Found out recently that Benedict Jacka had released two more of his Alex Verus novels since I last looked, and Forged came into my possession.
So.
We're again dealing with the consequences of Alex being hunted by the Council, whatever plans his former master Richard has, Rachel/Deleo's pursuit of him, and Anne being possessed by a rather powerful djinn. The latter involving Anne's vendetta against her tormentors, including crucifying a rakasha who had once been using her in his club.
Several things happen in this, almost none of which particularly involve the Dark Mage plot line. Really, we're mainly concerned with Anne's djinn fueled plots, particularly since she wants to play Oprah and give Alex, Luna, and Variam jinni of their own. (She's nothing if not generous.)
We do see what will likely be closure on the Rachel/Deleo storyline, as old girl has some major Freudian consequences when she enters Elsewhere.
And one of Alex's biggest threats from the light council gets dealt with, as Alex first gets his hand on Levistus's AI that provides blackmail material, but then manipulates Anne to help deal with Levistus himself.
While I enjoyed this,and he hasn't quite hit Butcher levels of "How Morally Grey can I make my narrator before people stop reading?", it is getting dark in here, and while the author is British and I assume most of the political shots are aimed at Parliament, more than a few of those shots go wide enough to hit just about any government. On the other hand, he seems to be quite content to explore the "Y" axis between kivertine and authoritarian vs concentrating on on the rather middling "X" axis of Good/Evil.
With the next book on reserve at the library, I'll be interested to see what happens next.
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