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eBook Fated (An Alex Verus Novel) download

by Benedict Jacka

ISBN: 1937007294
Author: Benedict Jacka
Publisher: Ace; Original edition (February 28, 2012)
Language: English
ePub: 1966 kb
Fb2: 1199 kb
Rating: 4.4
Other formats: mbr lrf azw txt
Category: Pseudoscience
Subcategory: Fantasy

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. Little, Brown Book Group.

Alex Verus is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop. Jacka writes his own Fated is a fantastic debut novel. This is what urban fantasy can accomplish, taking fantasy concepts and giving them a new spin in a modern setting. Jacka uses the concept of an age-old war between Dark and Light Mages and sets it in contemporary London.

I think he was under the impression that we were the ones who needed rescuing by him.

except I was actually pretty impressed he’d been able to follow us at all. I put the fateweaver back on its pedestal and Luna relocked the force barrier with the cube. It’s sat there for two thousand years, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s where it can stay. Luna and I were nearly dead on our feet by the time we stepped out under the night sky of England.

Fated The First Alex Verus Novel from the New Master of Magical London by Benedict Jacka 9780356500249 (Paperback, 2012) Delivery UK delivery is within 3 to 5 working days. Read full description. Fated: An Alex Verus Novel by Benedict Jacka (Paperback, 2012). Brand new: lowest price.

Fated An Alex Virus Novel- By : Benedict Jacka. In the heart of Camden, where rail meets road meets leyline, you might find the Arcana Emporium, run by one Alex Verus. Views: 391. Author: Benedict Jacka. Publication Date: 28/02/2012. He won't sell you a wand or mix you a potion, but if you know what you're looking for, he might just be able to help. That's if he's not too busy avoiding his would-be apprentice, foiling the Dark, outwitting the Light, and investigating a mysterious relic that has just turned up at the British Museum.

Listen to an extract from Fated by Benedict Jacka, read by Gilbert Jackson. To be released 2nd September. Fated is the first book in a major new series starring probability mage Alex Verus, for fans of Jim Butcher and Ben Aaronovitch. Camden, North London. A tangled, mangled junction of train lines, roads and the canal. Where minor celebrities hang out with minor criminals and where tourists and moody teenagers mingle. In the heart of Camden, where rail meets road meets leyline, you'll find the Arcana Emporium, run by one Alex Verus.

Benedict Jacka (born 25 September 1980) is a British author, best known for his Alex Verus series. Jacka was born in England and attended the City of London School.

I just added Benedict Jacka to my must-read list The books in the Alex Verus series are as follows: Fated Cursed Taken Chosen Hidden Veiled Burned Bound Marked.

I just added Benedict Jacka to my must-read list. Fated is an excellent novel, a gorgeously realized world with a uniquely powerful, vulnerable protagonist. Books this good remind me why I got into the storytelling business in the first place' Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files Camden, North London. A tangled, mangled junction of train lines, roads and waterways. The books in the Alex Verus series are as follows: Fated Cursed Taken Chosen Hidden Veiled Burned Bound Marked.

Fated by Benedict Jacka. Fated presents a great new voice in fantasy fiction. So when I heard about Benedict Jacka’s series of Alex Verus novels, I jumped at the chance to read them. Alex Verus is a diviner, able to see the future. Fated’ is not on the same level as Kate Griffin’s Matthew Swift novels, but rather more in line with Ben Aaronovitch’s books about Constable Peter Grant.

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...

Comments: (7)

Beardana

"It was a slow day, so I was reading a book at my desk and seeing into the future."

Ah. A fine first sentence told me this was going to be my kind of book. Alex Verus, the first-person protagonist, owns the London magic shop in which he works. This isn’t the kind of magic shop where you can buy interlocking rings or a box for sawing your assistant in half; think more New Age, with crystal balls and herbs. And Alex isn’t the kind of mage who concocts potions and waves a wand around. He’s a diviner, a man who can see into the future. But it’s not a matter of just taking a look ahead and seeing what’s going to happen, because the future doesn’t work that way. Every choice he or someone in his future makes changes things, possibly even everything, so what he really sees is probabilities. That means that he can do “research” by imagining the result of his opening this door instead of that door, or leaving now instead of five minutes later.

It’s a nice magic system, and author Benedict Jacka manipulates it to good advantage in Fated, his first urban fantasy. Jacka introduces a number of good characters, including Luna, a young woman who carries a curse that operates against anyone who touches her; Starbreeze, an air elemental who cannot keep a thought in her head for more than 30 seconds; and Arachne, who spins beautiful silks and creates wondrous garments from them. These three form the core of Alex’s support system. Jacka also skillfully weaves in bits and pieces of Alex’s back story, which involves an incomplete apprenticeship to a Dark mage along with three other children and a subsequent rethinking of whether good and bad are mere conventions.

