author : Benedict Jacka

Alex Verus is a diviner, a mage who can see the future, or rather, all possible branching futures. He has a dark past, and is currently running a magic shop in north London, avoiding the Council of Mages. But a powerful artefact has been discovered, and suddenly Dark mages and Light mages alike are after his powers, with neither side giving him the option to say no. He will have to use all his diving abilities merely to survive; fortunately the other mages don’t really appreciate what he can do with those abilities.

This is the first in a new series of “urban magic”, UK variety. We have a society of mages going about their magical business unsuspected by the general population, even when burning down and exploding large sections of the British Museum. Alex is the typical "lone wolf" character, damaged by Dark powers, then unhelped by the Council in his hour of need, now isolated from his fellow mages.

There’s an almost science fictional (as opposed to fantasy) quality to Alex’s power. Being able to see all possible futures allows him to avoid traps (just choose the future where he doesn’t fall into the trap), open locks (choose the future where he chose the right combination), and so on. This doesn’t make him invincible: he needs to pay attention, and he needs time to sort through the possibilities to find the appropriate one. That part works, but the part where he can’t see beyond a genuine “choice” seems a bit of a fudge: there are lots of choices made all the time, all as genuine as the ones deemed unforeseeable by authorial fiat.

Alex is a solid, believable character. The supporting cast is good, too. Luna’s curse is heartbreaking, but it is interesting to see her learn how to use it to her advantage in the fight against the bad guys. And Arachne is delightful comic relief.

An interesting first entry in a new series. I have already ordered the second.

Alex Verus has gained some notoriety since the incident in the British Museum, but that doesn’t explain the assassins. He has to teach his apprentice Luna to control her curse, protect her from a deadly monkey’s paw, rescue Meredith from a constructed monster, and keep the Dark Mages from Arachne, all the while dodging bullets and fire mages, and trying to work out who the bad guys are.

There is one point where Alex is musing that people underestimate the dark mage Cinder, believing him to be stupid, when he’s actually quite bright. This is ironic, because Alex himself is rather dim, really, failing to think through fairly obvious points. Fortunately his divining power makes up for that, most of the time.

There's more slam-bam action here, with imaginative use of Alex’s power, a bit more backstory, and some plot arc developments. An interesting series, so far.

Several rival factions want Alex Verus to go to Fountain Reach, a country house where a magical tournament is taking place. So he goes. And finds trouble.

Further exciting charging around, fighting bad guys, bad demons, and more. Now Alex has lost his easy transport mechanism, he has to use public transport and cars. This leads to a thrilling chase along the M40, trying to outrace teleporting adversaries, which might explain why that road is always snarled up. Good fun, and interesting plot developments.

Alex’s life seems to be coming together, but then a whole deadly team of mages start trying to kill him, and he doesn’t know why. Then he discovers it concerns something terrible from his old life, when he was one of dark mage Richard’s apprentices. Defeating the team could cost him his principles, his home, his friends, his life.

Alex has an impressive mage power, but it is not perfect: I like the way it has its limitations, and how Alex has to use it intelligently, and differently in each book. I also like the way the various characters develop throughout the series, even if I’m not always pleased at the directions in which they develop. And the dismissive attitude of the mage council to some of the events is a graphic demonstration of why a justice system is needed for a civilised society.

The revelation at the end of this book should make Alex’s life a lot more interesting (in the Chinese curse sense) for him.

Alex Verus, independent mage, had thought his life was coming together. He had gathered a small circle of friends and apprentices. But then they saw what he would do to survive, and some of them could no longer stay with him.

Anne Walker was one of those. Now she has been taken by a Dark Mage, and Alex must get her back, even though she wants nothing to do with him. But that might be more because of her past than his.

Alex is getting deeper into working with the Light Mages, even if they don’t all trust him. And his reunion with the terrifying Richard is nothing like he expects. He learns a lot about himself, his friends, and his enemies, and we learn more about some of the Dark Mages.

Alex Verus was apprenticed to a Dark Mage, but escaped. That isn’t enough for some Light Mages: once Dark, always Dark. Alex has been fighting the Dark mages as an independent, but is now persuaded that he will be more effective going legitimate, so joins the Keepers, the Light Council’s police force. Not everyone is happy with this. And it creates a host of new problems for him.

Here we see clearly what Alex has always known: the Light Council protects Light mages against the Dark, and each other, but isn’t that bothered about anyone else. There is actually very little separating Light and Dark in practice, and Alex is faced with a major moral dilemma: bring down a Light-tolerated paedophile organisation and give the Dark a huge advantage, or support the Light side and let the paedophiles continue their operation. He has to work out what is going on, decide what is the right thing to do, and foil several assassination attempts and political machinations. He’s not going to make any friends, no matter what he does. Situation normal, then.

Poor Alex Verus, with powerful enemies among both Dark and Light mages. The only way to be independent is to be invisible, but Alex always seems to be at the centre of things. Which is why the enemies.

Now his enemies have attacked not just him but also his few but loyal friends. He has just a week to save them all. But it seems there are multiple plots against him, and foiling one will not only make new enemies, but may just make the other plots more likely to succeed…