic. At the same time, he has to deal with Luna's new boyfriend, Martin, a monkey's paw, and a damsel in distress. It's not exactly a good time to be Alex Verus. But in true Alex Verus form, he spends his time helping his friends and dodging assassination attempts.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the way that Alex and Luna's relationship evolves. Alex is training Luna so she can handle her curse but they don't have the master/apprentice thing down pat because they're friends too. It's a complicated dynamic and it's interesting to watch them negotiate their new roles, particularly since Alex isn't all that thrilled about Luna's new boyfriend. The events in CURSED force Alex to take a hard look at their relationship and both he nd Luna have some important decisions to make.

I also really enjoyed the main story, about harvesting magic from magical creatures. It really hits home for Alex because of his friendship with Ariadne but I liked it because it explores some of the ethics and senses of responsibility in the main characters in the book. Alex has a much more flexible moral compass than some of the other characters (ahem, Sonder) and you can see the beginnings of potential future tensions. Alex wants to do the right thing but it's not going to be at the expense of those he cares about. Not everyone is quite so practical.

There are also some great moments with Cinder in CURSED. He came off like a thug with a soft spot for Deleo in the first book but we get to see more than that this time around. He may be a Dark Mage but he's got his own code and he's much more astute than I realized from FATED. Deleo also has some intriguing scenes. I don't want to say too much because the context might spoil some stuff for you but I will say that I would really, really like to know what's going on in her head.

I could keep gushing but I think this is a good place for me to stop. CURSED is another great urban fantasy novel that will keep you on the edge of our seat. It's got a thrilling plot, engaging characters, and a well developed world and it will leave you counting the days until book 3 comes out. (FYI, that's a whole 68 days away.) Thankfully, Benedict Jacka is a wonderful writer and I'm sure I'll be re-reading CURSED between now and then to tide me over.

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by jenn at Friday, June 22, 2012

 Benedict Jacka, mage, Penguin, Review  Leave your mark

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PAF: Story by Benedict Jacka + giveaway!

Today's post is an amazing story by Benedict Jacka, author of the Alex Verus series.
I adored FATED, the first book in the series, and I just about died reading this story.
I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Alex Verus' world, here's a quick description of the characters:

Alex Verus: a mage who can see the futures. That's right, futures. He can see all of his options and makes his decisions accordingly so he is a formidable dude.

Luna: Alex's friend. Her family was cursed generations ago and so Luna can't really get close to anyone. When she does, bad things happen to them.

Sonders: a mage with the Council who meets Alex and Luna in FATED. IMO, one of the most endearing characters in the book.

Deleo and Cinder: two bad guys.

Read on to find out what antics Benedict gets up to with his characters and make sure to stick around for the giveaway, where you have a chance to win a copy of FATED, courtesy of the lovely folks at Penguin!

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The Tale of Hansel and Gretel

Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his family found themselves starving due to a great famine. His wife convinced him that their only hope of survival was to abandon his children, Hansel and Gretel, in the deep forest. Alone, the children wandered lost for many days . . .

Luna: “Can you see any way out?”
Sonder: “Sorry.”
Luna: “This is great. Everyone complains about global deforestation and we manage to get stuck in the Amazon Basin. How did we even get here?”
Sonder: “I’m not sure. Last I remember I was—”

Suddenly, both children came across a strange cottage in the middle of a glade, made of gingerbread and sweets!

Sonder: “Wow. That’s amazing!”
Luna: “Is that chocolate?”

The starving children quickly began to eat the house.

Sonder: “This is really good! Don’t you want some?”
Luna: “I can’t, I’m on a diet.”

I said, the starving children quickly began to eat the house.

Luna: “I should eat the— wait, no I shouldn’t.”
Sonder: “Aren’t you hungry??
Luna: “Yeah, but look how much sugar’s in that! It’s about a million calories!”

Suddenly, the biscuit door swung open, and a face emerged, peering at the two children!

