Risen (An Alex Verus Novel) Mass Market Paperback – December 7, 2021 by Benedict Jacka

Description

Author: Jacka Benedict

Color: Multicolor

Package Dimensions: 21x171x168

Number Of Pages: 336

Release Date: 07-12-2021

Details: Product Description
Alex Verus must keep his friends close—and his enemies closer—in the epic conclusion to the bestselling urban fantasy series about a London-based mage.

Mage Alex Verus has gone from a Camden shopkeeper to one of the most powerful mages in Britain. Now his last and most dangerous battle lies before him. His lover, the life mage Anne, has fallen fully under the control of the deadly creature she made a bargain with, and it is preparing to create an army of mages subject to its every whim.

Alex, the Council, and the Dark mage Richard Drakh agree to call a truce in their war, and plans are made for a joint attack. But Alex knows that it’s only a matter of time before Drakh and the Council turn on each other . . . and neither cares about keeping Anne alive. Can Alex figure out a way to stop Anne and to free her from possession before time runs out?
Review
“With mature emotional stakes, rousing combat, and wry humor, this is urban fantasy done right.”–
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
About the Author
Benedict Jacka is half-Australian, half-Armenian, and grew up in London. He’s worked as a teacher, bouncer, and civil servant, and spends his spare time skating and playing tabletop games. He’s the author of the Alex Verus series, including
Forged,
Fallen,
Marked,
Bound, and
Burned.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
chapter 1

The castle was falling.

Walls and battlements of yellow stone stretched into the distance, fading into the haze of the noonday sun. I was on top of the tallest tower on the eastern wing, and from my vantage point I could see the battle raging. Two black armies fought in the haze, clashing on high walkways and in the courtyards below. They blended in a sea of violence, tiny figures striking each other down, the bodies tumbling into space to wisp away into nothingness.

The attacking army was made up out of jann, slender humanoids that seemed to have been sculpted from living darkness. They moved with a darting grace, murderous and quick. The defenders were shadow constructs, smoky bodies with glowing white eyes. They were slower and clumsier than the jann, but they didn’t die-when their bodies were destroyed they would simply re-form at their place of creation. A steady stream of them were flying from the tombs, flapping through the sky with heavy wingbeats to rejoin the combat.

But the jann and the shadows were only pawns: it was the mages who would decide the battle. Few in number, they were hidden behind rooftops and ramparts, but their power made them simple to track. Here a swarm of jann vanished into a building, but never came out. Further south, a flock of shadows descended into a courtyard; light flickered briefly off the walls, and a few minutes later a new cloud of black specks emerged from the distant tombs.

The castle belonged to a Dark mage called Sagash. Or had belonged; I’d been watching for twenty minutes and it was clear Sagash’s forces were losing. The cathedral overlooking the southern quadrant had held out for a long time, lightning striking down any jann that came close, but ten minutes ago there’d been a flurry of battle-magic and the lightning had stopped. The last time I’d been in this castle I’d fought one of Sagash’s apprentices, a lightning mage called Sam. I had the feeling it was him I’d sensed in that cathedral. I also had the feeling I knew who’d silenced him.

As I watched, I noticed an offshoot of the battle moving in my direction, shadows fighting a running skirmish against a pursuing force of jann. Both sides were taking losses, but the jann were receiving reinforcements and the shadows weren’t. From the shadows’ movements they seemed to be protecting something, but I couldn’t see what.

I scanned through futures, searching for information. In one possibility ninety seconds away, I caught a glimpse of a figure on a rooftop, fighting alone against a swarm of jann. I couldn’t get