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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
5 star for the blink fox alone
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Fifth in the Alex Verus urban fantasy series set in London and revolving around Alex, a diviner.
My Take
That was unexpected, and very sad. All those problems Anne is having, the help she's trying to provide, and then Varian explains that Anne comes across as creepy, to everyone but Alex. Light problems are not the only ones Anne is having, seems she has some hypocritical issues as well. The way she comes down on Alex is really herself with whom she's so angry. I felt for her, but I was more angry than anything. The bitch. If ya got problems, don't project them onto others. Don't judge others for your issues.
It's a horrible world for magic users of either side. If you're on your own, any mage can legally kidnap you and force you into their household. If you're an apprentice, then at least you have a mage to miss you, demand you back, fight to get you back. Dark mages in particular like taking slaves, some want them for experiments, some use them as fuel sources, and worse.
Alex is also getting a conscience, becoming concerned about his friends, and not focusing solely on himself. Sonder has a conscience as well, and while I understand his point of view, I can't agree with him. Supposedly, hindsight should provide alternative ways of dealing with life-and-death situations, but funnily enough, neither Anne nor Sonder can come up with different scenarios for what they're accusing Alex of.
Hmmm, Sagash puts paid to the idea that Dark mages are omnipotent.
I like that Caldera is a Light mage with a conscience. What a switch-up that is!
Oh, lol, you'll love Alex's antics at Jagadev's party. Quite clever.
There's a good chunk of back history on Alex, what tipped him over to the Dark side. It's a lesson I could wish that school administrators, teachers, and parents would take to heart as it's going on in our schools every day. It was like this when I was a kid. It happens at all levels and ages of society, and it's bad for our civilization. Even if it is, unfortunately, normal for us. We also learn more about his time with Richard, with a startling revelation on Richard's part. Makes me want to re-read Fated, 1.
Alex makes an excellent point about choice. No action on one person's part is made in isolation. When one makes a choice in a bad situation, another person is usually there having made his/her choice.
Alex knows his father doesn't approve, so why does he keep throwing his past and current actions in his father's face and then wondering why his father reacts as he does? Duh. I do believe in doing well by people, and I don't like violence. However, I'm also not going to lie down and take it. Nor am I going to lie down and let someone else get walked over.
I got to thinking about why I like this series, and I realized that no one is stupid. They may do stupid things, but they're not actions that go against the character's personality or their knowledge. The twist Jacka has put on magic in this is enticing as well. Taking the concept of Light and Dark and twisting it, turning it on its head with horrors existing within the Light and the Dark. No one can be trusted, except, perhaps, the Dark.
It's a fascinating series, and there's something cozy and frightening about it, all at the same time.
The Story
The result of that trap in Chosen, 4, has the Americans furious, and the only way Alex can get out of it is to investigate those rumors about Richard Drakh coming back.
Meanwhile, Anne is having problems with the Light while running her health clinic in South London. There are too many Dark mages interested in her, and she no longer has protection.
It's tense, it's terrifying, and it all comes down to choices.
The Characters
Alex Verus is a probability mage, a diviner, who owns the Arcana Emporium, a magic shop. Luna, a.k.a., Zarine, is his apprentice. She's an adept with a curse attached. Alex's father, a pacifist, is a political science professor. He thought Alex had gotten involved with criminals and that Richard had been a mob boss. Arachne is a magical creature, a spider who designs clothes, who lives under Hampstead Heath. She's also Alex's closest friend.
Variam had been one of Alex's apprentices and has now signed on with a Light Keeper. He's safe and hasn't forgotten that Alex was the only mage to step up to help. Anne Walker, a life mage, had also been one of Alex's apprentices and refuses to have anything more to do with Alex. She's not safe. Not-Anne is a split from the Anne Alex knows, the killer side born in the ring. Sonder was another friend, a journeyman time mage, and he's furious with Alex as well after those events in Chosen. But he still has a crush on Luna.
The Light Council is…
…the magical government of Britain with mages who are supposedly good. Natasha is a Light apprentice with a hate-on for Alex and Luna after events in Taken, 3. Talisid is part of the Council and has been grooming Alex. Levistus is one of Alex's enemies. Caldera is a Council Keeper of the Order of the Star, a cross between a political investigator and military police.
Dark Mages
Richard Drakh was Alex's nasty master for a number of years, and Alex thought he had died. Tobruk was a cruel and sadistic apprentice of Richard's with a hate-on for the other apprentices. Jagadev is a rakshasa, a powerful tigerlike shapeshifter. Avis is important enough to be invited to events, but he mostly turns them down
Morden is a very powerful Dark mage who wants Alex as part of his coterie. Others include Onyx, Morden's Chosen and a powerful, specialised batle-mage who wants Alex, to kill him; Ordith is at the party and probing at "Avis" for his master; and, Meredith is an enchantress and totally self-interested.