Alex: “Hey! Stop that!”
Sonder: “Oops.”
Alex: “What do you mean, ‘oops’? You’re eating my windowsill!”
Luna: “If you didn’t want it eaten, why did you make it out of dessert?”

However, the old wo— the man quickly controlled his temper and smiled, inviting the children within.

Alex: “But the shop’s still open, I guess. What are you looking for?”
Luna: “Shop?”
Alex: “Uh . . .”
Sonder: “I don’t think this is a shop.”
Alex: “. . . No, it’s not. That’s weird, it just slipped out. Anyway, come in.”

But unknown to Hansel and Gretel, the man was an evil witch!

Alex: “Excuse me?”

I mean, an evil warlock.

Alex: “That’s better.”
Sonder: “Who are you talking to?”
Alex: “. . . I’m not sure. Wait, who are—”

Inside, the wi— the warlock invited them to sit at a table filled with delicious food!

Alex: “Well if you’re that hungry, you might as well eat that instead of snacking on my front wall.”
Luna: “Thank you.”
Sonder: “Thanks. We were really lost out there. Uh, sorry about the damage.”
Alex: “Oh it’s okay, I’ll fix it. You can stay overnight and I’ll lead you out of here tomorrow.”

But the warlock was lying, for he had no intention of ever letting the children go. He was an evil man who fed on children, and the gingerbread house was his trap!

Alex: “Hee hee! Sleep well, little children, for tomorrow I will cook and eat . . . wait a minute . . .”
Luna: “Did you say something?”
Alex: “I’m not . . . Look, something weird’s going on.”
Sonder: “I know.”
Luna: “You do?”
Sonder: “Yeah, there’s no way this house should be holding together. Gingerbread doesn’t have anywhere near the tensile or the compressive strength to be used as a construction material. Plus it biodegrades way too fast, so rain will—”
Alex: “No, not the house. It’s about tomorrow.”</>

Of course, the warlock did not tell the children his plans.

Sonder: “You don’t think the foundations are stable enough to last through the night?”
Luna: “Will you shut up about the house? What’s going on?”
Alex: “I think tomorrow I’m supposed—”

I SAID the warlock did NOT tell the children his plans.

Alex: “—I’m supposed to cook and eat you guys.”
Luna: “WHAT?”

You are the worst villain ever.

Sonder: “You’re kidding, right?”
Alex: “Look, this recipe book I’ve got is nothing but ways to prepare children. Take a look.”
Luna: “Huh? These are measurements for— oh God, I’m going to be sick!”
Sonder: “Wait, you’re going to EAT us?”
Alex: “Don’t be disgusting. Of course I’m not.”

Yes you are.

Alex: “I said I’m not. Why the hell would I want to eat you?”
Luna: “I don’t know! You’re the one with a book which has children’s body parts sorted by protein and fat content!”
Alex: “Look, will you just listen a second? Something doesn’t make sense here. Where did this house and all the food on the table come from? And why am I treating you like children when you’re obviously not?”
Luna: “And why are you wearing a dress?”
Alex: “I’m not— oh. What the hell?”
Sonder: “I don’t think you’ve been living in this house.”
Alex: “What?”
Sonder: “Well, I just looked back. You’ve only been in here about ten minutes. Before that there’s just a fuzzy patch. I think this place has only existed that long.”

Well, there goes any hope of meeting this deadline.

Alex: “Did you hear that?”
Luna: “Hear what?”
Alex: “I keep feeling the futures ripple. There’s someone else here . . . Hey! You!”

What?

Alex: “Who are you?”

I’m the narrator. Or at least I was before you stopped following the script.

Luna: “Who are you talking to?”
Alex: “Listen carefully. It seems like it’s part of this world, but it’s not.”

Oh, whatever. Look, could you just move along with the story, please?

Alex: “Not so fast. What story?”

Hansel and Gretel.

Luna: “Hey, someone’s saying my name . . . Wait, no they’re not. My name’s Luna.”
Sonder: “That’s not my sister’s name.”
Luna: “I’m not your sister, you idiot!”
Alex: “Wait a minute. So you’re the one who put us in this story?”

