Series: ALEX VERUS
Plot Type: UF
Ratings: V4; S2; H2
Publisher and Titles: Ace
Fated (2/2012)
Cursed (5/2012)
Taken (9/2012)
This blog post was revised and updated on 10/10/12 to include a review of the third book in the series, Taken. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and a review of the first two books:
BOOK 3: Taken
As is always the case, the reader tags along with Alex as he gathers clues but, frustratingly, doesn't always fully explain them to us right away. Almost as soon as Alex begins his investigation, he has to rescue Anne, one of Luna's apprentice friends, from three gunmen who nearly kill her. Anne and another apprentice, Variam, have been under the protection of a rakshasa—a darkly mysterious shape shifter with roots in India who generally takes the form of a tiger. As the plot plays out, Alex, Luna, Anne, and Variam head for the tournament at Fountain Reach because that's where all the clues seem to point. Once there, Alex gradually figures out the identity of the villain—almost too late to save his own life and that of his allies. Just to make things even more interesting, Onyx, a viciously evil force mage, is also at Fountain Reach searching for the kidnapper, and he plans to punish Alex—fatally—for defeating him in their previous encounter back in book 1.
By the time the climactic showdown scene rolls around, Alex has solved the case but, as usual, has also made some new enemies and endangered himself and his allies time and time again. This is another great addition to a terrific series, filled with action, suspense, and plenty of quirky characters. It's a series that must be read from the beginning, though, so don't start with this book.
WORLD-BUILDING
In this alternate London, people have various degrees of magical talent. Here, Alex summarizes the world of magic: "You can think of magical talent as a pyramid. Making the lowest and biggest layer are the normals....they don't know anything about magic and they don't want to....Next up on the pyramid are the sensitives, the ones who...are blessed (or cursed...) with a wider spectrum of vision than normals. They can feel the presence of magic....Above the sensitives...are the adepts. These guys are only one percent or so, but unlike sensitives they can actually channel magic in a subtle way....And then there are the mages." (Fated, pp. 4-5)
The mages, who are the most powerful of all, can be either Light or Dark. The Light mages rule the world of magic through their Council, which (up until now) has forbade Dark mages from being members. The Dark mages are clamoring for admittance because they see Council membership as a means of attaining more power. Here, Alex explains the differences between the two: "So long as magic has existed, there's always been a split between the two paths: the Light mages, and the Dark....Dark mages follow a philosophy called the True Way...[which] says that good and bad as we see them are conventions....A Dark mage would tell you that you only feel stealing is wrong because your parents brought you up that way....To a Dark mage, power is reality. The more power you have, the more you can shape the reality around you....If you're not strong enough to take what you want, it's your fault." (Fated, p. 11, 25, 26) The Light mages, on the other hand, support the traditional conventions of good and evil and insist that they are on the side of the greater good, but as we'll see, they're not as pure as they would lead everyone to believe.
The series hero is Alex Verus, a diviner who owns a magic shop in London. In the world of magic, diviners aren't the flashy, fire-throwing mages who can fly through the air with little effort. What a diviner can do is much more subtle. Alex can see future probabilities. As he explains, "What a diviner sees is probability. In one future you go left; in another you go right; in a third you stop and ask for directions. A hundred branches, each branching again and again to create thousands....To me, futures appear as lines of light in the darkness. The stronger and more likely the future, the brighter the glow. The next thing you learn is how to sort futures, search for groupings of events in which things happen a certain way. And once you've done that, all you have to do is look back along the strands and find out which actions lead to them." (Fated, pp. 39-40) Diviners can't predict every action or event because some things are truly random, like the roll of dice. The easiest predictions are made in situations in which choices are the fewest, while those involving free will are among the most difficult. Although Alex doesn't possess any warrior mage powers, he can create spells and use objects imbued with certain powers—enough to protect and defend himself, so far at least. Alex's most prized possession is his mist cloak, which is woven from moonbeams and spiderwebs. The cloak can sense its surroundings and change itself to match, thus making Alex invisible both to human eyes and to detection spells.
When Alex was a teenager, he was apprenticed to a Dark mage who treated his apprentices cruelly. Eventually Alex rebelled against the mage's evil ways and was imprisoned in the mage's mansion. When Alex finally escaped and went to the Council for help, the Council members turned their backs on him, forcing him to survive on his own. Now, he tends his store and tries to keep a very low profile, wanting nothing to do with any mages—neither the Council nor the Dark mages.
