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Burned
Burned
Burned
Audiobook11 hours

Burned

Written by Benedict Jacka

Narrated by Gildart Jackson

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Diviner Alex Verus finally made one too many enemies on the Council of Mages, and now one of them is angry enough to have him executed. Fighting for his life is nothing new, but this kill order also calls for the death of Alex's dependents-and there's no way that he'll let Luna, Anne, and Vari take the heat.

With only a week before he's history, Alex will have to figure out how to disassociate himself from his friends, scrounge up allies on the Council, and hopefully keep his head attached to his body. But saving himself is going to bring him into direct opposition with his former master and the Dark mages surrounding him. And, this time, escaping with his life might mean losing his soul . . .
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 5, 2016
ISBN9781494578053
Burned

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Reviews for Burned

Rating: 4.206349174603175 out of 5 stars
4/5

189 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Best so far. Leaves us waiting for the next...and the next...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When you learn that you are to be executed in a week and that does not turn to be the worst thing to happen to you that week, you probably need to rethink some of your life choices. Alternatively, you can behave like Alex Verus and just continue doing things your way - trying to protect the family you somehow acquired along the way and looking for a way out of that little problem of being sentenced to death. After the relative slowness of the previous 2 novels, all of the build-up finally pays off. Alex had been really annoying a lot of very powerful people and one of them strikes where it hurts the most - the death sentence is for Alex and everyone connected to him. Of course, all the maneuvering and shenanigans that cause people to be pissed off at him also managed to make some people to care enough for him - enough to warn him and to assist him in looking for a way out. The obvious way - leave England and never come back does not really work - even if Alex could have done it on his own, his friends are a different matter. And while he is trying to find a solution, another mage (or three) decide that this is the perfect week to harass him for being on Richard's side and working for him (because once a dark mage apprentice, always a dark mage of course - plus the return of Richard and the rise of the dark mages, including getting into the Council for the first time, did manage to rattle everyone's cage). A few attempts at everyone's lives later (some of them more creative than others), yet another attempt in burning Alex's shop (and home) and our rag-tag band seems to be hopelessly destined to finally run out of luck despite all their attempts to do something and prevent the executions at the end of the week. The end of the novel made me laugh. Not because it is funny or because it would make anyone's life easier. But while attempting to stop Alex from doing things he never planned to do anyway, the white mages of Britain managed to get themselves into a bigger mess than they were trying to prevent happening. And who remains caught in the middle of it all? Alex Verus of course. Let's see what happens next.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Man, Benedict Jacka, why you gotta be so hard on Verus? The plot thickens. Things go rapidly downhill. And the political maneuvering just keeps getting both more vicious and more horrible. I like Arachne's advice, that he may need to become a power. I hope he does it by starting Hogwarts and taking care of the young wizards, but I suspect that's not likely until he makes it out of all the next sets of traps and negotiations.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for a review.

    I was so happy to find out that Benedict Jacka had written yet another book in this series! This one continues the same time-line, putting Verus in danger, as well as his friends. I fell right into the characters easily, and devoured the book fairly quickly. I really enojoy Jacka's writing style, and story telling ability.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Alex is in trouble, the council have voted to kill him and his dependants so he has to try to ensure that at least his apprentices are safe, he also has to deal with an artifact that his former master is trying to steal and the end has him have to make some hard decisions.This series just keeps getting better and the stakes keep getting more fraught.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Once again, Alex Verus is up against it. He’s been sentenced to death, and has only a week in which to get the sentence reversed. And the sentence also applies to his “dependants” - Luna, Variam and Anne.

    The book consists mostly of Alex trying to win votes to get the sentence reversed, and to remove the three young people from the list of his dependants so that they escape being collateral damage.
    This was a quick read, and quite enjoyable. I do like the way Jacka has written Alex as someone who is not traditionally powerful, in the sense of being able to blow things up, but can still be very dangerous simply because of his ability to know what comes next. It’s an interesting demonstration of how power isn’t always synonymous with physical strength or force.

    I also enjoyed the bits of book where Anne appeared - she’s my favourite character; she tries hard to be ethical and do the right thing - even when all she gets is hatred and suspicion. In some ways, I think she’s a more complex character than Alex. For me, she certainly more sympathetic. I could imagine going out for the evening with Anne and enjoying it.

    On the other hand… Alex spends most of the book trying to avoid the death sentence and dealing with various other threats, and then when his scheme fails… deus ex machina steps in and saves his life (but gives him another problem). All of Alex’s efforts are ultimately for nothing: he could have more usefully spent the book holed up in his farmhouse in Wales catching up on his reading.

    I am also getting rather tired of everybody lining up to kill Alex. I mean, why? The guy just runs a magic shop. He’s hardly creating his own power bloc, so why are all these people - Light and Dark alike - so obsessed with him? The amount of time and resources being thrown at the Kill Alex Verus project is getting hard to believe without some indication of why all of these people feel it’s so important to either kill him or recruit him, rather than just ignore him. And where are the decent mages? Statistically speaking, Alex should have come across a few more of them who are not psychotic and/or amoral. The longer this series goes on, the more it becomes difficult to believe that Alex hasn’t managed to acquire more allies/friends.

    As another reviewer has pointed out, this whole book could have been condensed into a couple of chapters stuck on the front of the next book.

    There are some substantial changes all around, so I do wonder if this book functions as a hiatus in the overarching plot to allow Jacka to move all his characters around into new positions for the next phase. It would certainly explain a lot.

    Overall, although I think this is the weakest book in the series so far, there is still enough in it to make an enjoyable read, provided you are already invested in the series. Hopefully, the next book will see the plot back on track.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great book! I love this series, and this latest iteration did not disappoint! It just keeps getting better and better. Dresden is still my favorite wizard, but Verus has become a close second. Looking forward to more from Jacka :)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Levistus has sentenced you to death. You're to be executed in one week."And so begins Burned, by far the most nail biting installment of the Alex Verus series to date! I suggest you have all your snacks ready before you start the book as the first minute and forty-five seconds will be the only break you (and Alex) get from the action. This book had me quaking in my boots and fearing for characters that I've come to enjoy as fictional friends. The ending was an emotional roller coaster ride from which I'm still trying to recover! In short, the events in Burned will turn Alex's world upside down. Jacka kept me guessing right up to the last sentence, ending the book in a way I never would've expected. Let's just say I'm very thankful to know the next book is well underway...*sends healthy muse vibes to Jacka*... as I really need to know what's next for Alex and the gang! What a fantastic book! If you haven't started this series, get after it. You can't imagine what you're missing!