An Inheritance of Magic

An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka was a wonderful surprise, as his “Alex Verus” series is a tough act to follow. But An Inheritance of Magic has the base to be a fascinating world with a magic system that can expand as the books continue to be released.

On top of the struggle and toil of the average working-class person lay a glittering, secretive world of magic and magical families. Empires rise and fall at the behest of heads of family. It is cutthroat, and unforgiving, and if you do not have the right blood or relations, you will be swept under the rug like errant dust. Our protagonist, Stephen Oakwood, is the embodiment of dust to these people.

Stephen Oakwood, 22, works and lives paycheck to paycheck in London. It wasn't always like this. A few years ago, Stephen's Father had to disappear in a hurry with the promise of returning, but young Stephen struggled to keep a roof over his head and food in his mouth. At this point in the story, I appreciated and enjoyed how Jacka addressed the economic divide between classes, seen not just in food eaten and clothes worn but in the ability to have spare time. If you are constantly hustling, with one accident, doctor's appointment, or unexpected repair away from debt and financial ruin, you do not have time to lift yourself from your current situation. The time you do have is when you attempt to create a buffer. “He has talent and potential, but turning that potential into magical power takes money, opportunity, and training. All Stephen has is a minimum-wage job and a cat.” It is unnerving and wholly accurate. And as someone who has had to use government assistance to keep themselves fed at one point, I get it. I not only get it, but while reading this section of the story, I felt low thrumming anxiety wash over me like a cicada buzzing in my ear. It is an exceptionally clever piece of writing.

Right away, Stephen has one strike against him in this upper-crust world of magic: he is poor. The second thing he has is that he is formally untrained. Stephen is, for lack of a better word, “plucky.” He has much pluck. While his friends are dating, drinking beer, and doing what most men his age do, Stephen works harder and longer than anyone. This world of magic is closed to him; his father is gone, and there is very little info on the internet. If he learns anything about this incredible spark of “something” called Drucraft, it will be by the grit of his mind and the blood of his hands.

Suffice it to say that Stephen is driven by both practicalities, being able to support himself enough to have time to study and passion. This story is the epitome of the underdog trope. You want him to succeed if for no other reason than Hobbes, Stephen's cat who acts as Stephen's constant companion. But the world seems to be against Stephen with insurmountable odds from mighty people. Watching everyone who has wronged Stephen fall to their ruin as the books continue will be fun.

Weakness-wise, the first story of an extensive series like this with a large world has a lot to cover. It needs to drop the information about Stephen's living environment, the rules of magic, who is the story's antagonist, and lead us to the next book. Because of this, some parts felt wordy, with a lot of information dumped on the reader at once. I understand the necessity of this and tend to look past that entirely when reading. But it may be a factor for some readers that could take them out of the story.

When I heard that there was a new urban fantasy series from Jacka, I was elated. I adored his previous one and was a long-time fan, and his second foray into urban fantasy is no “sophomore slump,” quite the contrary I think. Inheritance of Magic takes some of the best aspects of the urban fantasy genre and mixes them with Jacka's well-honed craft, and we are left with excitement now and hopefully for years to come.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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This is Hard

I want to limit my comparisons between this new series and Jacka’s previous series to just one section—but that’s not going to happen. It makes sense, I suppose. It’s Jacka’s first non-Alex Verus book (other than the two hard-to-find children’s novels), so comparisons are inevitable, but I don’t want to turn this into an X vs. Y situation.

I will say at the outset, that if it wasn’t for the name on the cover, I don’t know that I’d have known they had the same author—so that tells you something about the comparisons. (except in quality—this is definitely up to the standards Jacka has established)

What’s An Inheritance of Magic About?

This is tricky. The Author’s Note at the beginning of the book tells us that this book is an introduction to the series. We are introduced to the world, the characters, the magic, and so on. Yes, there is a plot—a handful, actually—but the main point is for us to get oriented.

Basically, we meet Stephen—he’s roughly 20 and is fairly aimless. He doesn’t have the money (or, really, ambition) to go to University. He bounces from temp job to temp job, hangs out at his local with his friends regularly, takes care of his cat, and works on his magic in his spare time. It’s his real passion, but he doesn’t do much with it.

Then one day, some distant relatives that he’s never heard of come into his life (it’d be too complicated to list the reasons they give, and I think they’re half-truths at best, anyway). Suddenly, Stephen is thrown into a dangerous, high-stakes world of money and power—and he’s just a pawn to be used in the games of his “family” (and by family, I mean people that 23andMe would identify as relatives, but he’s never been in contact with or aware of for his entire existence). He’s a relatively unimportant pawn at that. He’s sort of grateful for that as he realizes it—but he’d have been happier if they never bothered him in the first place. Happier and with significantly fewer bruises.

However, through their machinations, he’s introduced to new levels of magic society and ways that the magic in this world works. Best of all he finds ways that he can be employed and use his magic—the best of both worlds. Sure, his friends don’t get it (not that he tells many of them, because he prefers that they think he’s sane), but he’s bringing in enough money to live and he’s getting stronger and more capable.

