Scruffy Fiction

Book Review: Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles

An unnamed narrator is flat sitting in a European city for his friend Oskar who is away arranging his divorce. Oskar is a perfectionist who wants his home cared for in a very specific way, he leaves notes all over the flat with detailed instructions. Unfortunately things do not go to plan as Oskars friend has a series mini disasters.

There doesn’t appear to be a lot of plot here to start with, our narrator is alone in a foreign city and is mostly left alone with his thoughts. While he is alone in Oskars flat he reflects on their friendship. These two men are friends who have grown apart over the years and were probably not well suited to begin with. Oskar remains largely unseen but his presence is constantly felt. Interestingly as the book progresses we learn more about him than we do our narrator. Oskar has left a trail of post-it notes around the flat with instructions for his friend. At first these notes make him seem simply quirky but as we read more of these notes we are increasingly left with an uneasy feeling about him.

His friend suffers from a series of unfortunate events which cause damage to the flat he is supposed to be looking after. They are small at first and not all his fault but he never fails to make his situation worse. It’s quite fun to watch these mini disasters building on top of each other. Will Wiles creates a mounting sense of dread as we are left wondering: What will Oskar do when he return’s? Will this friendship survive?

I found Care of Wooden Floors to be a very entertaining read, while not necessarily laugh out loud funny it is very witty. To be honest it did loose me a little towards the end as the accidents reached ridiculous levels but things calm down a bit at the end and we’re left on quite a contemplative note. The book is essentially an examination of a friendship between two very different men and it’s this friendship that kept me engaged and made this a satisfying read.

Book Review: The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks

I read the first three novels in Iain M. Banks’ Culture series quite a while ago, I enjoyed the books and particularly enjoyed The Player of Games but for some reason I never got round to reading any further. Reading The Little Red Reviewers thoughts on Look to Winward got me in the mood for more Culture stories though so I decided to pick up where I left off with the fourth book in the series.

The State of the Art is a collection of short stories and a novella, not all of them are Culture stories and not all are science fiction. I found stories like Road of Skulls and Odd Attachment too short to really be satisfying. The second story A Gift from the Culture is the first great story of the collection. A citizen who has left the Culture get’s themselves into a bad situation and has to do something which would be considered terrible within the Culture. Here we see the Cultures attitude towards weapons and get a taste of how manipulative they can be.

My favourite story is Descendant, a soldier is left marooned on a planet after a battle with only his suits AI for company. For me this one really exhibits everything that Iain M. Banks does well. It’s a funny story with a quirky AI but is full of real human drama. The next story Cleaning Up is very funny. Workers from an advanced civilisation (it’s never explained if they are from the Culture or not) have accidentally been dumping rubbish on Earth that should have been dropped into the Sun. The US military mistakes this rubbish for gifts from friendly aliens that want to help defeat the Soviets. Like I said the story is very funny, it’s played entirely for laughs and is very entertaining.

Piece is the only story from the collection that isn’t science fiction. A father travelling away from home is writing a letter to his child, he reflects on his opinions on science, religion and fundamentalism. This story comes to a shocking ending and is very affecting. The final short story Scratch  on the other hand didn’t leave me with much of an impression. It seemed to just be strange for the sake of being strange and I didn’t really see the point.

The novella The State of the Art takes up nearly half the book and uses the space to tell a very absorbing story. A Culture agent is despatched to evaluate Earth for future interference from the Culture. There is also a previous Culture agent who has gone native and wants to stay on Earth. Banks uses the opportunity to poke fun at modern culture and points out how barbaric we would look to a more advanced race. Interestingly I thought that their reaction to what they see here says a lot more about them than than it does us. This story served as a great re-introduction to the Culture as their attitudes and values are fully explored.

Not every story here is a winner but the best ones really show off why Banks is such a popular author. The State of the Art was a nice short read to give me a taste of the Culture again. I’m definitely not going to leave it too long before reading the next in the series as I’m looking forward to reading a longer story set in this universe.

Book Review: The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers

In the very near future biological terrorists release a virus called MDS which kills women when they get pregnant. Jessie Lamb is a sixteen year old girl trying to make sense of the changed world she finds herself in. It’s quite a terrifying set-up for a novel, a world where we can no longer produce children. For the first time the human race can finally see it’s end.

The story is told from the first person perspective of Jessie Lamb. She is frightened by the future and angry at adults for leaving the world in such a mess. Jessie is very much a child, in fact sometimes the book reads in a similar way to Young Adult fiction, with a young protagonist dealing with the problems of being a teenager. It’s written with quite simple language making it a very easygoing read.

Your opinion the book will probably depend on  your reaction to Jessie. She is a very typical teenage girl, sometimes I was frustrated with her because her opinions seemed short-sighted and naive. However once I reminded myself that she was a teenager her outlook made perfect sense to me. She is essentially still a child, her thoughts and opinions are not fully formed or well thought out and in this way I found her to be convincing as a teenager.

I think having a young girl as a protagonist was a very good choice. She looks at the world around her and is able to see things in a much more black and white way than an adult would, really cutting to the heart of the matter. Jessie and her friends come to believe that it’s the adults fault for getting them into this situation and that the human race is being punished for all the ways that they have been polluting the world and their over reliance on science. It’s a very childish and naive view of things and if Jessie’s character was an adult then the book would have come across as very preachy, however these opinions are easier to swallow coming from a teenager. Jessie has plenty of opinions but she never thinks that she has all the answers, I thought this process of questioning her own opinions and looking for meaning to be the most interesting part of the book.

I found the world of this book to be a little hard to buy into, the MDS virus is a huge thing which would have a great impact on society as a whole. While individual people were affected by the reality of their situation in a variety of different ways  I didn’t feel like the world at large really changed much at all. For the most part life carried on as normal and I found that quite hard to believe. There were some interesting ideas about how young men would start to act differently around women when they knew what would happen if they got pregnant. I thought that aspect of the world was very well thought out.

Eventually scientists come up with a way to combat MDS, it’s not an easy solution and it throws up quite a moral conundrum. The book doesn’t make any statements on whether this is right or wrong it just presents us with a variety of different view points on the problem and leaves us to decide for ourself’s what we think. Jessie’s ultimate decision is a difficult one and left me feeling very uneasy, it’s certainly a book which will be staying with me for a while. From early on it’s quite obvious where the story is heading, some people might criticize the book for this but I think that the knowledge of where all this is going gives everything a real weight and a lot of the smaller moments feel much more important and bitter-sweet because of it. I don’t think that the book could have ended in any other way, anything else would have felt like a cop-out. At the end I was left feeling very satisfied and affected by Jessie’s journey.

The Lies of Locke Lamora Read-Along Week Five

So it’s the last week of the Lies of Locke Lamora read-along. The book came to a very satisfying ending and has me excited to read the next book. Here are this weeks questions and my answers:

1. The Thorn of Camorr is renowned – he can beat anyone in a fight and he steals from the rich to give to the poor.  Except of course that clearly most of the myths surrounding him are based on fantasy and not fact.  Now that the book is finished how do you feel the man himself compares to his legend.  Did you feel that he changed as the story progressed and, if so, how did this make you feel about him by the time the conclusion was reached?

Well Locke is clearly very different to the legend but does appear to be growing into the role. I noticed in this weeks section that Locke starts to refer to himself as the Thorn for the first time. This is a big change from the start of the book where he thought that the idea of The Thorn of Camorr was a big joke. There were points in the book where I didn’t find Locke to be particularly likeable, being a thief isn’t really a noble profession so at times I was sympathising with his victims more than Locke himself. By the end though Locke had a genuine cause to fight for which made him an easier character to root for. I quite like the journey I went on with this character because he’s not immediately likeable, not the typical hero but he won me over anyway.

2. Scott Lynch certainly likes to give his leading ladies some entertaining and strong roles to play.  We have the Berangia sisters – and I definitely wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of them or their blades plus Dona Vorchenza who is the Spider and played a very cool character – even play acting to catch the Thorn.  How did you feel about the treatment the sisters and Dona received at the hands of Jean and Locke – were you surprised, did it seem out of character at all or justified?

I wasn’t surprised at all by what happened to the sisters, they certainly had it coming. The moment where Locke attacks Dona Vorchenza took me by surprise though and is another example of Locke breaking the mould of the typical hero character. Though considering the circumstances it was certainly an understandable way for him to react to the situation. I would like to see more female characters in the next book. Though there were some very good ones here we didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with them making the book feel a little male heavy. Dona Vorchenza became one of my favourite characters by the end and I’d like to see more of her. Sofia is also very promising, I’m looking forward to seeing how she develops.

3. Towards the end we saw a little more of the magic and the history of the Bondsmagi.  The magic, particularly with the use of true names, reminds me a little of old fashioned witchcraft or even voodoo.  But, more than that I was fascinated after reading the interlude headed ‘The Throne in Ashes’ about the Elderglass and the Elders and why their structures were able to survive even against the full might of the Bondsmagi – do you have any theories about this do you think it’s based on one of our ancient civilisations or maybe similar to a myth??

I can’t say that I’ve thought about this until now. I didn’t pick up on any parallels to our ancient civilisations, I’m inclined to think it’s more myth than anything else.

4. We have previously discussed Scott Lynch’s use of description and whether it’s too much or just spot on.  Having got into the last quarter of the book where the level of tension was seriously cranked up – did you still find, the breaks for interludes and the descriptions useful or, under the circumstances did it feel more like a distraction?

This time I found the interludes to be more of a disruption. Until now I’ve enjoyed them very much, mostly because we got to spent some time with Chains who is a really interesting character. This time though the interludes were used more to fill us in on the history of Camorr which though I did find interesting probably would have been better placed earlier in the book.

5. Now that the book has finished how did you feel about the conclusion and the eventual reveal about the Grey King and more to the point the motivations he declared for such revenge – does it seem credible, were you expecting much worse or something completely different altogether?

The Grey Kings motivations for revenge seemed very credible to especially given everything that we’ve been told about Camorr and it’s history. I didn’t find the revelation that he was the brother of the two sisters to be a particularly satisfying twist though since not much had been made of those characters up until that point. I wonder if those people reading this for the second time picked up on any foreshadowing that I missed?

 6.  Were you surprised that Locke, being given two possible choices (one of which could possibly mean he would miss his chance for revenge on the Grey King) chose to go back to the Tower  – especially given that (1) he would have difficulty in getting into the building (2) he would have difficulty in convincing them about the situation and (3) he would have difficulty in remaining free afterwards? Did anyone else nearly pee their pants when Locke and the rest were carrying the sculptures up to the roof garden?

I wasn’t really surprised that he chose to go back to the tower, it seemed like the kind of overly ambitious plan typical of Locke. He’s nothing if not an overachiever!

7. Finally, the other question I would chuck in here is that, following the end of the book I was intrigued to check out some of the reviews of LOLL and noticed that the negative reviews mentioned the use of profanity.  How did you feel about this – was it excessive? Just enough? Not enough?

Profanity in books has never bothered me. As long as it’s used in a realistic way and not just there to be attention grabbing I see no reason to mark a book down because of it. I didn’t find the profanity to be excessive at all here, it just felt like the natural way that these people talk.

8. Okay one further, and probably most important but very quick question – having finished, will you pick up the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies?

Oh yeah! I’m looking forward to getting stuck into that.

That’s it for the read-along for now. I’ve had a great time taking part so a big thank you to everyone involved, particularly those of you setting the questions. You got me thinking about the book in ways that don’t always occur to me so this has been a very positive experience. I’m looking forward getting started with the Red Seas Under Red Skies read-along.

Book Review: Embassytown by China Miéville

Embassytown was my first book by China Miéville and it was an interesting reading experience. The plot revolves around Avice who returns to Embassytown to introduce her husband to her former home. Embassytown is a human colony on an alien planet inhabited by the Ariekei. Their “Language” is very different to ours and human ambassadors are exploring methods of communication with their alien hosts.

It’s a very difficult book to get into. I found the first hundred pages or so to be quite frustrating as we are dropped into a very alien environment with lots of foreign terminology. To start with there is not a lot that we can relate to or latch onto. However once I had gotten comfortable in the world I found that the book really opened up and became very rewarding.

The best thing about Embassytown is Miéville’s world building. The aliens he presents us with are very alien, not just physically but also in the way they communicate and the way they think. They are entirely convincing as an intelligent species with different attributes to our own, something which is very difficult to pull off but Miéville has clearly thought through the details of his world thoroughly.

At first the protagonist of the story Avice comes across as being quite cold and not very sympathetic. Earlier I said that at first there was not much here to relate to. All that changes when Avice first meets her future husband Scile, here we are given a genuine human relationship, something that we can relate to. At first many of the events of the story are seen through the lens of this relationship and this is what got me invested in the characters and the story. In the last third of the story this relationship is pushed to the side and that’s when the book started to loose me again.

Before I read Emabssytown I had heard very mixed responses from other readers, having now read it I can understand why. At  times it can be quite a frustrating read, I changed my mind about the book several times while reading it. At first I found it dense and heavy going, then I was completely absorbed by it, later as events escalated and became less personal it lost me again before winning me back at the end. I think part of the reason that it failed to capture me for a great length of time is that Miéville writes in quite a detached style. It’s kind of like someone remembering events from long ago rather than making the reader feel like they are experiencing these events for the first time. Because of this there were several moments which I thought should have been quite emotional and affecting but I felt too detached from things to really feel anything.

However for every moment of frustration there is something genuinely impressive and deeply rewarding. It’s a novel full of ideas about the nature of language, like all good science fiction it provokes thought and left me thinking about language and communication in a new way. While I didn’t find this to be entirely satisfying I was very impressed by Miéville’s ideas and his ability to create a genuinely alien setting, I will definitely be checking out more of his work in the future. Unfortunately though I did find Embassytown to be a very impressive novel, it’s not an entirely successful one.

The Lies of Locke Lamora Read-along Week Four

It’s week four of The Lies of Locke Lamora read-along. This was a really stressful week with lots of surprises! Here are the questions and my answers:

1. In the chapter “A Curious Tale for Countess Amberglass” we learn of the tradition of the night tea in Camorr. I found that not so much fantastical as realistic – how about you?

A lot of this book comes across as very realistic. Scott Lynch has created a very believable world, the realistic nature of the book makes the fantasy elements more effective. I like fantasy handled in this way – important but not overused.

 2.  When Jean meets with what will become the Wicked Sisters for the first time, the meeting is described very much like how people feel when they find their true work or home. Agree? Disagree? Some of both?

Agree. I certainly noticed a change in Jean during that scene, like something inside him clicked into place.

3. Salt devils. Bug. Jean. The description is intense. Do you find that description a help in visualizing the scene? Do you find yourself wishing the description was occasionally – well – a little less descriptive?

I find the description here to be spot on. It’s detailed enough to build a strong picture in our mind but not so overly detailed that the descriptions get in the way of the story. I find that some authors describe things in such intricate detail that it really slows down the plot. That’s not the case here, Lynch always keeps things moving forward.

4. This section has so much action in it, it’s hard to find a place to pause. But…but.. oh, Locke. Oh, Jean. On their return to the House of Perelandro, their world is turned upside down. Did you see it coming?

I predicted last week that one of the twins would die but I didn’t think they both would and I certainly didn’t see Bug’s death coming. The moment where they return home and find what’s happened really caught me by surprise, Locke had just been through so much that I was expecting things to cool down for a moment. I was very wrong! I love it when a book takes me by surprise like this.

