August 12, 2024
Jacka follows An Inheritance of Magic with this dense, pulse-pounding fantasy adventure. Twentysomething Londoner Stephen Oakwood has moved out of his aunt’s house and now lives with strangers, eking out his rent payments by working odd jobs collecting Wells, or stores of magical essence, for anyone who’ll pay. In the meantime, he continues his search for his missing father, an investigation that puts him on the radar of the Winged, a cult that claims to hold the secret to his father’s whereabouts. Becoming involved with the Winged, however, puts him in danger from other prospective members who feel threatened by his presence and desperately want to join the cult themselves. The action never relents and the magic system remains intricately detailed, occasionally overwhelmingly so. Stephen inches closer to discovering his father’s whereabouts, but his journey is cut off by an abrupt cliffhanger that will leave readers more frustrated than excited for the next installment. Still, series fans will enjoy the return to this magical world. Agent: Sophie Hicks, Sophie Hicks Agency.
September 1, 2024
Stephen Oakwood barely managed to survive the introduction to his mother's rich and powerful family with their literally backstabbing games of power. He'd prefer to have nothing to do with them, but neither they nor their world of magic and money are willing to leave him alone. Nor are they willing to give up the information he's been searching for--the location of his missing father. Stephen is too useful a potential pawn to leave alone, and too many in the magical world hope to use Stephen's quest as a way of getting him under their thumbs--or putting him in a shallow grave. He knows he can't fight them on their terms, but from the shadows, he has a chance to outmaneuver them all. VERDICT The new magic system introduced in this series, which began with An Inheritance of Magic, continues to fascinate, and the stories will remind readers of classic urban fantasies (such as the "Dresden Files" series from Jim Butcher), as Stephen's world gets more dangerous and he powers through each setback by learning bigger and better magic and paying a higher price each and every time.--Marlene Harris
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