The World and Its Magic System

So, where the Alex Verus series was about one man and his friends/allies trying to navigate (and survive) the politics and power of the magical society in England (largely), at this point the Stephen Oakwood series appears to be about one man making his way (and hopefully surviving) the money and power of a different sort magical society—and it’s intersection with the non-magical world. We’re not just talking Econ 101 kind of stuff here—Stephen’s family appears to be some of the 1% of the 1% and there are huge multi-national corporations involved here with defense contracts to governments all over the world.

Basically, Alex had an easier place to navigate.

Most of the magic that’s used in this world comes from sigils—physical objects created from various kinds of energy wells (earth magic, life magic, light magic, and so on) to do particular tasks (shine a light, augment strength, heal minor wounds, etc.). There are likely bigger and better things along those lines (hence defense contracts), but that should give you an idea. The overwhelming number of these sigils are pumped out by some sort of industrial companies and are only good for a limited amount of time.

Stephen was taught (by his father, and by himself) to make sigils on his own—his are individualized, artisanal kinds of things. Think of a sweater you get from some hobbyist off of Etsy vs. the kind of thing you can get for much less at Walmart or on Wish—quality that lasts vs. cheap and disposable. He also reverse engineers almost all of his sigils—he sees something in a catalog (no, really, this is how people get their sigils for personal use) or in use and tries to figure out how such a thing will work and then sets out to create one.

I don’t know where Jacka is going to go with all of this, obviously. But I love this setup.

Alex and Stephen

It wasn’t until I was just about done with the book that I finally figured out what Alex and Stephen had in common—which is odd, it was staring me in the face for most of the novel. But before that, I really wouldn’t have said they had much in common at all.

Stephen is our entry point to this world, and he only knows a little bit about it so as he learns, so does the reader. Alex pretty much knew everything that was going on in his world, so he had to catch the reader up—or he could help Luna understand something (and make it easier for the reader to learn that way). Stephen has to learn almost everything by getting someone to teach him, or through trial and error—either way, the reader is along for the ride and learns with him.

Similarly, Stephen’s really just starting to get the knack of his abilities where Alex was already a pro—sure he had more to learn (and his power increased), but Stephen’s not even a rookie, really when things get going.

Stephen had a loving and supportive father growing up, a strong group of friends, and experience outside the area of magic users—something we never got a strong idea that Alex ever had. Alex had trauma and hardships behind him—Stephen doesn’t. So their personalities, outlooks, etc. are very different from the outset.

It’s not really that shocking that the protagonists of two different series wouldn’t be that similar. And yet…we’ve all read a second or third series from an author with a protagonist that’s just a variation of their initial breakout character. So it’s good to see that Jacka’s able to make that transition between his two series—it gives you hope for what he’s going to do in the future.

Oh, what did I finally realize the two characters shared? They watch and learn. Alex does it because that’s essentially what his abilities were—he could sift through the various futures and decide what to do based on that. Stephen just doesn’t know enough about anything so he has to sit and observe—and from there he can decide how to act. But where others will try to think first and act second, Stephen and Alex watch first—and for a long time—before they think and then act. It’s something not enough characters (especially in Urban Fantasy) seem to spend much time doing. So I’m glad to see it.

So, what did I think about An Inheritance of Magic?

I am just so excited about this series. I didn’t know how Jacka could successfully follow up the Verus series. I trusted he would, because he’s earned that over the last decade—but, I didn’t expect We need to start with Stephen’s spunky attitude—with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder due to his circumstances in life (that grows to a degree as he learns how much he and his father missed out on and starts to guess why)—is a real winner. He’s got a gritty (in an Angela Duckworth sense, not Raymond Chandler or William Gibson sense) outlook, is generally optimistic—and can even be funny—all the attributes you want in an underdog.

Then there’s the world-building that I tried to sketch out above—and did a not-wholly-inadequate job of. I want to know more about it—and figure increased familiarity is just going to make me more curious.

I have so many questions about the family members who’ve inserted themselves in Stephen’s life related to their motivations, trustworthiness (I suspect at least one will turn out to be an ally, however temporary), goals, and abilities. I have those questions about Stephen’s guides and allies—and think at least one of them is going to turn on him in a devastating way (thankfully, he doesn’t trust most of them completely). There’s also this priest who keeps assigning him theological work to study. Some good theology, too. I don’t fully know where this is going—but I’m dying to find out.

Are we going to get a Big Bad—or several—for Stephen to face off against? Or is this simply going to be about a series of obstacles Stephen has to overcome until he can carve out an okay existence for himself? Is this about Stephen becoming one of those 1% and the corruption of his character that will necessitate?

I’m not giving this a full 5 stars mostly because of the introductory nature of the book—also because I want to be able to say that book 2 or 3 is an improvement over this (which I fully expect). But that says more about me and my fussy standards than it does about this book. I loved it, and am filled with nothing but anticipation for the sequel/rest of the series. It’s entirely likely that as this series wraps up that we’re going to talk about the Alex Verus series as Jacka with his training wheels on.

I’m now in danger of over-hyping. Also, I’m going to just start repeating laudatory ideas. Urban Fantasy readers need to get on this now.

Benedict Jacka has created a new world that is entirely different - but just as enthralling - as the Alex Verus series. I tore through this book in one day, because I couldn't stop. The magic system feels new and unique and the world feels like it has real depth. It's fast paced so it's a fast read, and I highly recommend it, especially for fans of Alex Verus.