Cursed

Alex Verus, Book 2

By: Benedict Jacka

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Since his second sight made him infamous for defeating powerful dark mages, Alex has been keeping his head down. But now he's discovered the resurgence of a forbidden ritual. Someone is harvesting the life-force of magical creatures-destroying them in the process. And draining humans is next on the agenda. Hired to investigate, Alex realizes that not everyone on the Council wants him delving any deeper. Struggling to distinguish ally from enemy, he finds himself the target of those who would risk their own sanity for power...

©2012 Benedict Jacka (P)2014 Tantor Audio

Critic reviews

"Jacka follows his urban fantasy debut, Fated, with an even more impressive tale of gunplay and spellcraft in present-day London...Jacka keeps the emotional tension high with a series of wakeup calls for Alex regarding his relationship with Luna, his place in London's magical social circles, and his image of himself. [Listeners] will savor this tasty blend of magic, explosions, and moral complexity." ( Publishers Weekly)

The second book is even better.

If you like Harry Dresden or Iron Druid you will like this series. This is the second in the series and it has all the action of the first and expands on character development and backstory as well. Mr Jackson does an excellent job reading this book.

The only negative (and hence the loss of stars in performance) was that the quality of the recording wasn't that good. The sound was tinny and had echoes in places. You could hear where they cut from one reading to the next. The funniest part is you could hear what was going on in the booth in a few parts. I could even hear Mr. Jackson's stomach growl twice during the reading. He's doing a great job, someone get the man a sandwhich for goodness sakes!

Overall, great story and performance. The series is fast paced and action filled without negelecting character development. The worls is rich and well developed as is the system of magic. You can't go wrong with this one.

Popcorn fantasy, just how I like it

This series is very good. It's a bit like Dresden Files but not nearly as dark--thank god. It's got a lot of similarities with the Iron Druid Chronicles but with a distinctly different set of magical abilities--Alex's future sight magic is fascinating and another character's curse magic is too (no spoilers!). It's light enough and unique enough to be a fun, interesting read. I'm on book 4 now, and the series holds pretty consistent in terms of pace and action.

My only bone to pick is my personal irritation with Alex's arrogance and the author's tendency to indulge that arrogance. If Alex wasn't around all the other characters in the series would just run around like chickens with their heads cut off because they need his Supreme Intelligence to function. I think the author doesn't let little guys like the super smart geeky history mage have their due time in the spotlight.

The only other thing I'd say is that the narrator uses a bland, high voice for the female characters, and I think Luna would be less meek-sounding in my own head.

Worth the read!! And subsequent emptying of your pockets to get the next 5 books...

gave the series one last chance, and it fell flat.

I was trying the series after it was recommended to fill in while waiting for more of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. I was disappointed in the first book, but felt the need to give the second entry a try before giving it up as a loss. ultimately disappointing. there was no real growth from the first book, and the same mistakes were made again. would not recommend.

Luna can go die in a fire thank you.

Would you try another book from Benedict Jacka and/or Gildart Jackson?

Eh, I dunno. I like the stories so far, but Luna is really driving me nuts.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I didn't have much reaction to it. It ended kind of....well, it just ended really. There wasn't much conclusion to things. I mean, they were concluded, but there wasn't much catharsis to most of the plot threads.

What about Gildart Jackson’s performance did you like?

Oh his performance was great. No problems there. He was very enjoyable to listen to.

Could you see Cursed being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No I can't see it turning into a movie or tv show. Mainly because I'm pretty sure it's already been done on something like Supernatural at some point.

Any additional comments?

Seriously, Luna can just go die in a fire. VERY SPOILER HEAVY REASON, SO SKIP IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.**************************

