This positively delightful cover is the first in a new series by Benedict Jacka, who is otherwise known for his Alex Verus series. I haven’t read it, but it’s quite popular with readers of urban fantasy. As a reader, I’m not particularly dedicated to any one genre, which gives me a lot of variety, but I’m far from a fantasy aficionado. I enjoy a good fantasy title from time to time. This one I mostly chose because of the cover art. Translation: presence of cat on cover. No really, the cover is gorgeous. And … cat. Ok, in all seriousness this one is my reading challenge pick for a book about or including cats in some capacity, so score one for me.

Synopsis

Stephen Oakwood is a relatively normal young man. He lives alone in a not-so-swanky bachelor pad, struggles to make ends meet with his minimum wage job, and he has the aforementioned cat. Oh… minor detail… he also practices the ancient art of drucraft in his apartment at night, something to which he was introduced by his father who disappeared under fairly mysterious circumstances years ago. You know, the usual. When Stephen’s world collides with that of a wealthy and powerful family of fellow drucrafters, he finds himself in a fight he never wanted but will be forced to finish if he’s to make it out alive.

Review

This is a very compelling concept for an urban fantasy. It’s infused with this always timely theme of class. Even in the world of magic, the wealthy are running the show and taking the best resources for themselves and piggy-backing on the efforts of the working class to build their magical empires. This is definitely a thread I’m looking forward to exploring as the series progresses. Unsurprisingly we see a thread of nepotism and the damage that can be done when someone with immense power but no discernible skill or intelligence jumps at the chance to flex. I mean, really, the lengths the villains will go to in the name of issuing a STAY OFF MY TURF message is infuriating. You don’t mess with the cat, bro!!!

I’m sorry if that seems a bit spoiler-y, but let’s just say that Stephen’s main motivation for ass-kicking is in defense of his bestie, and he’s going to do everything in his power to hone his magical abilities so he can save and protect the one he loves.

Here’s the thing with this book. It’s a great concept, and I really liked getting to know Stephen and Hobbes. However, this book is primarily set-up. It reads more like a drucraft primer, which I guess is necessary considering we’ll need to understand the fundamentals of drucraft in order to follow Stephen and his foes and allies along their subsequent journeys. Unfortunately, that caused this book to drag in some places for me personally. It’s all part of the world-building, and I respect that immensely. There are some readers who absolutely love that part of fantasy, so in this case I believe it’s personal preference. I’m looking for the meat of the story. I like the human elements that tie this fantasy world to the real world. It’s all about the balance.

There’s a lot of potential for Jacka to knock it out of the park in the subsequent books. He’s got a great setup, and he left us with a pretty major teaser in the final words, so time will tell if he can capture that full potential in execution. He’s good at crafting action sequences that are fast-moving and suspenseful, and I anticipate there will be a major uptick in these from this point forward. Also, on Jacka’s blog he JUST announced the cover reveal for the 2nd in the series, and it’s also a beauty. It’s planned for release on October 15, 2024, so that’s something to anticipate.

Overall, I enjoyed this but mostly for it’s purpose of setting up what I hope is to come. I’ll say 3 1/2 stars for this.

Published October 5, 2023 by Ace. ISBN 9780593549841. Paperback. 384 pages.