5. Tavrin Callas’s service to the House of Aza Guilla is recalled at an opportune moment, and may have something to do with saving a life or three. Do you believe Chains knew what he set in motion? Why or why not?

I think Chains did know what he was doing. He’s still quite a mystery of a character to me so I do’t really understand his true motivations but so far everything that he’s done has had a very specific purpose. I think he has everything planned out very well.

6. As Locke and Jean prepare for Capa Raza, Dona Vorchenza’s remark that the Thorn of Camorr has never been violent – only greedy and resorting to trickery – comes to mind again. Will this pattern continue?

Well Locke certainly seems to be out for revenge now so I expect we’ll be seeing some violence. Although I’m not sure that Locke will be doing the violence himself, I’m still not sure that he’s got that in him. I think he’ll manipulate Capa Raza  into a situation where he gets hurt very badly.

7. Does Locke Lamora or the Thorn of Camorr enter Meraggio’s Countinghouse that day? Is there a difference?

Before now Locke thought that the Thorn of Camorr was a joke, but not any more. I think now Locke realises that he has to become the Thorn in order to do what has to be done.

Book Review: Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper

Songs of the Earth gets off to a really fast paced start. Gair is on trail for being a witch, something that the Church punishes with execution. However Gair is granted exile rather than execution and is given a short space of time to leave the city. Not everyone in the Church is happy about this though, so a Witchfinder is sent to hunt Gair down. I love when novels hit the ground running in this way, we’re thrown in at the deep end with lots of things happening at once. We have to run to catch up, which immediately involves us in the story and the characters.

After this frantic opening Gair escapes with the help of the mysterious Alderan. Alderan takes Gair to a school where he can learn about his gift and the magic world that he’s been mostly ignorant of up until now. This is where we spend the majority of the book and we loose the faster pacing of the opening in favour of a much slower pace. Elspeth Cooper wisely uses this time for some very important character development and world building.

For me the strongest aspect of the book is the world building. Magic is portrayed in a very original way with music and song used manipulate magic. The magic system is not overly explained, rather we spend time with the characters and witness them using their gifts allowing us to feel the magic out for ourselves. There is lots of room for the magic system to be fleshed out further in the future. We don’t see much of the overall world that this story takes place in, the story is limited to just a few settings. However Cooper does a great job of giving us the feeling that there is a much larger world beyond the limits of the story. We are also given the feeling that this is a world with a rich history, again plenty of potential for future stories.

The characterisation is very strong here, the journey that Gair’s character goes on is particularly impressive. When I got to the end I realised just how much he had changed over the course of the book. I couldn’t point to one moment in the story where he suddenly changed, it was done very subtly throughout the book. Very impressive work. The supporting cast are also very well written. Gair gains friends, enemy’s and lovers all of which are well fleshed out, often within a short space of time.

To be honest I did find the middle section to be a little too slowly paced, it seemed to take a little too long to get where it was going. Towards the end though things heat up again and everything comes to a very satisfying conclusion as the set up and character work pays off. Songs of the Earth works very well as a first novel in a new series, it introduces us to characters that we can care about and sets up a world with lots of possibilities. It feels like a lot of this novel was set up for the next book, at the end we’re left with a lot that can be expanded on in the future. If the next book in the Wild Hunt series can live up to the potential shown here then it’s definitely going to be one to watch out for.

The Arthur C. Clarke Award 2012 Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2012 Arthur C Clarke Awards was announced yesterday. The Six shortlisted books are:

• Greg Bear, Hull Zero Three (Gollancz)
• Drew Magary, The End Specialist (Harper Voyager)
• China Miéville, Embassytown (Macmillan)
• Jane Rogers, The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
• Charles Stross, Rule 34 (Orbit)
• Sheri S.Tepper, The Waters Rising (Gollancz)

Of the books shortlisted the only one that I’ve read is Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. I liked the story of that book but I sometimes find Greg Bear’s writing style to be overly descriptive. I think that the story of a spaceship hurtling towards an unknown destination is a very Arthur C. Clarke type vision though so I can certainly see why it was nominated. It’s also good to see some proper space based science fiction on the list.

I’m going to try and read all the books on the list before the winner is announced on 2nd May. I’ve actually never read a China Miéville novel before. I really should have though since I think this is the fifth time he’s been nominated for the award, so I’m going to be starting with Emabassytown. I’ve heard quite mixed reactions to Embassytown so I’m not quite sure what to expect.

I like the sound of The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers. Although the story of women dying in their millions sounds quite bleak, I’ve always had a soft spot for end of the world scenario’s. The Waters Rising by Sheri S.Tepper sounds to be more Fantasy than Science Fiction but it’s nice to see some variety on the list. It’s not a book that I would be particularly interested in had it not been nominated for a Clarke Award but discovering different kinds of books is part of the fun of following awards like this.

The thing I’ve always liked about the Clarke awards and the reason that I continue to be interested in them year after year, is that there are always a wide variety of books nominated, all of which fall under the heading of Science Fiction. A lot of other awards always seem to favour certain kinds of books but I’ve never really thought that about the Clarke Awards. There is a lot of variety in the list above, a real cross section of what is going on in Science Fiction right now so I think that this is going to be a list of books well worth reading.

The Lies of Locke Lamora Read-along Week Three

On to week three of the read-along and were covering chapter five through to the interlude called “The Half Crown War”. Here are the questions and my thoughts:

1. This section is where we finally get to sneak a peek at the magic in The Gentleman Bastards books. From what we read, what are your initial impressions of the magic Lynch is using? Is there any way that Locke and Company would be able to get around the Bondsmage’s powers?

I like the way that magic has been used so far. It seems only a select few can use magic and as we see here there are some important and unexpected limitations to the magic used. I like this kind of magic, it’s impressive but not so powerful that it can’t be overcome by some imaginative thinking. Locke is one of the most imaginative thinkers around so I’m expecting him to find a way around the Bondsmage’s powers.

2. Not a question, but an area for rampant speculation: If you want to take a stab at who you think the Grey King might be, feel free to do it here.

I have no idea who the Grey King might be. If there have been any clues about his identity or history I’ve missed them. He’s a great character, having someone whose able to outmanoeuvre Locke definitely gives an added element of danger to the book.

  2.5 (since 2 wasn’t really a question) Anyone see the Nazca thing coming? Anyone? Do you think there are more crazy turns like this in store for the book? Would you like to speculate about them here? (yes, yes you would)

I didn’t see the Nazca thing coming at all, it really shocked me. Just when he’s set up a new potential plot line for Locke and Nazca Lynch turns everything on it’s head and sends us off in a new direction. It’s great, unpredictable story telling like this that make this such an absorbing read. I’ll take a guess and say that one of the Gentlemen Bastards will die at some point, maybe one of the twins.

3. When Locke says “Nice bird, arsehole,” I lose it. EVERY TIME. And not just because I have the UK version of the book and the word arsehole is funnier than asshole. Have there been any other places in the books so far where you found yourself laughing out loud, or giggling like a crazy person on the subway?

Yeah that was a great moment. Another moment like that for me was after Locke met with Capa Barsavi and found out he’d have have to marry Nazca. Just as it looks like Locke’s in over his head we find out just how confident he really is, just as Locke is realising what Chains was preparing them for all along:

“He was training us for a situation that was fucked up on all sides.Well, we’re in it, and I say we’re equal to it. I don’t need to  be reminded that we’re up to our heads in dark water. I just want you boys to remember that we’re the gods-damned sharks.”

That was a real feel good moment for me.

4. By the end of this reading section, have your opinions changed about how clever the Bastards are? Do you still feel like they’re “cleverer than all the rest?” Or have they been decidedly outplayed by the Grey King and his Bondsmage?