Ok, so the whole thing with Luna and Alex, and Meredith was really damn annoying. Luna sends Martin over, and he's clearly got her curse on him, meaning she's been close to him. And it's revealed later that she clearly had feelings for him. So then, when she sees Meredith at Alex's place, she gets all bitter and cold, and angry, letting her curse lash out at her. Why? As if she were Alex's lover? To hell with that. She got mad at Alex for his attempt to keep her from messing with Martin when it was OBVIOUSLY a bad idea, but she didn't care, cuz she lubz him! And yet Alex can't have someone else? Sorry but I can't stand emotionally unstable female characters. And that's all she is. She's so self absorbed with her curse, and "omg my life is soooo terrible", she can't see anything beyond herself. And considering that the author tied her curse's power into her emotions, she's basically guaranteed to always be 1 step away from an emotional breakdown, just so they can have the threat of her unstable curse lashing out. And sorry, but I have zero time/patience/love of mentally unstable female characters. Seriously they're terrible literary tools. Every time she is in the scene, I grind my teeth and hope she leaves soon. The books would be GREAT, if Luna wasn't in them. Sadly, I know that's not going to happen, so I have to either not listen to them anymore, or suffer through her ever increasing involvement in the stories. I'm still debating on if I like the books enough to tolerate her and buy more books.

It maintains the quality!

The first book in the series was absolutely fabulous,which seems rare in a series. Most of the time I feel that the first book in a series is simply good rather than terrific because of all the background info and character building that has to happen throughout. With the first one being wonderful, I worried that it might be a bit of a let down to read the second. I should not have doubted Mr. Jacka. This book is not only as enjoyable as the first, but the storyline manages to be very original. There is certainly no feeling like a formula is being developed. The plot is original and the characters, both new and return characters, are multi-dimensional.

As for the performance, I can be a terribly picky listener. I taught English and reading in secondary classrooms for 10 years, so every little mispronunciation, stutter or even regional dialect gets "graded" in my head. The performance of this novel, like the first one, is flawless. There was nothing to distract me from the book at all, and it often gave even greater dimension to the already fascinating characters. The narration never sounds forced, and I enjoyed every moment if it. This will definitely be a novel that I repeatedly replay in order to enjoy it again.

hoping it gets edgier

Feels so derivitive of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Alex is okay but the disappointing treatment of all the female characters is annoying. I want it to be snappier, sharper, and to make me care more about the characters. Arachne the giant spider steals the show with her sage wisdom. Is it bad that I want Alex to embrace his Dark Mage side?

Good Follow-Up

The second book of this series takes the story to the next level. It does not wallow in what we already know from the first book. It does what a second book is suppose to do, advance the story. And the story definitely gets better.

The performance is first rate. The narrator becomes the characters.

Better Than The First

This one was better than the first. The characters were more developed and the story line was entertaining. But, after I read it, I still found it lacking something. I'm not sure what that something is but I won't let that stop me from getting the next book. I will say that I was very annoyed with Luna. Everything that happened in this book was her fault and I think they should have come down hard on her. All in all I enjoyed the book and I want to find out if Luna's character is finally going to mature.

One specialized skill and intelligence works

Any additional comments?

Jacka has created a really fun urban fantasy series. The series follows a diviner and his apprentice through various adventures. The really appealing element of this series is the protagonist is not all powerful or really even powerful. He is a moderate talent of one very specialized skill, and his intelligence keeps him out of trouble. Give this series a try. You will enjoy it.

Really?! Damsels times three?!

With book 2, I still find this to be a sale worthy purchase. It’s a decent urban fantasy mystery procedural. This sophomore outing gets more comfortable, with less profanity (better used) and more wry humor (loved the satirical scene with a day in the life of a mage-shop facing all the amateur customers). The general mystery of disappearing magical creatures is balanced with a deeper dive into mage politics and the choices faced when magic is possible. The life, death, and moral stakes get deeper too, although this UF is still light enough for me to recommend this to my teen.

However, once again I’m disappointed to find an absence of smart, strong, sensible women. The returning females from book 1 are still silly (Starbreeze), crazy (Rachel), or juvenile (Luna), and the one smart, strong “female” from book 1, the spider Aracnee, ends up as a damsel in this book. Also, the only new female exists for her sex appeal to serve as a plot device. Worse, by the end of the book, Alex Verus sends one of the five off for her protection, reveals a second to be spineless, and then ALL three of the remaining females need to be rescued. 🙄

I’m also still trying to figure out how old Verus is, or what he looks like. Might have to go back and listen to book 1, chapter 1 to figure it out. In the meantime, the narrator still makes him sound like some cardigan wearing grandpa, even though I think he’s late twenties, early thirties.