Cursed

FROM THE POLICE BLOTTER
Subject: Benedict Jacka
Alias: Alex Versus
Location: Cursed
Date: Published 2012, ongoing issues.

Charges:
--Multiple counts of misdemeanor littering explano-dumps.
--One felony charge of plot deus ex machina.
--Multiple felonies committed against women characters, including Class 1 felony of all females equaling damsel-in-distress category, and additional multiple Class 1 felonies of Classic Female Stereotypes.

Consider charging in supernatural courts for crimes against love.

Warning: Has priors for for multiple trope violations. Repeat offenses in the book include Light/Dark mage councils, "mystery-man-power-behind-the-bad-guy" plot line, and "magic store" setting.

Incident report: See officer's show more summary.

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Here's the deal. I read fantasy because I want a world that isn't like my own. As a nurse and a human being that participates in society, I'm immersed enough in current-world angst and drama. I read urban fantasy because I like the idea of mystery and magic behind the everyday, and I'd like a new twist on familiar stories.

Alex Jacka is far, far too every day for me to enjoy. He is the sexism that I grew up with. He is the male gaze that evaluates women by their 'fuckability' (Sara Gran, you are awesome-sauce). He is the establishment that say women need to be rescued by men. He is the world where men have conversations, make decisions, analyze the future and act upon it. He is the world where women are limited to role of emotional impetus--as helpmeet, as love interest, as protectorate in need of rescuing.

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The bones of the story? A dreary copy-cat Dresden-'verse set in modern London, only without the detailed setting or local idioms that come through in more sophisticated series (hello, Aaronovich).

It begins with the hero Alex, doing a favor for a major player on the Light Mage Council by hunting down a lethal magic creature. They find it dead. It seques into a windy explanation of how Alex makes his living with his magic shop, and the inane customers and their requests. Is he trying to be disdainful of his readers, or just trying to create inside jokes? It was set off in dialogue snippets and didn't flow well, either emotionally or in the storyline. Wasted space.

Alex introduces us to Luna, his sort-of apprentice who carries a family curse that protects her so fiercely, everyone around her that she comes into certain physical range will have terrible luck, perhaps even lethal. Luna has found a special man and wants to bring him round the shop to meet Alex. Alex meets with spider Arachne to discuss Luna, her boyfriend, and to examine the implications of the magic creature being drained of magic. The next day, Luna's boyfriend takes ownership of a disastrous magical object and in general, acts like a jerk. Alex warns Luna of the danger, and she flounces off. Alex would be worried, except he just met Meredith, a beautiful woman on the run. It turns out she is an enchantress capable of manipulating emotion in others. Not too much later, bad guys kidnap some ladies to accomplish Evil Ends (see Dresden #12). You can about guess where it goes from there.

That's about as far as I was able to go reading closely before my self-defense mechanism set in and I was forced to skim. A relatively ordinary, but vaguely interesting plot, several transparent double-agents and an alliance with supposed-enemies (used in the last book) means nothing about this book was surprising except Jacka's audacity.

As a side note, for those that are interested in romantic development, Jacka's view on the topic seems very cynical; romantic entanglements all seem to be based on dysfunction and/or outright deception. Normally not something that I would care overmuch about, it was troubling here because it dovetailed too well with his anti-female characterization.

Please tell me, younger readers, that you are alert to this and think it reprehensible? Is it actually satisfying to read something that is such a pale-watered-down version of quality, that participates in adding nothing new to the literary conversation except it's own commercialization? This isn't just a flabby, re-treaded story; it's a lifeless story that propagates everything that is wrong with the genre. It is a MUF indeed, the evil male doppelganger to the F(l)UF that focuses only on female clothes and her next love interest.

Spare yourself; there's much better out there. If you want Dresden-esque, try the very well written [b:The Markhat Files|9756472|The Markhat Files|Frank Tuttle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328742825s/9756472.jpg|14645763]. London detective MUF--[a:Ben Aaronovitch|363130|Ben Aaronovitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1308855588p2/363130.jpg]. Women as People in UF, try [a:Ilona Andrews|21748|Ilona Andrews|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1219436898p2/21748.jpg] or [b:Wool Omnibus|13453029|Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)|Hugh Howey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349614200s/13453029.jpg|18979356].

For more on the conversation about women and urban fantasy (from Carrie Vaughn, author and another former Occidental-ian--what can I say, analysis was beat into us):
http://carriev.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/carries-analysis-of-urban-fantasy-part-i...

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/cursed-by-benedict-jacka-i-certainly-d... show less

I was so pleased that Cursed kept pace (and more) with the first book in the series! There is a lot going on with our main characters. While Alex tracks down those responsible for preying on the gifts of powerful magical creatures, Luna meets a "love" interest, Martin. Also on the character development front, a beautiful woman (Meredith) literally barges into Alex's life and begs for his help. As we learn more about Meredith, I thought it was significant that he: struggled with his feelings for Luna. Alex is very loyal to his friends which is a very noble trait. It made me like him even more.

While Alex fights off repeated assassination attempts, Luna continues to make some of the same mistakes that happened in book 1, ending up in show more danger and in need of rescue. *sigh* While I find her behavior frustrating, I also see her as a very young girl with a traumatic past. I'm not giving her a free pass, but I do believe it explains some of her actions. By the time this book ends, I had hope that Luna may have crossed over to the land of responsibility. The stage is definitely set for her to grow into an outstanding character.

