Caffeinated Reviewer

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.

Marked is the ninth book in the Alex Verus series narrated by Gildart Jackson and written by Benedict Jacka. Intense battles, talks with dragons and dealings with the jinn. Alex has his hands full!

I should be ready for the newest audiobook release in December. (Update: I am all caught up and devoured Forged. Reviews coming the first week of December)

I love this series and you can see things coming to a head. Alex wants to protect his friends and to do so he needs to be powerful.

Alex’s position on the junior council put him in a position of influence within the Mage Society. Let us not forget that at least three of the seven Senior Councillors want him dead. They attempt to keep him from joining in on discussions. However, after the imbued items were stolen, Alex has been mostly in charge of collecting them. Much to their chagrin, they NEED Alex. He has influence with both light and dark mages. They want him to bargain with a dangerous dark mage and have a plan to capture Richard.

So much pressure. Even though Alex believes the plan will fail, he still helps the council and his actions will ultimately save lives. It was intense with classic Alex reactions, advice, cunning and snark. He has so many balls in the air; he needs all of his deviation ability and more. He continues to work with the stone and Arachne.

His friends are there to aid him, and we saw some intense battles unfold. Jacka brought it all to life in vivid 3-D. The series is brilliant, particularly the growth and development of key characters. The further in we go, the more clever I realize Jacka is as elements and moments from the past click into place.

More and more Alex’s focus is on his friends and in particular Anne. For a while now fans have suspected his feelings go deeper than friendship, and in Marked we see this more clearly.

This is a remarkable urban fantasy series, and the narration performed by Gildart Jackson is brilliant. He has become the voice of these characters and as they have grown, so have the tones and richness Jackson brings to them.

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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