I had to pick something the audience would be familiar with, all right? And I think you should be grateful I went for Hansel and Gretel. I was this close to doing Cinderella with Deleo and Cinder as the two ugly sisters.

Luna: “Why are you doing this?”

Look, we needed a story with an April Fool’s theme, and I figured putting you guys in a fairy tale would get a few laughs. If you’d just followed the script we’d have been done by now.

Luna: “What happens at the end of the script?”

You get home safe and live happily ever after.

Alex: “Wait, what happens to the witch? And why does this house have such a huge oven?”

Would you quit asking questions? The story isn’t going to end until the witch gets defeated.

Alex: “. . . Okay then. So you can narrate things into existence? And you do it by talking in that font?”

What? Look, the sooner you finish this the sooner we can all go home.

Alex: “Ahem. Suddenly, a baseball bat appeared in the warlock’s hand.”

Hey! Stop that!

Alex: “Cool, it works. Then the narrator, who was really an evil witch, appeared in the house."

Narrator: “What? I’m not supposed to be here!”
Alex: “Hey, Miss Witch. Turn around.”
Narrator: “Huh?”

*WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!*

Alex: “I think that counts as ‘defeated’. Oh, and April Fools, asshole.”
Sonder: “Do you have to keep kicking him like that?”
Luna: “So what are we supposed to do now?”
Alex: “I figure we grab some lunch, head for the nearest path, and start looking for a way out.”
Sonder: “Oh, that makes sense. This effect would have to have a limited radius. If we get far enough from the epicentre it should collapse.”
Luna: “It’s kind of a shame. I would have liked to see what it felt like to get a ‘happily ever after’.”
Alex: “I guess you’ll have to make do with THE END.”

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Has this left you wanting more? I bet it has! Here’s more on FATED:

Alex Verus is a diviner, able to see the future. This is impressive to most people but less so to other mages, who can do things like throw fire, disintegrate things, and fly. Right now Alex has a problem – a site’s been discovered containing an ancient and powerful relic, and lots of people are looking for a diviner to open it, including a trio of dark mages, a faction of the Council with an agenda of their own, and a shadowy figure out of Alex’s past, all of whom are looking to recruit, press-gang, or kill Alex, not necessarily in that order.

As if that’s not enough, Alex has to take care of his would-be apprentice, who has some connection to the relic which is making her a target as well . . . and who also just happens to carry a curse that’ll kill anyone who gets too close, assuming the mages hunting her don’t do it first. His allies are an air elemental with the memory of a goldfish and a creature living under Hampstead Heath that would make most people run screaming.

Sometimes seeing the future isn’t as fun as it sounds.

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

---------------------------------

Penguin is graciously offering one (1) copy of FATED to a lucky reader.

To enter the giveaway, obey the Rafflecopter!

US only

Ends Sunday, April 15, 2012
(like all of our Paranormal April Fools’ giveaways)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Benedict Jacka became a writer almost by accident, when at nineteen he sat in his school library and started a story in the back of an exercise book. Since then he's studied philosophy at Cambridge, lived in China, and worked as everything from civil servant to bouncer to teacher before returning to London to take up law.

Website | Blog | Twitter

 

 

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by jenn at Monday, March 26, 2012

 Benedict Jacka, giveaway, Guest Post, mage, Paranormal April Fools', Penguin  29 People left their mark

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Fated by Benedict Jacka

Fated by Benedict Jacka

Book Stats:
Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban fantasy
Mass market paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release date: February 28, 2012

Series: Alex Verus #1

Source: Review copy from Penguin

Reviewed by: Jenn

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Alex Verus is a diviner, able to see the future. This is impressive to most people but less so to other mages, who can do things like throw fire, disintegrate things, and fly. Right now Alex has a problem – a site’s been discovered containing an ancient and powerful relic, and lots of people are looking for a diviner to open it, including a trio of dark mages, a faction of the Council with an agenda of their own, and a shadowy figure out of Alex’s past, all of whom are looking to recruit, press-gang, or kill Alex, not necessarily in that order.