Sagash is the Dark death mage who kidnapped Anne and took her to his shadow realm. And from whom Variam helped her escape. Sagash has three apprentices: Darren Smith and Yun Ji-yeong are living family mages and Samuel Taylor is an elementalist.
Crystal is a mind magic mage, ex-Light Council, and on the list of most wanted (see Taken).
The Nightstalkers were…
…a group of American adepts who came after Alex in Chosen. Their leader was Will.
Life mages can kill someone, help them live, and enhance a person. They can paralyze, analyze, cure. I think living family magic can detect people around them. Elsewhere is a half-real place where you can go when you dream. A blink fox is a magic-bred creature used by mages to spy. An adept doesn't have as much skill as a mage. A diviner sees into the future, all the possible futures.
The Cover and Title
I think the cover's background is a map of Sagash's shadow realm with its green tint gradating to cream in the large center, blue lines for the map itself, and then the fun part of it is the title. Someone had too much fun. The blink fox is teleporting across the letters, the I is a signpost, the second D has the silhouette of a castle in it that bleeds over to the E, the N has Alex leaning against it with its right leg looking like a clock tower.
Overtly the title is Sagash's shadow realm, however, I think it can also apply to Alex wanting to hide away from Richard, to the mages wanting to keep their secrets from the public, Anne wanting to keep not-Anne in the Elsewhere, Crystal evading the Light Council… Yep, all sorts of people want to stay Hidden.
My Take
That was unexpected, and very sad. All those problems Anne is having, the help she's trying to provide, and then Varian explains that Anne comes across as creepy, to everyone but Alex. Light problems are not the only ones Anne is having, seems she has some hypocritical issues as well. The way she comes down on Alex is really herself with whom she's so angry. I felt for her, but I was more angry than anything. The bitch. If ya got problems, don't project them onto others. Don't judge others for your issues.
It's a horrible world for magic users of either side. If you're on your own, any mage can legally kidnap you and force you into their household. If you're an apprentice, then at least you have a mage to miss you, demand you back, fight to get you back. Dark mages in particular like taking slaves, some want them for experiments, some use them as fuel sources, and worse.
Alex is also getting a conscience, becoming concerned about his friends, and not focusing solely on himself. Sonder has a conscience as well, and while I understand his point of view, I can't agree with him. Supposedly, hindsight should provide alternative ways of dealing with life-and-death situations, but funnily enough, neither Anne nor Sonder can come up with different scenarios for what they're accusing Alex of.
Hmmm, Sagash puts paid to the idea that Dark mages are omnipotent.
I like that Caldera is a Light mage with a conscience. What a switch-up that is!
Oh, lol, you'll love Alex's antics at Jagadev's party. Quite clever.
There's a good chunk of back history on Alex, what tipped him over to the Dark side. It's a lesson I could wish that school administrators, teachers, and parents would take to heart as it's going on in our schools every day. It was like this when I was a kid. It happens at all levels and ages of society, and it's bad for our civilization. Even if it is, unfortunately, normal for us. We also learn more about his time with Richard, with a startling revelation on Richard's part. Makes me want to re-read Fated, 1.
Alex makes an excellent point about choice. No action on one person's part is made in isolation. When one makes a choice in a bad situation, another person is usually there having made his/her choice.
Alex knows his father doesn't approve, so why does he keep throwing his past and current actions in his father's face and then wondering why his father reacts as he does? Duh. I do believe in doing well by people, and I don't like violence. However, I'm also not going to lie down and take it. Nor am I going to lie down and let someone else get walked over.
I got to thinking about why I like this series, and I realized that no one is stupid. They may do stupid things, but they're not actions that go against the character's personality or their knowledge. The twist Jacka has put on magic in this is enticing as well. Taking the concept of Light and Dark and twisting it, turning it on its head with horrors existing within the Light and the Dark. No one can be trusted, except, perhaps, the Dark.
It's a fascinating series, and there's something cozy and frightening about it, all at the same time.
The Story
The result of that trap in Chosen, 4, has the Americans furious, and the only way Alex can get out of it is to investigate those rumors about Richard Drakh coming back.
Meanwhile, Anne is having problems with the Light while running her health clinic in South London. There are too many Dark mages interested in her, and she no longer has protection.
It's tense, it's terrifying, and it all comes down to choices.
The Characters
Alex Verus is a probability mage, a diviner, who owns the Arcana Emporium, a magic shop. Luna, a.k.a., Zarine, is his apprentice. She's an adept with a curse attached. Alex's father, a pacifist, is a political science professor. He thought Alex had gotten involved with criminals and that Richard had been a mob boss. Arachne is a magical creature, a spider who designs clothes, who lives under Hampstead Heath. She's also Alex's closest friend.
