Josh's Reviews > Marked

I have a major problem with this series.

It doesn't come out fast enough.

Can't really get enough of it. It's easily the most badass a diviner has ever been in just about any lit I can think of, and Jacka does such a nice job of making his magic system make sense while still allowing it to be mysterious, interesting and frankly magical.

A lot of what Jacka is writing about in this series is power. The magical powers of his main characters and the various mages and adepts they encounter, but also a lot about the power that people have over each other, the power in structures and relationships, and what people will do to accumulate it and why. At the heart of it, that's what these books have been about: power. the manipulation of people who have it and those who want it, the accumulation of power through personal growth and through the acquisition of others (items or controlling people or creatures).

It's really interesting and well done. Alex Verus starts out as a guy wanting to stay out of everything and just stay alive minding his own business. Now, he's a force to be reckoned with and a power in his own right and watching him come to terms with that is important growth, I think. The ongoing conflict between "Dark" and "Light" mages is really well managed as well because of the level of seriousness Jacka treats it and the amount of nuance he's placed on it. You have the evil-ass stereotypical Dark Mage but you've got ones that are pretty reasonable and decent people that reasonably make you understand that Dark doesn't have to be Evil. And the narrow, soulless, bloodless attitudes of some of the Light Council makes it neigh impossible to root for them either. But there are paragons on that side too. But its not a simple conflict.

Excellent stuff. Looking forward to book 10!