As if that’s not enough, Alex has to take care of his would-be apprentice, who has some connection to the relic which is making her a target as well . . . and who also just happens to carry a curse that’ll kill anyone who gets too close, assuming the mages hunting her don’t do it first. His allies are an air elemental with the memory of a goldfish and a creature living under Hampstead Heath that would make most people run screaming.

Sometimes seeing the future isn’t as fun as it sounds.

I was so excited when I first heard about Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series. I was on tenterhooks waiting for my review copy of FATED to arrive because I loved the cover copy on the book and the fact that it was blurbed by Jim Butcher, an author I adore. Needless to say, I jumped right in when it showed up in my mailbox. And you know what? I loved it! In fact, there are so many great parts to FATED that I'm hard pressed to know where to start.

First of all, Benedict Jacka has created a marvellous world. In this series, most of the world is unaware of the magic that is an everyday part of Alex Verus' life. There is, however, a small part of the population who are sensitives, i.e. folks who can feel the presence of magic but don't necessarily know what's what, an even smaller group of people known as adepts who can channel magic but don't really wield it, and finally a tiny slice of the world's population who are mages. Mages have different gifts but I think Alex's abilities -- seeing possible futures -- is by far the most interesting. It means he has to use his brains to get out of the many bad situations he finds himself in, rather than using straight-up brawn, and it makes for a much more exciting story.

Here's a quick quote to give you an idea of what Alex does:

My name is Alex Verus. It's not the name I was born with, but that's another story. I'm a mage; a diviner. Some people call mages like me oracles, or seers, or probability mages if they want to be really wordy, and that's fine too, just as long as they don't call me a "fortune teller."

Of course, a story needs a strong protagonist to be memorable and Alex is fantastic. He quickly became one of my favourite urban fantasy leads. He's got so much depth, right from the very beginning, and he really leapt off the page. And he's smart. I know I mentioned it before but I love smart heroes. There's really nothing like it. Plus, Alex's powers give him a different perspective on the world and his past has turned him into something of a loner. There were certain points in the novel where I was struck by how similar Alex is to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden (had bad experiences as an apprentice, goes against the typical mage path, finds himself in situations that become progressively more (potentially) catastrophic, often due to his desire to help) but these moments were fleeting. And really, being compared to Jim Butcher is not a bad thing, at least not in my opinion. ;) (As an aside, you can read a great conversation between Benedict Jacka and Jim Butcher over at B&N. You have to scroll down the page a bit.)

Alex isn't the only fun character in FATED. He was my favourite but I was also charmed by some of the other characters, like Luna and Starbreeze. Starbreeze is an air elemental with the emotional maturity of a child. Her love of shiny things made me laugh. Luna's a bit more complex. She carries a curse thanks to a bad decision by one of her ancestors and it makes it dangerous to be her friend. Luna and Alex's friendship really grows over the course of FATED and I particularly enjoyed Luna's story arc in the novel.

In terms of the story, I don't think FATED could have been any better. Benedict Jacka takes his readers -- and his characters -- on quite the journey. The plot is so layered and a lot of the characters have have murky motivations and I couldn't predict what was going to happen, which I loved. Plus you learn a lot about Alex's past and why he's decided to be the only mage with a shop rather than being involved with the Council, the body that governs mages.

Before I sign off, can we just take a moment to admire the cover? It really stands out to me because (a) the colours and smoke effects are gorgeous and (b) it's one of the rare urban fantasy novels that doesn't have a scantily clad women or menacing man on the front.

After having so much fun reading FATED, I'm desperate to get my hands on CURSED! (There's a sneak peak at the end of FATED but I'm resisting the urge to read it because CURSED isn't out until June. Not that long in the publishing world, I know, but it's going to feel like forever if I read the snippet...)

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by jenn at Monday, March 26, 2012

 Benedict Jacka, mage, Penguin, Review  4 People left their mark

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