
Alex Verus #5
Urban Fantasy
Ace; September 2, 2014
293 pages (mass market)
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8.0 / 10 ✪
Please beware spoilers for Chosen, and minor spoilers for Books #1-3 of the Alex Verus series.
Following the events of Chosen, Alex Verus finds himself at odds with many of his former friends. Killing a bunch of teenagers—regardless of the reason—will do that. Both Sonder and Anne, two of his closest friends and allies, now refuse to talk to him, preferring to go it alone. With Sonder this isn’t much an issue; an up and coming mage on the Council, Sonder has his pick of allies. But with Anne—who is shunned by the Council and its mages and apprentices alike—this leaves her increasingly on her own, and unprotected.
So when Anne is kidnapped, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Despite Alex being on her bad side, he is still as desperate as anyone to find her. Even going so far as to work with the Council Keepers and Sonder.
But when it comes to light that Anne may have been taken by the dark mage Sagash, all that support suddenly dries up. Legally there’s nothing they can do—as a former apprentice to Sagash, he is well within his rights to reclaim her. Even Sonder, who regards Anne as a friend, gives up hope, leaving Alex with Luna and Variam alone.
The following rescue will take place with little supplies and nothing in the way of backup, half-assed and reckless—an Alex Verus special.
—
“Maybe that’s how it works in our world. The only heroes are the ones who die young.”
I gave Anne a disturbed look. “That’s a pretty depressing philosophy to live by.”
“Is it?” Anne didn’t meet my eyes. “I can’t tell anymore.”
—

Considering how long and how many tries it took me to reread and finish Hidden, I’d still consider it a good book—even head and shoulders above Jacka’s earlier work. I pretty much just burned out on the genre (which happens to me with pretty much anything, but especially urban fantasy) and had to take a break. That said, there is a bit of a lull in the early going, after Anne is taken, but before any real action is taken to retrieve her. And it was in this lull that I was lost.
The book starts off well, with the fallout from the previous book coming to light in Alex’s early comings and goings. We get to see his decisions reflected in the faces of his friends and family; some support him and his actions, others very much do not. It’s a quiet start, but it gets going quickly enough.
Following the kidnapping, there comes a bit of a lull. It’s not egregious—only about 30-40 pages, but if you’re impatient (in general, or to read something else) than it may make or break this for you. During this lull there’s some talking, some planning, some lore; not a whole lot of action. But then come page 90, everything kicks off again—and pretty much carries this intensity through to the endgame. Once I got over that hump, everything was fine. But seeing as how I did burn out there (despite coming back to it, despite having read and enjoyed it previously), it has to be taken into consideration.
Hidden continues to expand on the lore and depth of the Alex Verus series. The world by now includes well more than simply Camden, and while it’s not completely filled in everything, you’d expect that from a series told entirely in first-person. Still, everything is as immersive as before, and there’s no break in the narrative or story. In fact, it’s all better than normal as there’s been four books of build-up before now. In terms of the overall arc, Hidden continues this quite nicely. Obviously in the interest of spoilers I’ll skip going into any detail, but I felt like it worked, and that’s what matters most.
All in all, Hidden is another great Alex Verus adventure. Yes, it has its highs and lows, but the series continues to improve from its most humble of beginnings. The series continues with Veiled, Book #6.