Fated - October 2024 Book Club Reading

[Falselogic]

Fated is the first of 12 books in the Alex Verus series from author, Benedict Jacka. The Alex Verus series is a sequence of urban fantasy novels published between 2012 and 2021 that follow the story of Alex Verus, a mage with a dark past who runs a magic shop in the Camden Town district of north-west London. The first book, Fated, introduces us to the protagonist, Alex Verus, a diviner who able to see the future.

Benedict Jacka was born in England and attended the City of London School. He later attended Cambridge University, where he graduated with a Bachelors in philosophy. His first novels were three children's fantasy novels that didn’t get published, followed by To Be A Ninja a children's non-fantasy novel, which was. In 2000 he began working on a fantasy setting with teenage elementals, for which he wrote four unpublished novels. In 2009, he decided to try again with an adult character and a more information-based ability.Three years later, in 2012, he published the first book of the Alex Verus series, two more followed the same year.Jacka married in 2015 to Rolari Kuti.

 

[Olli]

I finished this one early! I'm a big-time Urban Fantasy enjoyer, plus a frequent London goer, so you'd think this book would be a shoo-in for me. And it is, kind of, but it also has some downsides. The book is clearly the first installment in a series and Jacka is still, hopefully, finding his voice as a writer. The rhythm of the text doesn't always flow nicely; my primary experience with this was when long blocks of description made things feel sluggish and those long descriptions didn't contribute much to the outcome in my view. This is especially visible in the last third of the book; the characters spend a long time in a pocket dimension type deal; the section ended up being both too verbose and too vague to give me a good mental picture of the environments.

Alex the character is not very original - a semi-broody able-bodied straight white male in his late twenties or early thirties (can't remember if his exact age is mentioned) with a tortured past in the hands of an evil mentor. He's not far off from Harry Dresden, and given the shoutout Harry gets, I don't think that's a coincidence either. Alex's clairvoyance magic is interesting - it's kind of OP and a panacea, but also requires finding clever solutions to problems instead of blasting things with fire a la Harry Dresden. Keeping Alex's magical ability very tightly limited to future-telling is a good choice, as now every mage challenging him to a fight is a threat. On the other hand, having an invisibility cloak feels like a cheap and overused trope.

I'll add some more thoughts once people have had the chance to read up.

 

[Falselogic]

I've got this waiting for me at the public library, just waiting for the family to finish their current reads before we all head over!

 

[Violentvixen]

Finally finished the other book I was reading and should be starting this soon.

 

[Falselogic]

I finished this. I have to say I agree a lot with @Olli 's analysis. Very strong Dresden vibes. By the end of the book I was thinking that if Luna was the protag it would be a more interesting story to read. Though this particular world of magic has little going for it with all the magic-users seeming awful. Her 'curse' and her introduction to the world of magic seem more interesting than anything I got from Alex Veras.

I also think I'm a lil burned out with dark/light, evil/good dichotomies. Even if this book is trying to do it with the serial number filed off.

 

[Violentvixen]

We had a long drive and was reading this in the passenger seat and have a perfectly nice time until page 100 or so when a bunch of really weird sexist or just stereotypical trope lines came up. A couple are below.

First I had to drag her here, now she was refusing to leave. I can see the freaking future and women don't make sense.

This is right after barely explaining a sudden solution for her curse, the curse which he has said multiple times he doesn't understand. Insisting her knows her and her body better than she does was bizarre so yeah of course she fought him on it. Rejecting generations of her family history with barely any explanation is a good reason for her to be mad! Then once it's proven it works she moved on like an adult and he didn't I guess.

Also it's really bugging me that her curse seems like it would prevent having children so I dunno how there are generations.

Most of the men were wearing dinner jackets like mine, while the women were... well they were dresses. I have no clue what kind. Hey I'm a guy, what do you expect?

Okay? What purpose did this serve?

Right after this I figured this was a book written in the 90s or something, but nope 2012. Weird. I continued on and haven't seen things as blatant as that come up again, so what a bizarre few pages.

Otherwise I'm enjoying it. Very glad it's not based around magical school or kids, everyone being an adult (maybe not acting like one but at least being one) is good. I'm unfamiliar with the Dresden series that's mentioned here, might check it out.

 

[Falselogic]

Oh yeah. Both of those instances did stand out to me as well. I can think of at least one or two more that are like that

Spoiler: Future incidents

Some of his interactions with the lady evil mage once he knows who she is and when he goes through the dream world version of his old master's house

 

[Olli]

Yep, agree that those bits really stood out as weird and awkward.

 

[Olli]

Even if this book is trying to do it with the serial number filed off.

Well, the bad faction is literally called "dark mages" and they have people named "Cinder" and "Morden". Not that the "light" mages are that much better - it's the weirdoes and the outcasts who are ultimately left with saving everything as usual. This is pretty much in line with Dresden Files as well.

In other Urban Fantasy, Dresden Files are good (I'm about three quarters of the way through the books), but my absolute favorite series is Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London.