Marked: An Alex Verus Novel from the New Master of Magical London (Alex Verus, #9)

by Benedict Jacka

Alex Verus is tracking down dangerous magical items unleashed into the world by Dark Mages - however, when the Light Council decide they need his help in negotiating with the perpetrators, Alex must use all his cunning and magic to strike a deal.

The ninth novel in the urban fantasy series which began with Fated - the Alex Verus novels are magic-filled fan favourites, perfect for readers of Jim Butcher and Ben Aaronovitch.

• ISBN10: 0356507211
• ISBN13: 9780356507217
• Publish Date: 5 July 2018 (first published 3 July 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

I love this series and you can see things coming to a head. Alex wants to protect his friends and to do so he needs to be powerful.

Alex’s position on the junior council put him in a position of influence within the Mage Society. Let us not forget that at least three of the seven Senior Councillors want him dead. They attempt to keep him from joining in on discussions. However, after the imbued items were stolen, Alex has been mostly in charge of collecting them. Much to their chagrin, they NEED Alex. He has influence with both light and dark mages. They want him to bargain with a dangerous dark mage and have a plan to capture Richard.

So much pressure. Even though Alex believes the plan will fail, he still helps the council and his actions will ultimately save lives. It was intense with classic Alex reactions, advice, cunning and snark. He has so many balls in the air; he needs all of his deviation ability and more. He continues to work with the stone and Arachne.

His friends are there to aid him, and we saw some intense battles unfold. Jacka brought it all to life in vivid 3-D. The series is brilliant, particularly the growth and development of key characters. The further in we go, the more clever I realize Jacka is as elements and moments from the past click into place.

More and more Alex’s focus is on his friends and in particular Anne. For a while now fans have suspected his feelings go deeper than friendship, and in Marked we see this more clearly.

This is a remarkable urban fantasy series, and the narration performed by Gildart Jackson is brilliant. He has become the voice of these characters and as they have grown, so have the tones and richness Jackson brings to them. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer