Fated

Fated (2012) Benedict Jacka

Alex Verus is a diviner–a mage who can see the future possibilities. He runs a magic shop to pay the bills, and does everything he can to stay under the Council’s radar.

Unfortunately for him, a discovery of a Precursor relic–and the fact that every other diviner in the area has skipped town–means Alex is about to gain the attention of the Council–attention he knows full well will do him no good at all.

I quite like the idea of diviners and what they can do–and the personality traits of most diviners.

If there’s one thing all diviners share, it’s curiosity. We really can’t help it; it’s just part of who we are. If you dug out a tunnel somewhere in the wilderness a thousand miles from anywhere and hung a sign on it saying, Warning, this leads to the Temple of Horrendous Doom. Do not enter, ever. No, not even then, you’d get back from lunch to find a diviner already inside and two more about to go in. Come to think about it, that might explain why there are so few of us.

I think this might be the first fantasy book that has ever focused on diviners and what they can do, which is one of the things that kept me interested in the story. I had no idea what Alex could do, and I was very curious to learn.

There were a couple nods to SFF–at least one that I was certain of, a name check of a wizard in Chicago who advertises in the phone book. And then there was the name of the big bad, Morden. I really really hope that was supposed to be referencing Mr Morden from Babylon 5. Because that would be AWESOME.

And the description of Morden could be of Mr Morden. “I’d gotten only a short look at Morden last night. His hair and eyebrows were jet black and he had the smooth good looks of someone who’d taken the time to develop them. Physically he could have been thirty.” Like I said, that amuses me.

There are Dark and Light mages, and there is a bit of discussion about the difference between the two, which reminded me quite a bit of Night Watch.

being a Dark mage doesn’t mean being destructive or vicious. We don’t believe in evil for its own sake, or any of the silly propaganda that others spread. We simply recognise the truth— that all definitions of good and evil ultimately come down to points of view.

That description hints and the difference between the Light Ones and Dark ones, but isn’t quite as interesting. And the actions of the Dark Mages were far more heavy handed. (Torture! Murder! Violence!)

One other note–the book needed a more thorough editing. My favorite mistake was the following: “heroic efforts to protect noncombat-ants.”

MUST PROTECT THE ANTS!

So, it was a fun read. Nothing great, but interesting and a pleasant distraction.
Rating: 6.5/10

Published by Penguin

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