Never a dull moment, we are treated to lots of magical battles, which are extremely well written. It's hard to express how much I enjoy the fantasy and magical elements in this series. I can't wait to see what's next! show less

I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter with Alex Verus and so I was thrilled when my review copy of CURSED showed up. (Thank you, Penguin!) FATED was such a strong series debut and so my expectations were rather high for CURSED. And you know what? CURSED completely delivered. It has all of the things I loved about FATED and more.

CURSED picks up a few months after the end of FATED. Alex is a bit more on the radar and he's been working with the Light mages more, though he remains unaligned. He's developed some good working relationships but he still doesn't really trust anyone except for his closest circle. He finds himself sucked into a new mystery when a barghest is found dead and stripped of its magic. At the same time, he has to show more deal with Luna's new boyfriend, Martin, a monkey's paw, and a damsel in distress. It's not exactly a good time to be Alex Verus. But in true Alex Verus form, he spends his time helping his friends and dodging assassination attempts.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the way that Alex and Luna's relationship evolves. Alex is training Luna so she can handle her curse but they don't have the master/apprentice thing down pat because they're friends too. It's a complicated dynamic and it's interesting to watch them negotiate their new roles, particularly since Alex isn't all that thrilled about Luna's new boyfriend. The events in CURSED force Alex to take a hard look at their relationship and both he nd Luna have some important decisions to make.

I also really enjoyed the main story, about harvesting magic from magical creatures. It really hits home for Alex because of his friendship with Ariadne but I liked it because it explores some of the ethics and senses of responsibility in the main characters in the book. Alex has a much more flexible moral compass than some of the other characters (ahem, Sonder) and you can see the beginnings of potential future tensions. Alex wants to do the right thing but it's not going to be at the expense of those he cares about. Not everyone is quite so practical.

There are also some great moments with Cinder in CURSED. He cme off like a thug with a soft spot for Deleo in the first book but we get to see more than that this time around. He may be a Dark Mage but he's got his own code and he's much more astute than I realized from FATED. Deleo also has some intriguing scenes. I don't want to say too much because the context might spoil some stuff for you but I will say that I would really, really like to know what's going on in her head.

I could keep gushing but I think this is a good place for me to stop. CURSED is another great urban fantasy novel that will keep you on the edge of our seat. It's got a thrilling plot, engaging characters, and a well developed world and it will leave you counting the days until book 3 comes out. (FYI, that's a whole 68 days away.) Thankfully, Benedict Jacka is a wonderful writer and I'm sure I'll be re-reading CURSED between now and then to tide me over.

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I picked up this copy cheap at a sale, and I'm glad I did. I might have hesitated to pay full price for it - somehow it and the author had never crossed my horizon - and that would have been a pity.

The story is told with verve. Technically the writing might have a few weak points, but the point is _I didn't care_. while I was reading. It was a magical buckle-your-swash along for the ride kind of story that is fun to read.

The feel of the world was real without being overwhelming (always a tricky balance) and the characters were interesting and meshed with the plot development. Alex is a pragmatist with at least some sense of humanism/morals, a position which makes things awkward for him - not least in his dealings with his apprentice. show more At what point should doing what someone else wants (friendship and support) become subservient to what they need (mentoring) especially when it is what you want as well? How do you become a teacher and stay a friend? Can you? And what about friends in trouble? What lengths do you go to, what risks do you take for them? What if they aren't human and don't 'count' in others eyes?

This one will be going on the shelf. YA, but perfect for anyone needing distraction from real life. show less

This series is rapidly becoming my latest favourite mind-candy, doing wonders to cleanse my palate between heavy tomes of fiction and generally getting me rearing to go. It's entertaining, solidly written, thoroughly character-grounded, and the magic system, while slightly unoriginal, is very fun. Seeing the future is rather beast.

I could probably read all of these in a single sitting, as long as I had all the proper plumbing hooked up. Saline solution, waste ejecta, etc., I'd almost be willing to be a test subject for one of those chairs from Idiocracy. What can I say? It's just one of those hugely addictive series.

I should have known better before picking them up, but oh well...

:)

This is the second book in the Alex Verus series that started with "Fated", and continues the story from the first book. Due to events from the first book, Alex has started to receive more (unwanted) attention from those in the magic community, which leads him to the next spot of trouble. I won't go into detail, as I don't want to ruin the story.

I think Jacka does a great job of creating more character development, and background, as the story continues. The relationships between characters gets more defined, as well. How far will the author be able to take this series? I don't know, but books three and four are out, and I will be reading them as well!

Maybe I'm less judgemental of a second book, but I think perhaps I liked this more than the first one. Maybe it's just more relaxed into itself, not trying to do more. But actually, having re-read my review of the first one, I think it's my expectations. I don't expect so much depth in the exploration of the world in a second book, apparently, and the information we were given in the first one was sufficient to carry me through this.

In general, I think I'm easier on second books because they tend, like this one, to be less about building up the hero, and more about taking him apart, which - let's face it - is a far more interesting proposition. (But one that does require the building in the first place; I'm just a difficult bitch.) show more There are some plot developments (I won't even call them twists, because they're more implacable than that) that I just love in this, and I'm fond of the development of the relationship between the two main characters (and the way Luna gets more bad-ass even through the first-person POV of Alex).

Prose still functional; reading still easy. show less