Book Review: Marked (Alex Verus 9 Book) by Benedict Jacka

Marked (Alex Verus 9 Book)

by Benedict Jacka

July 3, 2018

320 pages

Publisher: Ace

Mage Alex Verus is hanging on by a thread in the ninth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.

When Mage Alex Verus ends up with a position on the Light Council, no one is happy, least of all him. But Alex is starting to realize that if he wants to protect his friends, he'll need to become a power player himself. His first order of business is to track down dangerous magical items unleashed into the world by Dark Mages.

But when the Council decides they need his help in negotiating with the perpetrators, Alex will have to use all his cunning and magic to strike a deal--and stop the rising tension between the Council, the Dark Mages, and the adept community from turning into a bloodbath.

*This will be as spoiler free as possible

Marked is the 9th book in the Alex Verus series, and Alex is still going strong. Alex is on the council of Light Mages, and it's still a difficult uphill climb dealing with the light mages, especially after the incident that happened at the end of Bound.

Alex is put in charge of gathering the artifacts that were stolen, and he is learning the old adage of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" being stuck having to deal with Onyx and still trying to figure out what Drahk is pulling, and why he wanted the artifacts in the first place.

Along with dealing with a very polarized council, Alex is trying to figure out Morden’s game while being locked up.

Alex and Anne are the main focus of this book, along with dealing with the council and the artifacts, Alex is put in a situation where he needs to confront "Evil Anne" and help Anne realize that she needs her dark side to help balance her out, despite Anne locking "Evil Anne" away a long time ago. This is in a world were dark and light mages are both good and evil. The two main protagonists are in a world where their very survival is at stake.

The way this left off, there really needs to be a 10th book.

review: Cursed (Alex Verus #2)
review: Choosen (Alex Verus #4)
review: Hidden (Alex Verus #5)
review: Veiled (Alex Verus #6)
Review: Burned (Alex Verus #7)
Review: Bound (Alex Verus #8)4.5/5

Danielle D

About the Author:
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Benedict Jacka became a writer almost by accident, when at nineteen he sat in his school library and started a story in the back of an exercise book. Since then he's studied philosophy at Cambridge, lived in China, and worked as everything from civil servant to bouncer to teacher before returning to London to take up law.

Book Review: Bound (Alex Verus #8) by Benedict Jacka (spoiler free)

Bound (Alex Verus #8) 

by Benedict Jacka
April 4th 2017 by Ace
Mage Alex Verus is caught between a rock and a hard place in the eighth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.

Right now I wasn’t seeing Richard as the teacher out of my nightmares, he was just another Dark mage, and I looked into the future to see what would happen if I turned that knife on him instead...

Alex Verus is still haunted by his time apprenticed to Richard Drakh. He's been free of him for many years, but now the only way to keep his friends from being harmed is to again work for Richard and his deadly ally. Even worse, he’s forced to bring the Light mage Anne into this servitude as well.

After weeks of being hunted and finally cornered into what he thought was his last stand, Alex never thought his life would be spared—and never anticipated at what price. This time, the diviner can see no way out...
Making this spoiler free will mean a short review of this book, since A LOT happens.

Bound picks up where Burned left off. Alex and Anne are now working for Drakh, which is not what they really wanted, but with the way Burned left off, there weren't many options to work with.

Thi situation makes everything much for difficult for both them. The Light Mages don't trust them, the Dark Mages don't trust them, even the Order doesn't trust them. So what exactly can they do?

I do have sympathy for Anne and Alex since their hands are tied for pretty much the entire book but with the help of Arachnie, they do have a glimmer of hope to help put the odds more in their favor.

Luna on the other hand... Oh Man, did I want to bitch slap her, I mean I understand where she is coming from and her situation, but talk about a pity party for 1. Luckily for her, Alex does offer some insight and advice on what she can do. There was one part that made me laugh since it does tie into the Alex Verus website, and how Luna has been put to use.

I will say that the ending of the book threw me off, and I was not expecting it, and clearly neither did Alex. I don't think even he with his Fateweaving ability could have predicted that outcome.

Now to wait for book 9

review: Cursed (Alex Verus #2)
review: Choosen (Alex Verus #4)
review: Hidden (Alex Verus #5)
review: Veiled (Alex Verus #6)
Review: Burned (Alex Verus #7)

5/5 Sheep

DanielleD

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
Benedict Jacka became a writer almost by accident, when at nineteen he sat in his school library and started a story in the back of an exercise book. Since then he's studied philosophy at Cambridge, lived in China, and worked as everything from civil servant to bouncer to teacher before returning to London to take up law.