Cover Image: Forged

Forged

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Member Reviews

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

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This is the eleventh book in a series I have grown to love very much. I received it through Netgalley last year, but saved it for a while because I knew I would want to jump into the twelfth and final book straight away. I still have to wait a few months, but at least not a year…

How does one write a review for the 11th book in a series though? A series that has been consistently great… Because if you have invested enough time to read the previous 10, surely you would stick it through the final two as well, no matter what I have to say. And if you don’t know this series, what can I say without spoiling anything? Why are you even reading a review for an 11th book?

What makes this series so good in my opinion is the complexity of the characters. And Jacka doesn’t pull any punches. The characters constantly find themselves in situations I cannot imagine them getting out of. But they do, though not in a pretty way. Although it is definitely not spelled out for us, we do get confronted with the idea of what actually is ‘good’. Alex has found himself fighting with and for people from both sides, and if you were to jump into the series at this point you would say he is a bad guy. He kills a Lot of people, found himself on the bad side of the Light Council and allies with Dark mages. But knowing what he has been through in the previous ten books you completely understand why he does what he does, and very few of us would have done things differently.

Which makes this book a bit of a mindfuck, as well as a heartbreaking read. We have grown to love characters from all sides of the conflict, characters who are forced to fight against each other. And not everyone makes it through. And Jacka does them credit and gives them plenty of page time in their final moments of glory. And yes, those are some vivid and gruesome scenes. Which makes me quite scared for the final book, because things can still go wrong in so many ways. Jacka is very capable of killing off some of our main characters, and I am sure he will. But who will it be that crushes us?

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High octane darkly exciting instalment in this London based treat of an UF novel! The stakes have been ramped up so high and Verus is only now truly coming into his own self. Every book has ramped up the action - it seems a long way from the first book and the start of it all.. Now Jacka just has to bring this baby home in the grand finale. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

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I didn't know it was the 11th in a series so I had to catch up but it was worth the effort.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story, had a lot of fun and couldn't put it down.
Great world building and characters, a gripping and highly entertaining plot.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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This is the penultimate instalment in the Alex Verus series I believe, and it really jumps right into the action. As a result, it took me a little while to get into this at the start. Once I remembered what had happened at the end of the last book, I was sorted!

We really see Alex lean into his darker side here - not necessarily as a dark mage - but in terms of the decision he reached before about killing when being targeted. The body count in this book is pretty high! And they often don't weigh too heavily on his conscience. Though I thought a couple of the battles and deaths in particular should come back and haunt him and I will be intrigued to see if I'm right!

The finale is pretty epic too - we get some interesting interactions with characters he's not previously wanted to work with, and a big fight with the council. But the very end really left me needing the next book and I'm not sure when it's out - definitely not soon enough!

A great instalment to the series, and something that has left me in serious anticipation of the final book. 4 stars.

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I've read the Alex Verus series from the beginning, I have to say I miss the old Alex, the almost powerless mage who kept his head down and sold magical items in Camden Town. Then as the books went on he didn't really get any more powerful but he gained a whole slew of very powerful enemies. the books got darker and darker, it seemed like Alex was doomed. I have to be honest, I gave up part way through book 9 because it was too bleak and Alex looked like he was losing badly. Then I saw this ARC available on NetGalley, not even realising that I had completely missed book 10, and requested it on a whim.

Things have changed for Alex, he's turned to the dark side, gained a fateweaver and become more powerful. He's lost some wonderful friends (farewell Arachne) and some have aligned with others and become adversaries (Anne), he's fighting back and if the Light Council won't back off then he'll make them.

Honestly there is no downtime in this book, from the very first pages to the last Alex is battling one enemy after the other. It's fast, its frantic and OMG he's changed.

It was a struggle to remember who was who, I won't lie, but that didn't matter as I was bowled along in one magical battle after another, hoping that Alex can wrestle Anne from the clutches of the Jinn, scared that he won't. Trying to second guess which of Alex's allies might be an agent for one of his enemies, bouncing from shadow realm to reality and back again.

Obviously don't start reading this if you've not read of the previous books, but if you like magic and intrigue and battles and double-crosses then this is definitely the one for you.

Word of caution, I was expecting this to be the big finale, it isn't and it ends quite abruptly but I'm absolutely desperate to read book 12.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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I only recently finished reading Fallen, so had no problem picking up the action which continues straight on from the previous book. Alex, after being subjected to an intolerable choice in the previous book, took a fateful decision which has very much altered his view on things.

There is a lot of action in this book – as The Council goes on hunting for him, Alex ends up in a series of confrontations. The battles are done very well – Jacka writes the action and Alex’s reaction to it throughout without any loss of pace, the fight scenes between battling mages grippingly portrayed. But this book is, necessarily, quite a lot darker and I missed some of the characters who used to provide some light relief. They are much less in evidence as the pace is more relentless and the stakes go on rising.

However, I’m glad that despite all the killing, there is no sense that people’s lives don’t matter. We end up being a bit appalled at the violence, because we are alongside Verus, who is also affected by the trail of destruction left in his wake. There is a defining battle near the end of the book that I found particularly poignant, in amongst all the chaos and mayhem. Especially if you compare the main antagonist with a version of themselves only a couple of books earlier… As ever, Jacka wraps up the ongoing problem within this story so I wasn’t left feeling unsatisfied with the ending. Though there are a couple of massive plotpoints still waving in the wind…

I am looking forward to the next, final book, where all these issues will be satisfactorily concluded. And I’m crossing my fingers – and toes – that at least a couple of the main characters, as well as Verus, will emerge relatively unscathed. Which surely tells you how invested I’ve become in the narrative arcs of the protagonist and his followers while following their fortunes throughout this tumultuous and well-crafted series. While I obtained an arc of Forged from Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

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MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS:
It had been a few years since I last read this series so have finished a two week catch up culminating with this the latest installment of Alex Verus. What a journey I have been on with Alex, Luna, Anne and Variam! This book sets a fine pace and starts to tie up some of the storylines in the series.
Alex has now powered up through physically bonding with the fateweaver, driving towards his goals with focus and a ruthlessness that was not originally part of his character. This explores the changes in Alex's character to evolve into someone he would not have wanted to be at the beginning of his story.
We terminally say farewell to certain characters and welcome new voices into the story, I particularly like the addition on November. Although Alex has changed he still retains most of the qualities that drew me in to the series, loyalty, ambition, friendships but tempered with a much higher body count!
Book devoured and now will have to patiently wait for the next installment...thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for providing the ARC.

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It’s been a few years since I read Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka last and I’ve missed several books, so I was little hesitant to start Forged, which is already the eleventh book in the series.

I needn’t have worried. I didn’t know any of the characters except Alex anymore, and I had no knowledge of the events leading here apart from the basics, but that didn’t mar my reading experience at all. The first half of the book did an admirable job recapping everything and I had no problems following the plot. If you’re reading the series back to back, the setup part may seem a bit slow, but for me it was perfect. I wouldn’t start the series with this book, as some basic knowledge of Alex and the world is necessary, but if like me you’ve missed a few books, you can still enjoy this one.

If you’ve reached this far in the series, you’ll know it follows Alex Verus, a mage from London with the ability to see the future. He used to be a nobody, but mage politics and powerful enemies have forged him into a power player in the mage world. Many plotlines from earlier books come to their point in this one and Alex has his hands full trying not to get killed. It comes close a few times. Some of the people he has to face are old friends. The emotional impact of those scenes came across well, even though I hadn’t been there along the way. Not all the enemies are dealt with here, and the book ends with a cliffhanger, so there are more books still to come.

Alex has come a long way since I encountered him last and he’s really powerful now. In this book it dawns on him that he may have to pay the ultimate price for his power, and sooner than he would like. He’s still a bit too trigger happy, racking a massive body count in every battle, not a side of him I particularly enjoy. But he also still makes friends with unlikeliest beings, which evens things out a little. And since I’m now caught up with the events, I may continue with the series again.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy. I first discover this series as a Christmas gift in 2019 and promptly became hooked- reading all 10 novels during the Xmas holidays. I was very excited and had high expectations when I began, what is the second last novel in this brilliant series. My expectations were fully met. This novel is excellent. The stakes for Alex have never been higher and there are casualties- both literally and figuratively in the novel that makes me apprehensive about whether he or Anne will come through this, or even if they should. Both characters have done truly horrific things that cannot be simply forgiven and forgotten. I have no idea how I am going to cope waiting till next year for the final novel to be released.

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