Variam had been one of Alex's apprentices and has now signed on with a Light Keeper. He's safe and hasn't forgotten that Alex was the only mage to step up to help. Anne Walker, a life mage, had also been one of Alex's apprentices and refuses to have anything more to do with Alex. She's not safe. Not-Anne is a split from the Anne Alex knows, the killer side born in the ring. Sonder was another friend, a journeyman time mage, and he's furious with Alex as well after those events in Chosen. But he still has a crush on Luna.
The Light Council is…
…the magical government of Britain with mages who are supposedly good. Natasha is a Light apprentice with a hate-on for Alex and Luna after events in Taken, 3. Talisid is part of the Council and has been grooming Alex. Levistus is one of Alex's enemies. Caldera is a Council Keeper of the Order of the Star, a cross between a political investigator and military police.
Dark Mages
Richard Drakh was Alex's nasty master for a number of years, and Alex thought he had died. Tobruk was a cruel and sadistic apprentice of Richard's with a hate-on for the other apprentices. Jagadev is a rakshasa, a powerful tigerlike shapeshifter. Avis is important enough to be invited to events, but he mostly turns them down
Morden is a very powerful Dark mage who wants Alex as part of his coterie. Others include Onyx, Morden's Chosen and a powerful, specialised batle-mage who wants Alex, to kill him; Ordith is at the party and probing at "Avis" for his master; and, Meredith is an enchantress and totally self-interested.
Sagash is the Dark death mage who kidnapped Anne and took her to his shadow realm. And from whom Variam helped her escape. Sagash has three apprentices: Darren Smith and Yun Ji-yeong are living family mages and Samuel Taylor is an elementalist.
Crystal is a mind magic mage, ex-Light Council, and on the list of most wanted (see Taken).
The Nightstalkers were…
…a group of American adepts who came after Alex in Chosen. Their leader was Will.
Life mages can kill someone, help them live, and enhance a person. They can paralyze, analyze, cure. I think living family magic can detect people around them. Elsewhere is a half-real place where you can go when you dream. A blink fox is a magic-bred creature used by mages to spy. An adept doesn't have as much skill as a mage. A diviner sees into the future, all the possible futures.
The Cover and Title
I think the cover's background is a map of Sagash's shadow realm with its green tint gradating to cream in the large center, blue lines for the map itself, and then the fun part of it is the title. Someone had too much fun. The blink fox is teleporting across the letters, the I is a signpost, the second D has the silhouette of a castle in it that bleeds over to the E, the N has Alex leaning against it with its right leg looking like a clock tower.
Overtly the title is Sagash's shadow realm, however, I think it can also apply to Alex wanting to hide away from Richard, to the mages wanting to keep their secrets from the public, Anne wanting to keep not-Anne in the Elsewhere, Crystal evading the Light Council… Yep, all sorts of people want to stay Hidden.
Die Reihe um Alex Versus nimmt immer mehr Fahrt auf. Ich kann es garnicht erwarten das nächste Buch zu lesen.
I'm honestly starting to hope Benedict Jacka doesn't become a full-time lawyer. Seems that writing things to entertain me might be a better use of his time.
Well, I think so.
8.0 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/09/08/hidden-by-benedict-jacka-review/
Please beware spoilers for Chosen, and minor spoilers for Books #1-3 of the Alex Verus series.
Following the events of Chosen, Alex Verus finds himself at odds with many of his former friends. Killing a bunch of teenagers—regardless of the reason—will do that. Both Sonder and Anne, two of his closest friends and allies, now refuse to talk to him, preferring to go it alone. With Sonder this isn’t much an issue; an up and coming mage on the Council, Sonder has his pick of allies. But with Anne—who is shunned by the Council and its mages and apprentices alike—this leaves her increasingly on her own, and unprotected.
So when Anne is kidnapped, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Despite Alex being on her bad side, he is still as desperate as anyone to find her. Even going so far as to work with the Council Keepers and Sonder.
But when it comes to light that Anne may have been taken by the dark mage Sagash, all that support suddenly dries up. Legally there’s nothing they can do—as a former apprentice to Sagash, he is well within his rights to reclaim her. Even Sonder, who regards Anne as a friend, gives up hope, leaving Alex with Luna and Variam alone.
The following rescue will take place with little supplies and nothing in the way of backup, half-assed and reckless—an Alex Verus special.
—
“Maybe that’s how it works in our world. The only heroes are the ones who die young.”
I gave Anne a disturbed look. “That’s a pretty depressing philosophy to live by.”
“Is it?” Anne didn’t meet my eyes. “I can’t tell anymore.”
