4.04 AVERAGE


this is the book I have been waiting for from this series. after a somewhat slow start it knocked my socks off. it had action, suspense, a lot of heart and it moved the overall story on a good deal, rather than the feeling of purely set up that the last couple books left me.

Another time pass read from Jacka. Verus' past comes to haunt him even as his decisions in the present cause a fair bit of heartache. Verus' divining skills play their usual good part even if some of the coincidences start becoming too much. And Jacka introduces a standard fantasy trope. A bit of a mixed reaction as this has the potential to be fun. But Jacka is setting up the stage for something big by introducing Verus' past and make you wait for the next installment. Dresden this is not but definitely ranks higher than Iron Druid
adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart

3.5 hearts

Hidden is the fifth book in the Alex Verus Series.  So far this series has been getting better and better with each installment and while I did enjoy Hidden quite a bit it wasn’t my favorite book of the series so far, Chosen still holds that space but it is another really good story which captured my attention from start to finish and had a few characters moving in directions I wasn’t expecting.

After the events of Chosen, Anne has moved out of Alex’s life in every way possible.  She was still under a little protection by being in the apprentice program, but after an incident there, Anne is left outside the magic world and vulnerable.  When she disappears, Alex and Co. team up to find out what could have happened and who could have taken her. There are apparently a lot of Dark Mages ready to do dark deeds and the list of possibly suspects isn’t really short.

I enjoy how every book of this series builds on the one before it.  Alex is still dealing with some of the fallout from Chosen. While Luna seems to accept Alex for who he is and has no disillusions of what he is capable of, a few of the other young people in his life are devastated by the choices he was willing to make.  I really liked seeing the varying degrees of that play out with all the characters we’ve seen before.

I did get a little bored in the sub realm Alex visited, which was just me since there are shadow monsters and the threats were real.  But it felt like Alex spent a lot of time there. I did like finally learning about Anne’s past and what she has done. It really helped me understand her reactions to the events in Chosen.  She and Alex are more alike than she wants to admit.

With the threat of Richard coming back into the magic scene and a new push to have Dark Mages on the Council you can tell there will be a bigger story arc that will definitely involve Alex’s old master at some point.  I don’t know about the rest of you gentle readers but Richard scares the crap out of me. The guy is Lex Luther smart and seems to have a very elastic morality when it comes to getting what he wants.

I did very much like where this story ended though.  I can tell that the tension for the next books is really building and Alex is going to have to find some even better tricks if he is going to make it through the changes that are definitely on the horizon.

Narration:


Gildart Jackson is really great in this.  I like his performance for all characters and he really brings everyone to life, but especially Alex.  His accent is perfect for this since the location of the story is mostly London. Fantastic flow and attention to inflection, I particularly enjoy when Alex speaks to the reader/listener.  I listened to this at my usual 1.5x speed.

Listen to a clip:   HERE
 
adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
adventurous medium-paced

Title: Hidden (An Alex Versus Novel Book Five)
Author: Benedict Jacka

Rating: 4/5

Pages: 336

**slight spoilers**

I was slightly irritated by the holier than thou attitude by Anne and Sonder. And I didn't understand the point of conversation with Alex's father. (In fact, the relevance of him at all!)

However, I enjoyed the trip to the shadow world. How something pretty could also be deadly. The blink fox was my absolute favourite, and I do hope that it'll be included in veiled, too.

Some parts were frustrating, and as always, it seems like Alex is just very good at talking his way out of things while relying on other people.

I am enjoying the series and the world that Jacka has created. Urban fantasy will always be my comfort reads. It's familiar, slightly predictable, and addictive!

Have you read this book?
If not, will you?
What's your current read?

*Note from me: I never want to dim people's shine. It's brave for the author to put themselves out there in the public eye. Books/stories are personal preferences. What might be my cup of tea may not be yours. And vice Versa! Keep on creating!
adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

These books have taken over my life. I read two books in this series in as many days. This may partly be the fact that they are so short and binge-friendly, but I usually don't read this much. So again, these books have taken over my life.

Both book 6 and 7 are out of stock at like all the bookstores (at least in the right edition and buying the wrong one and mismatch the series is filling with me dread) and I'm really considering buying the kindle edition, event though I only have the app and reading on the phone really mess with my eyes. I'm also a bit scared ordering from outside Sweden at the moment, since we recently got this new "law", that you had to pay a very high customs fee. Originally this was only going to affect those people ordering from Wish and AliExpress and such (aka China) but people here has also had to pay fee from packages ordered online/sent privately WITHIN the EU.