Magic Quest in the British Museum of London

Urban Fantasies seem to be pretty popular right now and several decent authors populate this field. With his first adult novel “Fated” Benedict Jacka established himself already as a serious player there. He plays in the same league Jim Butcher and Ben Aaronovitch play, even if he still might lack some of the refinement.

Jacka’s prose is adequate and “easy listening”. The style is straight forward and perhaps a little bit simple. His strength is not so much the creation of atmosphere, but the presentation of plausible and strong characters and their behavior. They have sufficient granularity to appear lifelike, even if you get frustrated sometimes, because you would like to learn more about their background and what turned them into what they are today.

Jacka’s protagonist Alex Verus is a mage, but rather different from Butcher’s Harry Dresden or Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant. Alex does not cast spells or use powerful magic, he is a diviner, he can foresee the future. He runs a magic shop in Camden and because of some fallout in the past, he keeps his distance from the magic community. His only friends are Luna, a young girl suffering under a very nasty curse, Starbreeze, a friendly, but rather brainless air elemental and Arachne, a huge spider with some skills in fashion and garment design. Of course, being a diviner is more complicated than it sounds. Similar to a chess player, Alex can research the different outcomes of individual actions and research all the possibilities of the near future.

When an old magical artifact is found in the British Museum, Alex’s skill is in great demand. A diviner is needed to access the hidden tool in the artifact, which would bestow incredible power on the bearer. Various factions fight over the possession of the artifact and Alex Verus is in great peril. He has to make the right choice and save his life and the life of his friends at the same time.

There is enough action to keep you entertained, but especially charming is the very tender relationship between Luna and Alex. If you like the genre, listen to the book, you will not regret it.

7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

I don't give up on books, but not this time...

they promised it to be "for readers of Ben Aaronovitch". That is so not true. the characters in this book are so not appealing! Their actions are irrational and motivations change within one sentence!

not my kind of read. the magic in this world, the fractions and politics they just seem to be too childish. The relationship between Luna and Alex is awkward and unappealing, she tends to say "no" to something and he would make her because "he knows what needs to be done and she is just too stoppidto realise and doesn't know life..." Really? She is also an odd-ball and the problem is not just in her curse but in her motivations to do pretty much anything...
There is quite a lot of violence involved in Alex's past and present and it seems to follow the logic "now let's just overdo the violence, cause things have to be serious". but if you escaped from slavery and a fucked up dark mage you probably don't go and open a magic shop in London, where everyone knows how to find you...

And one more thing is the protagonist's patronising or humiliating tone that he mostly reserves for female characters... That's just too many cons here. I won't even finish it, sorry guys.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

not very gripping

Maybe it's because I'm coming off the Harry Dresden series, but Alex Verus pales in comparison. There is nothing exactly wrong with it, it's just not gripping.

The protagonist is not especially witty, or tortured, or angry, or sad, or anything really. He can see the future in all possible variations. OK. You just don't get a glimpse of how he tries to combine this with a "normal" life or where that might be problematic. All in all, the book is just ... meh.

In all fairness, perhaps I would be less harsh if I hadn't listened to 15 Harry Dresdens right beforehand.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A thrilling audiobook

Great story and an excellent narrator - strong recommendation! The story kept us interested all the time, and the narrator was able to perfectly capture the different characters.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Good, but lacking humor

Another good urban fantasy with great potential for an ongoing series this book tells a gripping story with just the right balance between tale and thrill. What is lacking to make this a five-star is humor, even if it is a dark tale through many chapters.
The potential is there (look at the PC Peter Grant series) and also it would be nice if the author would stop hinting that there art things he can't tell and spill it out in detail a few minutes later. It's silly considering that the whole tale is in retrospect.
But still: gripping and entertaining. I will continue with the series!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Och, nööö

Okay, ich bin jetzt eigentlich eher ein Fan von netten Krimis. Ich mag Martin Walkers Bruno, ich mag Adrian McKinty, ich find Vera toll.... selbst SPQR kann ich was abgewinnen. Mich interessiert offen gestanden oft mehr die Geschichte neben den Krimis, daher mag ich Serien. Jetzt hatte mich die Rivers of London Reihe (Peter Grant von Ben Aavronovitch) doch in die Fantasy-Welt gelockt und ich steig gleich bei der zweiten Serie des Genres wieder aus und zwar noch nicht ganz bei der Hälfte des Buches, was mir sonst nicht passiert.
In der Welt des Buches möchte ich keine Minute länger verbringen. Es interessiert mich nicht die Bohne, was mit den Figuren in der Geschichte weiter passiert. Diese Welt ist nichts, was ich weiter erkunden möchte. Ich find sie nicht nur nicht geheimnisvoll, sondern schlicht blöd. Sollte da eine Liebesgeschichte miterzählt werden, ist die noch dämlicher als der Rest.
Mir passiert es echt selten, dass ich niemand in einem Buch sympatisch finde, hätte ich wenigstens einen gefunden, zu dem ich mich in der Mittagspause an den Tisch setzten würde, wäre ich schon zu frieden gewesen. Aber da ist niemand.

very enjoyable

A Fun book.. I enjoyed the Reader very much...looking forward to the Next book in the Series.

laughably bad

if you were directed here, as I was, because you enjoyed Rivers of London, run away, now! I listened to a few chapters of Fated, then went to check if I'd accidently bought a children's book. Rivers of London is light reading, but the plots are engaging and suprising, the characters have depth and moral complexity, and you might even get some history and geography lessons about London. and humour! 'Fated' is definitely not that.

Fated is like a teenage D&D dungeon master decided to write a novel. it takes one clever idea (probability mage) and buries it under bad prose, shallow characters and a simplistic plot

*spoiler alert (if I haven't yet dissuaded you):
our "hero", a mage who owns a magic shop, has three friends (whom are later revealed to be the motivation for his 'goodness' or 'humanity'). they are all female: one is literally a giant spider; another he describes lovingly as, "dumb as a box of rocks"; and the main woman in his life, who needs rescuing at every turn, Luna, he addresses as, "good girl" (because she fetches things for him?). Luna, btw, has a multi-generational curse which kills anyone who gets close to her. simply touching her (or her female progenitors) is deadly... and how exactly did these women procreate for many generations?

I just can't.

Amazing!!!

I absolutely loved this audiobook! Listened to it in one go. Amazing, simply amazing! I loved the characters, the developement, the layers… The Story was so cool and every single Action believable! I don't think I ever had that with a book. So... This is a must-listen!

Nice start to a storyline about an unusual character

I like the book series very much and the audio book captures the feel of the books perfectly. The narrator's voice is very pleasant and easy to listen to. He does not overperform (as many narrators do) but lets the story speak for itself. I have listened to this several times, each time enjoying the audio book.