Our friend Mage Alex Verus certainly has grown in stature since the first novel, Fated. Initially Alex was a bit naive, wanting only to have a peaceful, private life, running his magic store and providing a bit of support to Adepts like Luna. It is this commitment to his friends and his abilities as a top diviner mage that inevitably draw him deeper into the Light Council politics and mark him as an opponent for several of the senior leadership.
Marked is book number 9 and Alex has been busy. In prior novels the Light Council sucked him into operations that went bad and made him a top target for several Light council members. In order to protect his friends and save his life Alex agreed to be Dark mage Morden’s aide when Morden accepts a seat on the Light Council. Alex has tried to distance himself from the dark mages for years and didn’t want anything to do with Morden or other dark mages, but has thrown himself into his new responsibilities. Now, Marked opens with Morden imprisoned, Alex as his aide has Morden’s seat on the Junior Council.
Alex is decisive and skilled. The first scenes in Marked show him leading a team of Light mages and security forces to reclaim a nasty artifact and put the fear of defeat into one of his many enemies’ minions. Later the Light Council call upon Alex to work with Morden to entrap Richard Drakh. Alex realizes it’s a very bad idea but also that he is curious (an often fatal flaw for diviners) and eager to stay abreast of the situation.
Alex, his friends Luna, Variam and Anne want the Adepts, less skilled than mages and whom the Light Council refuses to protect, to have a voice and to be protected. When the plan to trap Richard goes horribly awry it traps a few hundred Adepts in between the fighting. Alex steps forward to lead the Light forces and give the Adepts a way out of the building. Later of course the council blames him for the fiasco and pushes him into further action that leads to Morden getting free, and of course, setting us up for a book 11.
One of the best things about Benedict Jacka’s Alex Verus series is how Alex grows and matures in his magic and leadership. He really would rather lay low and stay out of the power games between Light and Dark but he gets involved to protect Adepts and his friends. He particularly worries about Anne, life mage with tremendous power, whom several Dark mages would like to recruit.
Marked has several subplots. We’ve met Arachne, a giant spider, possibly THE Arachne of legend, before and she is Alex’s oldest friend. Arachne several cryptic things that sound as if she may be either killed or fading away. Alex hears this when he’s not able to follow up, leaving the possible situation to future novels.
Jacka creates realistic characters, one of the better people-builders in the fantasy genre. His characters, especially Alex, grow, mature, change, display foibles and flaws just like ordinary people. Some of the minor characters from prior novels have smaller roles in Marked, as the action and emotion center on Alex and Anne.
One point that puzzles me with the Verus series is the economics. We see the Light Council is rich as are most of the Light Mages. Yet what do these folks do for money? Most are not employed in the regular sense, nor own businesses, and the Light rules restrict using magic to compel people to give you money. Alex implies that the Council taxes mages to support itself, which means there is a lot of money sloshing around with no obvious source.
Overall Benedict Jacka continues to write excellent fantasy in an urban, modern setting. I enjoyed Marked and plan to read the 10th book Fallen.
Leave a Reply