—
Considering how long and how many tries it took me to reread and finish Hidden, I’d still consider it a good book—even head and shoulders above Jacka’s earlier work. I pretty much just burned out on the genre (which happens to me with pretty much anything, but especially urban fantasy) and had to take a break. That said, there is a bit of a lull in the early going, after Anne is taken, but before any real action is taken to retrieve her. And it was in this lull that I was lost.
The book starts off well, with the fallout from the previous book coming to light in Alex’s early comings and goings. We get to see his decisions reflected in the faces of his friends and family; some support him and his actions, others very much do not. It’s a quiet start, but it gets going quickly enough.
Following the kidnapping, there comes a bit of a lull. It’s not egregious—only about 30-40 pages, but if you’re impatient (in general, or to read something else) than it may make or break this for you. During this lull there’s some talking, some planning, some lore; not a whole lot of action. But then come page 90, everything kicks off again—and pretty much carries this intensity through to the endgame. Once I got over that hump, everything was fine. But seeing as how I did burn out there (despite coming back to it, despite having read and enjoyed it previously), it has to be taken into consideration.
Hidden continues to expand on the lore and depth of the Alex Verus series. The world by now includes well more than simply Camden, and while it’s not completely filled in everything, you’d expect that from a series told entirely in first-person. Still, everything is as immersive as before, and there’s no break in the narrative or story. In fact, it’s all better than normal as there’s been four books of build-up before now. In terms of the overall arc, Hidden continues this quite nicely. Obviously in the interest of spoilers I’ll skip going into any detail, but I felt like it worked, and that’s what matters most.
All in all, Hidden is another great Alex Verus adventure. Yes, it has its highs and lows, but the series continues to improve from its most humble of beginnings. The series continues with Veiled, Book #6.
Well, I think so.
8.0 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/09/08/hidden-by-benedict-jacka-review/
Please beware spoilers for Chosen, and minor spoilers for Books #1-3 of the Alex Verus series.
Following the events of Chosen, Alex Verus finds himself at odds with many of his former friends. Killing a bunch of teenagers—regardless of the reason—will do that. Both Sonder and Anne, two of his closest friends and allies, now refuse to talk to him, preferring to go it alone. With Sonder this isn’t much an issue; an up and coming mage on the Council, Sonder has his pick of allies. But with Anne—who is shunned by the Council and its mages and apprentices alike—this leaves her increasingly on her own, and unprotected.
So when Anne is kidnapped, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Despite Alex being on her bad side, he is still as desperate as anyone to find her. Even going so far as to work with the Council Keepers and Sonder.
But when it comes to light that Anne may have been taken by the dark mage Sagash, all that support suddenly dries up. Legally there’s nothing they can do—as a former apprentice to Sagash, he is well within his rights to reclaim her. Even Sonder, who regards Anne as a friend, gives up hope, leaving Alex with Luna and Variam alone.
The following rescue will take place with little supplies and nothing in the way of backup, half-assed and reckless—an Alex Verus special.
—
“Maybe that’s how it works in our world. The only heroes are the ones who die young.”
I gave Anne a disturbed look. “That’s a pretty depressing philosophy to live by.”
“Is it?” Anne didn’t meet my eyes. “I can’t tell anymore.”
—
Considering how long and how many tries it took me to reread and finish Hidden, I’d still consider it a good book—even head and shoulders above Jacka’s earlier work. I pretty much just burned out on the genre (which happens to me with pretty much anything, but especially urban fantasy) and had to take a break. That said, there is a bit of a lull in the early going, after Anne is taken, but before any real action is taken to retrieve her. And it was in this lull that I was lost.
The book starts off well, with the fallout from the previous book coming to light in Alex’s early comings and goings. We get to see his decisions reflected in the faces of his friends and family; some support him and his actions, others very much do not. It’s a quiet start, but it gets going quickly enough.
Following the kidnapping, there comes a bit of a lull. It’s not egregious—only about 30-40 pages, but if you’re impatient (in general, or to read something else) than it may make or break this for you. During this lull there’s some talking, some planning, some lore; not a whole lot of action. But then come page 90, everything kicks off again—and pretty much carries this intensity through to the endgame. Once I got over that hump, everything was fine. But seeing as how I did burn out there (despite coming back to it, despite having read and enjoyed it previously), it has to be taken into consideration.
Hidden continues to expand on the lore and depth of the Alex Verus series. The world by now includes well more than simply Camden, and while it’s not completely filled in everything, you’d expect that from a series told entirely in first-person. Still, everything is as immersive as before, and there’s no break in the narrative or story. In fact, it’s all better than normal as there’s been four books of build-up before now. In terms of the overall arc, Hidden continues this quite nicely. Obviously in the interest of spoilers I’ll skip going into any detail, but I felt like it worked, and that’s what matters most.
All in all, Hidden is another great Alex Verus adventure. Yes, it has its highs and lows, but the series continues to improve from its most humble of beginnings. The series continues with Veiled, Book #6.