A Judgement of Powers
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- ¥1,800
Publisher Description
In a world where magic is controlled by wealthy families and vast corporations, one young man will need all the help he can get in this riveting contemporary fantasy from the author of the Alex Verus novels.
Stephen Oakwood’s ambitions used to be simple. Pay his bills, track down his father, and take care of his cat. Maybe study a little magic after work, if he had time.
Now it’s a year later and he’s got everything he wanted. But it’s come with a price.
The Winged, a mysterious group involved with his father, have noticed Stephen, and they want him to join them or else. His career as a corporate locator has hit a dead end. And his new job as bodyguard to Calhoun Ashford is proving a lot more lethal than expected due to assassination attempts from outside the House, and possibly also from within.
To survive, Stephen’s going to need allies of his own. And along the way, he’s going to have to figure out the secret of his own gift, and what it means. The cults, Houses, and corporations of the magical world are locked in an endless battle for dominance, and Stephen is beginning to realize that he’s going to have to pick a side . . . before someone else picks it for him.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jacka's third Inheritance of Magic fantasy (after An Instruction in Shadow) immediately immerses readers in his alternate London, where quotidian worries, such as how to pay the rent, coexist with far greater threats, such as being targeted by the Winged, a powerful cult. This time out, Stephen Oakwood finally reunites with his missing father, and learns that he had joined the Winged. The reunion leaves Oakwood more informed, but still in peril. His ability to see essentia, raw energy which "flows through the world in invisible currents," and which can be used to cast spells, may have been given to him by a demon seeking to use him for an unknown purpose. It also has made him a target for the Winged, who want him to become one of them, or be killed. At the same time, his part-time security job guarding Calhoun Ashford grows more hazardous when Ashford is targeted by an assassin. Jacka's signature mix of grounded daily life with a thoroughly explored magic system makes it easy to suspend disbelief. This keeps the series going strong.
