I could say this story reminds me of a Harry Dresden novel. It would be a true statement, but it would also fail to do the story justice.

Yes, Alex Verus is clearly inspirited by the more popular Dresden Files, but it does enough things different to stand on its own. For one, the world of Alex Verus is a darker take on the secret wizard society formula. Alex himself is also quite different from Dresden, namely in the fact his only magical power is to divine the future. The result is a decided different approach to conflict resolution and action scenes, among other things.

Warmly recommended to lovers of Urban Fantasy, Heist novels, and Harry Dresden fans. ( )

Reminiscent of [a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1400640324p2/10746.jpg]'s Dresden Files, this seems like an excellent start to a series of which I will certainly read another couple of volumes. ( )

I just couldn't get into this for some reason, which is a shame as the world building is very interesting but the story just wasn't clicking with me. ( )

It’s been a while since I read much urban fantasy—overdosed on it a few years back. I haven’t previously read anything by this author, and I was curious to see how he would handle the London setting.

The prose was smooth and the setting clear. Some of the magical “rules” made me raise my eyebrows, but that probably goes with any fantasy setting. Verus has an interesting magical power, and I liked that he couldn’t brute force his way through problems. The plot was straightforward to follow. I’d guess that since this is a first in series, we’re being introduced to players who’ll feature later on when there’s more scope for complications.

Overall, a solid, enjoyable book. I’m not driven to binge-read the sequels, but I’ll certainly keep an eye out for them.

Instant favourite. Harry Dresden set in London, owner of a curio shop rather than a PI, and a hat-tip to dresden in the early paragraphs. Very glad to know there's 12 novels in the series to seek out. I've always enjoyed clever heroes who can think their way out of problem rather than by using brute force. There's a nice balance of power levels too which sometimes gets away from being believable in UF. I hope the author manages to maintain this through the series as Alex develops.

Alex Verus is a diviner - a mage who can sense the manifold consequences of an action, and through hard work and perseverance control this to see a limited amount of useful futures. And he's not affiliated to either the Council of Light mages, or the individual 'Dark' mages who seek power for themselves. Both sides see him as a rogue, but there are few other diviners around. When a friend brings him an unusual magical artefact Alex can already tell there's trouble ahead. He's quickly pursued by both the Light and the Dark 'asking' more or less politely for his help. Another very powerful historical statue has been found but it's guarded by a lightning elemental, and neither side knows how to access it.

The world building is good, and seems thought through, there remain limits on what magic can do - destructive potential is huge, but consequences are very possible. A Diviner can't know what choice as yet to be made, but can find things that influence that decision. Mages only seem to have access to a limited branch of magic, something to check in future books, there seem to be a few basics, but even there are variability. Not much indication of why some individuals have access and others don't but it's rare, and everyone is aware of the weight of numbers ordinary people can bring to bear. Many creatures from legend still abound, and it will be interesting to see which further ones Alex meets, and how relevant the current connections remain. I dislike Jim Butcher's habit of phasing out people we've engaged with after a few stories.

Just well constructed fun, good characters, great world, clever plot everything I could want to read. Hope the rest are as good. ( )