Various bits and pieces today!
First, some reviews for Veiled: Whatchamacallit Reviews, I Smell Sheep, and RT Book Reviews all have good pieces up: Whatchamacallit is probably my favourite, while RT is the most succinct. This one from Amazon was the most entertaining, though.
I haven’t checked Veiled‘s sales – I won’t get the full data on that for a few months yet – but I did notice that I’ve just hit my highest ever Amazon author rank, which was nice.
Katherine Brown from A Young Writer’s Notebook has put up some interesting pieces, too, starting from the beginning of the series: so far she’s gone through Fated and Cursed.
I’m going to be away from next week through to the end of August – I’ll try to set up some posts before I go. I’ve got a fair-sized stack of Ask Luna questions in the queue, so the current plan is to clear those out first.
*snicker* That Amazon reviewer seems to have missed the entire *point* of Alex. 😀
I posted my review today on Amazon. I rated Veiled a 4 star read. Enjoyed the novel but I understand the “snicker” review. I too am worried that Alex is a one trick pony. Unlike Butcher’s Dresden who has gained powers over the Dresden Files series, Verus has remained well Verus. A supreme diviner yet not the most powerful of his kind and unlike other diviners, Alex has “Chosen” to become highly involved with the political intrigue of the Light and Dark Mages while the other diviners have “headed for the hills”. I see a tragic future for Alex as he continues to antagonize the most powerful Light and Dark Mages.
Robert, that’s sort of the *point*: Alex isn’t a boom-boom mage who can get bigger and boomier. All he can do is get *smarter* and more *experienced*. Unlike Dresden, Jacka doesn’t have to keep coming up with bigger, more powerful, more cosmic-scale bad guys; Alex will ALWAYS have to be on his toes, because *everyone’s* bigger than him.
Yes , I know but I would like to see Alex arm up with more condensers, more one shots, more flame absorbing stones, and many more imbued items from Arachne. In short more magic items to compensate for his lack of power. Perhaps like a “utility belt” loaded with magical items. Verus needs to seriously up his game in future novels.
That’s been addressed in the novels; there’s a hard limit on how prepared he can be, and it’s also a bit of a crutch to be Bat-Wizard. He really does need to keep his mind sharp more than continuing to load himself down with more and more gear.
Let’s see what others think?
I’m truly not trying to be argumentative or overdefend when I say that that’s still not the point; that’s never been what Alex and his abilities are about, and that point’s pretty clear throughout the series. Alex’s most effective level-ups have always been and will always be in the people he involves and the growing wisdom/cleverness/experience he applies. Preparation can only go so far; adaptability and quick thinking bump that up by increasing orders of magnitude.
And it’s *refreshing* to see a wizard who doesn’t simply keep scaling up toward the nuclear level, who has to think and adapt to increasingly difficult and dangerous situations.
I’ll be interested to see what you think of book 7. 🙂
His main skill is being able to quickly sort through futures, this book seemed to be mostly focused on pathwalking. It’s my impression (Benidict please correct me if I’m wrong) that alex is competent at this but his main skill seems to be precognition for both defense, attack, eavesdropping etc. Which other divners are poorer at.
Very much looking forward to Book 7. Loved the political intrigue in book 6, but I fear Alex has pushed Levistus and the Light Council too far. Let’s face it, Alex’s efforts profited who?Richard and Morden! In spite of his best efforts Alex has done more damage to the Lights. Of course one might say, there’s not a dime’ worth of difference between the Lights and the Darks, when one examines their ambitions and motivations.
That’s a very accurate observation.
Any chance you could sell your series to a Netflix or HBO? Love to see it on video!
Check Audible too. I haven’t finished mine yet, but I’m sure some have. Thoroughly enjoying it.
Huh, that amazon review kind of missed the point of what Verus is and does. I wouldn’t call him “cowardly” at all.
Also, the problem with Verus is that any additional powers could make him very easily overpowered. Frankly, he already is the ultimate spy, hacker and in combat quite deadly. He is probably the most deadly diviner alive, and the most powerful Dark Mages look at him and say “okay, better respect you – now what can we do to get you on our side?”
Still, I like shiny toys too. ^^ I wouldn’t mind some new developemnt with Verus’ powers. Anf if it’s only a strange magical accident, that let’s him see better in the dark.
Hello All. I just wanted to elaborate on my one star review of “Veiled”, and why I will not change my opinion of Alex, although I could add that he is not that smart (Sorry Benedict, I’m about to get a little brutal here).
Without using any of his powers, Alex knows his life isn’t the safest. He is disliked by both light and dark factions of Magicians. Since he left the dark side, his life has been threatened countless times and people have attempted to kill him almost as much.
Question: What would I, as a normal smart/non-cowardly person do under such circumstances?
Well, I would ask my friend Arachne to make me more items to protect myself or I would call my associate Lensman and purchase some offensive magical items or I would weaponize myself. Eventually someone will try to kill me and the natural laws of self preservation would compel me to protect myself.
What does Alex do? Whenever he finds himself in danger he consistently calls on someone to help him out, he hides or he runs away. Many times he doesn’t even carry the armor Arachne made for him, nor does he carry enough condensers. Now, I agree this works for him and he always escapes mostly unharmed, but what happens when it’s not all about him? In “Veiled”, a little boy died, was probably tortured, and the responsibility lies partially with Alex Verus. If Alex was able to protect himself and the boy, perhaps the boy would have lived (A shotgun to the head would have disabled those Icecats 🙂
Now in response to those who say I “miss the entire point” of Alex. I don’t. I mostly agree with the reviewer Shecky Betai with her description of Alex. I am just tired of reading about a character that’s more ‘flight’ and little ‘fight’. That’s why I left the series. I still think Benedict is a good writer, I just don’t like the character anymore. When Benedict starts a new series or decides to change Alex just a little bit, I will buy the book. Bye