Forged (Alex Verus #11) by Benedict Jacka

Alex Verus faces his dark side in this return to the bestselling urban fantasy series about a London-based mage.

To protect his friends, Mage Alex Verus has had to change–and embrace his dark side. But the life mage Anne has changed too, and made a bond with a dangerous power. She’s going after everyone she’s got a grudge against–and it’s a long list.

In the meantime, Alex has to deal with his arch-enemy, Levistus. The Council’s death squads are hunting Alex as well as Anne, and the only way for Alex to stop them is to end his long war with Levistus and the Council, by whatever means necessary. It will take everything Alex has to stay a step ahead of the Council and stop Anne from letting the world burn.

I honestly didn’t know how close to the end of the Alex Verus series we have gotten until I received my copy of this book a few weeks ago. It’s been a long and fun journey, and It’s a little hard to believe that we’re finally coming to the end and that there will only be one more book after this one. Forged by Benedict Jacka was as fantastic and fun a read as I’ve come to expect from the Alex Verus books over all these years. 

Honestly, if you had asked me before I read this book if I was ready for this series to end I probably would have said that it was about that time. The last couple of books, while enjoyable and fun to read, honestly felt like they were written as a way to extend the story a bit while giving the author time to decide where to take the story. They kind of reminded me of anime filler in that they were fun to read but really didn’t feel like they advanced the plot any.

Boy oh boy did that completely change with this book. Forged was just action scene after action scene and major life-altering decision after major life-altering decision for Alex. I can’t tell you the number of times I found myself shocked or surprised over what I had just read. I honestly had to stop reading for a few minutes a couple of times just so I could process just what I had read. Forged made it very clear that this series is coming to a head and I can’t wait to see where Benedict Jacka takes this story in the next and final book. 

All in all, I would say this was a fantastic book that I would have no hesitation suggesting to anyone to read. I would only recommend that if you haven’t read any of these books before that you start from the very beginning or you will be completely and utterly lost as to what is going on. 

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.