Alex has only a few friends. Starbreeze, an ancient, shape-shifting air elemental, serves as Alex's means of transportation when he needs to travel quickly and quietly over a distance. Since Starbreeze hears everything that is going on in London (being a spirit of the wind), she is also a great source of information, although her attention span is so short that her facts tend to be somewhat garbled. Another one of Alex's supernatural friends is Arachne, a ten-foot-tall, half-ton spider who lives in a hidden tunnel in Hampstead Heath where she makes clothing for her special clients and counsels Alex as he grapples with his ongoing problems with the other mages. Alex's best human friend is Luna Mancuso, a young adept who lives under a horrible curse. Luna's curse protects her from harm, but the harm gets redirected to those who are close to her. In fact, the closer Luna gets to someone, the harder the curse hits them. For example, the first boy she kissed went into a coma. Alex has tried to break the curse but has been unsuccessful, so Luna just lives with it, keeping people at a distance and living a very lonely life. Luna's curse reminds me of Chance, the heroine's on-again, off-again boyfriend in Ann Aguirre's CORINE SOLOMON SERIES, whose magical talent for luck works the same way.
This is a terrific series, with quirky characters and an imaginative premise. Alex has just enough flaws and more than enough honor and intelligence to make a satisfying hero, with his intelligence, curiosity, and innate ability to irritate and enrage authority figures of all kinds. The action is compelling and fast paced, and the world-building is complex without being labyrinthine. Jim Butcher has praised the series highly, and I can see why. As Butcher says in his cover blurb, "Harry Dresden would like Alex Verus tremendously—and be a little nervous around him."
Another strong element of the series is Jacka's descriptive skill as he presents a gorgeous rendering of London. From the serenity of the Thames to the woods and fields of Hampstead Heath to midnight views of the city lights, Jacka paints a loving portrait of a city he obviously loves.
If you like this series, you might enjoy reading about a sorcerer in a different version of an alternate London: Kate Griffin's MATTHEW SWIFT. Click on the series title to go to my review. And definitely take a look at Jim Butcher's DRESDEN FILES if you haven't already done so.
Click HERE to go to a web page of links to articles the author has written for a set of "Encyclopedia" articles about the background and setting for the ALEX VERUS series. It's kind of an "everything you ever wanted to know about magic" collection, all related directly to Alex's world.
BOOK 1: Fated
As the story opens, Lyle, a Council sycophant shows up at Alex's shop and asks him to assist the Council in retrieving an historical artifact. When Alex asks Lyle a few questions, he learns that no other diviner would take the job, so he knows that Lyle isn't telling him the whole story. Soon, others approach Alex—each wanting him to use his diviner powers to retrieve the artifact, which will give its possessor immense power over other mages. Eventually, Alex finds himself struggling to stay alive as a corrupt Council mage, an extremely powerful Dark mage, and a trio of murderous rogue mages all try to force him to help them gain possession of the artifact, which turns out to be a magical wand. Unfortunately, Luna is also dragged into this dangerous situation, and Alex is determined that no harm will come to her. The story ends in the obligatory battle scene in which all of the contenders make their big grab for the wand. In the process, Luna learns more about her magical powers, and Alex has an important epiphanous experience.
About two thirds of the way into the story we get some flashbacks to Alex's life as an apprentice Dark mage, and this brings into focus all of the vague references made to that time in his life that have been sprinkled through the story from the beginning. It would have been nice to get this flashback a bit earlier, although I was able to work out most of Alex's story by paying attention to Alex's occasional comments in earlier parts of the book. I did find it somewhat distracting having to stop and pull together those biographical clues while I was in the middle of such an intricately contrived plot.
This is a solid start to an intriguing series. Alex's divination process as he follows the possible futures is fascinating to watch. He's a complex character, and I'm looking forward to his next big adventure—and to the development of his relationship with Luna. Starbreeze and her attention deficit problem make for some nice comic relief.
BOOK 2: Cursed
The action picks up just a short time after the climax of book 1 as the author takes a leaf from William Wymark Jacobs' notebook and uses his classic horror story, "The Monkey's Paw," as the thematic focus for this book. As the book opens, Alex is trying to teach Luna how to control the negative powers of her curse, but unfortunately, the lessons aren't going well, partly because Luna wants results sooner rather than later and partly because Alex isn't acting like a true Master. The two have been friends for quite awhile, and that friendship is getting in the way of the discipline both of them need to solve Luna's problems. Meanwhile, Luna has found a new friend in Martin, a young sensitive who desperately wants to be a mage and who tries to use a monkey's paw from Alex's shop to make his wishes come true—with predictably horrible results for everyone involved.
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