Well their definitely in a situation that they didn’t plan for but so far they have proved to be cleverer than all the rest, so I think they can get on top of things.

 5. I imagine that you’ve probably read ahead, since this was a huge cliffhanger of an ending for the “present” storyline, but I’ll ask this anyway: Where do you see the story going from here, now that the Grey King is thought to be dead?

I think that we’ll see the Grey King moving against Capa Barsavi in new ways. I don’t really have any insight into what those ways will be but i’m ready to be surprised. Although Locke has found himself in a very bad situation, I’m assuming he has a back up plan in place. Given Locke’s words at the end of the last interlude I’m assuming that Jean will play an important role in this plan.

6. What do you think of the characters Scott Lynch has given us so far? Are they believable? Real? Fleshed out? If not, what are they lacking?

I find the characters to be very believable. So far I think that Locke and Jean have been fleshed out very well. I’m not feeling quite so invested in Calo and Galdo. I don’t feel like they’re really lacking anything, I just don’t think we’ve really had an opportunity to get inside their heads yet.

7. Now that you’ve seen how clever Chains is about his “apprenticeships,” why do you think he’s doing all of this? Does he have an endgame in sight? Is there a goal he wants them to achieve, or is it something more emotional like revenge?

We already know that Chains want’s the Bastards to be “a fucking ballista bolt right through the heart of Vencarlo’s Secret Peace” so I think this must be a part of some larger plan. He’s dedicated such a large portion of his life to training up the Bastards, so for him to go to so much effort his motivations must be coming from an emotional place.

Book Review: Fated by Benedict Jacka

Fated presents us with an alternative view of modern London where a society based on magic exists unknown to the general population. On the one side of this society we have the Light Mage’s of the Council. They have large numbers but are bogged down in politics. On the other side we have the Dark Mage’s. Very powerful and dangerous but disorganised. In the middle we have Alex Verus. As a probability mage Verus can see possible futures before they happen. After a bad experience years ago Verus now runs an out of the way magic shop in Camden and wants nothing to do with either the Council or the Dark Mages. Problem is he might not have a choice. When a  powerful relic from the Dark Wars is discovered both factions have need of a probability mage to retrieve it and Alex is drawn back into a world he want’s nothing to do with.

Alex Verus is a great central character. He’s likeable and has a strong sense of right and wrong. His first person narration makes a very nice entry point into this world. He also has a dark, painful past which makes him quite vulnerable. In one of my favourite sections of the book we get a look into the time Alex spent as a Dark Mage’s apprentice/slave. It’s only a brief look in to the past but it goes a long way towards fleshing his character out and leaves plenty of room for exploring more of this era in the future.

Benedict Jacka has a very light and easygoing writing style which makes this a very enjoyable read. He also writes great action scenes. Verus’ divinity powers give a unique dimension to the action and this makes for some very tense and exciting moments. You might think that it would be very limiting to have a main character who can see into the future but Jacka provides some important limitations on Verus’ powers such as not being able to see past a decision that hasn’t been made yet. He also uses the divinity powers in some very imaginative ways and it’s this aspect that I think most separates this book from other urban fantasy series.

We start out with quite a bit of exposition but once that is out of the way we are quickly led on a fast paced journey through the many different corners of this world. Familiar London landmarks play an important part of the story which help to ground things in the real world. Throughout there are hints towards a larger history to this world which may be explored later on in the series.

We are introduced to several well developed supporting characters all with complex histories and motivations. There are lot’s of interesting character relationships ready to be exploited in the future. I’m particularly looking forward to meeting the Dark Mage who previously enslaved Verus. He doesn’t appear in this book but he is an important presence throughout.

Fated makes for a great first volume in a new series, there are so many elements that show promise and there is plenty to be expanded on in the future. It may have similarities to other urban fantasy series out there but there’s enough originality to set it apart. I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time in this world.