The plot turns on a Precursor artifact, which gives Jacka a chance to tell us a bit about the history of magic in a world that looks exactly like ours, as well as a picture of the politics and how power is distributed between Dark and Light mages. A statue being housed at the British Museum encloses the artifact, and no one can figure out how to get to it without being zapped by the statue’s defenses. It’s clear that a diviner is needed, but every one of them except Alex has gone into hiding. Alex finds himself surprisingly popular among some formidable mages who are willing to give him no room to say no to their requests to figure out how to retrieve a very powerful piece of magical equipment from an earlier age.

Fated is Jacka’s first adult novel, and the first in his ALEX VERUS urban fantasy series that now extends to seven books — and I’m looking forward to reading all of them after finding myself happily lost in the pages of this one. Jacka’s plotting is sharp, with puzzle pieces all fitting neatly together. His prose is smooth and easy to read, even when explaining how his magic system works or venturing into the philosophy of free will or good versus evil. (Those who read for nothing but plot will miss Jacka’s insights into the philosophical underpinnings of this universe. That might not be a big problem in this novel, but I suspect one would be lost in future books in this series.) The characters are likable when they should be, despicable when they should be, and, best of all, fully as mysterious and changeable as they should be. It’s a very promising start to a series; so much so that I’ve already purchased the next book, Cursed, and plan to read it as soon as I’m finished writing this review. By which I mean to say … NOW.

Originally published at Fantasy Literature blog on October 5, 2016.

Xar

About half way through this 278 page book I actually said out loud, "Okay, Mr Jacka, you had better do something about this veiled backstory pretty darn fast or I'm out of here." Oh, well, he never did but I stuck with the story to the end. Maybe in the second book? Please, authors, if you are going to tease me with a backstory that formed your main character into his present state, at least tell me that story, get it out in the open, let me understand what caused such an impact on your character and we can move on.

Alex Verus is a character with magic abilities as a diviner of the future. I really liked the way the author took that one step further than most fictional "seers" by explaining to the reader that Alex looked at each possible future path available in a given situation and saw how it branched off and changed when influenced by even the most slight of variations. That was so much more interesting for me than to just say his character could read the future. Alex tried to find a future with the result he wanted and then backtracked to see what he had to do in the present to make things turn out that way. Now that was clever writing. My problem came when Alex and Luna and Sonder and Starbreeze were all such mild characters. Somebody on the good guys team needed to step up and have the breakfast of champions every morning! Their mild, almost quiet manners made it hard for me to believe they could possibly come out as the victors in each situation. Not really likely. If the Dark mages, their apprentices and slaves were really as powerful with magic as they were portrayed, these characters should have been dead, dead, dead.

I liked the location of Camden in London for the magic shop and felt it was described in such a way that I could actually believe that a shop of true magic could be in that area and yet not be taken seriously by most of the pedestrians who walked by it each day. Hidden in plain sight was a good home base. If the backstory for Alex had been filled in more fully it would have explained why the Dark mages flocked to Alex to force him to retrieve the fateweaver artifact encased in the stone statue in the British Museum. Then it would have been a short step to explaining how he knew Luna, more about her curse and maybe even why she was so important to opening the statue? I know what she found, I just don't know why SHE found it. I am going to read the second book, not so much because I liked this first one so much, but more because I've already bought the second one. Let's hope all will be revealed to my satisfaction in Cursed (Alex Verus).

Olelifan

I'll be honest when I say that while I'll definitely buy the next book in the series, I was a little underwhelmed by this book. There was just so much about this that screamed of awesomeness, but somewhere in the delivery it just sort of felt a little "been there, done that".

First off, the premise of this is great. Jacka has built a nicely formed world ala Harry Dresden, even giving the fictional wizard a nod in the beginning of the novel. I also liked the idea of having Alex running a magic shop, which gives us lots of possibilities for future novels. The character of Alex is rather nice, being both a jerk and a relatively nice guy, sometimes in the same breath. True, he's your typical world-weary-everyone-hates-him sort of character, but these types are popular for a reason. Nobody really wants to read about "Mike, the guy who was liked by everyone and never had anything bad happen to him or anyone else ever", at least not unless he's going to have some bad stuff thrown at him in the course of the story. Plus a talking spider? Awesomeness.

The only downfall is that despite some pretty good stuff going on in the book, there are also points in the book where I just felt a little bored and the plot just seems to sort of drag under its own weight. It just felt a little meh for the most part, especially towards the ending. Like I said, I liked the book well enough to where I'll buy the next book in the series and know that it deserves at least three stars, but not enough to where I feel particularly inspired to give it more than three stars.

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