Book Log 11/2016 - Benedict Jacka: Taken - Alex Verus #3

I've thoroughly enjoyed previous excursions into Alex Verus' magical London. This one keeps up the pace and develops Alex and his apprentice, Luna, while bringing back previous secondary characters such as Spnder, Talisid and Arachne, the clothes-obsessed seamstress who just happens to be a giant spider.

Alex is a London-based mage who runs a magic shop and despite being apprenticed to a dark mage in his youth reckons that he's left that behind him. H's not really aligned to the light mage council either, but eeps getting mixed up in their affairs. He freely admits that he's not got enough magical whammy to win a fair fight, but he's good at sneaky.

Alex's power is seeing all the strands of possible futures enabling him to always make the 'lucky' decision. Knowing when to duck is a very good skill.

When he's offered a job overseeing security for a magical duelling competition he turns it down, but then Talisid asks for his help. Mage-apprentices are disappearing without trace. Within a short space of time Alex rescues a mage apprentice called Anne, and then receives tipoffs from different sources pointing him toward the duelling competition - set in a weird house in the Cotswolds that's magically warded against Alex's talent. As an excuse to be there, Luna is entered for the competition. Luna is not a mage, but an adept, a person with one magical trait. In Luna's case she's the subject of a curse. Anyone she touches suddenly has bad luck, often fatally. It's a bit of a bummer as far as relationships go, but Alex is teaching her how to control it.

Alex, Luna, Sonder, Anne and another apprentice called Variam go up against an unstoppable enemy to solve the problem of the missing apprentices.

There are a cluster of urban fantasies featuring male magicians, and I'm very ford of Harry Dresden, Atticus O'Sullivan and Isaac Vainio, but I particularly like the British setting and the fact that Alex is a good guy, but only on his own terms.

Winterwood news, reviews and interviews

19th February I was invited to write a piece on aletrnate history for SF Signal's Mind-Meld, but due to being accidentally missed off the 'meld' article I've ended up with a piece of my own. Thanks, Andrea.

19th February Another interview - this time at The Qwillery.

19th February My interview at My Bookish Ways goes live today

18th February I now have a firm date for the publication of Silverwolf - second in the Rowankind sequence and a direct sequel to Winterwood - of 3rd January 2017.

16th February Pleased that Winterwood is a Night Owl Review Top Pick: "a fabulous plot and engaging storyline. Don’t miss this fantasy read. It’s quite unlike anything else on the market."

13th February Nice Historical Novel Society review of Winterwood.

13th February Thanks to Sherwood Smith for the nice mention for Crossways in her article on Book View Cafe entitled 'My Genre is Growing Up.'

10th February Interview here at Civilian Reader.

8th February Interview and book giveaway(US) in Urban Fantasy Investigations.

3rd February Nice to get a brief mention for Winterwood at Kirkus in their 'looking forward to... ' section

3rd February Guest post on Juliet McKenna's blog on the transition from SF to historical fantasy

2nd February BOOK DAY! Winterwood is published today! Yay!

2nd February There's an advantage to being close to the front of the alphabet. Winterwood is the second book in Locus' new releases today.

1st February Another nice Winterwood review on thre wonderfully titled 'No More Grumpy Bookseller' blog.

1st February Lovely that Winterwood is on Fantasy Faction's radar here: http://fantasy-faction.com/2016/fantasy-titles-on-our-radar-february-2016-edition

27th January. Absolutely delighted that Winterwood is included in Fiction Affliction at tor.com

22nd January Nice review of Winterwood at The Bibliosanctum.