Urban fantasy is a genre whose star has been on the rise over the past decade or so. More and more authors are trying their hand at bringing the magic of sword-and-sorcery to a modern cityscape. Some are successful, but many more are not – it’s hard to write urban fantasy without coming off as derivative or clichéd. I’ve read a lot of mediocre stuff over the years.

That’s why it’s exciting when a new book arrives that seems to have potential. “Fated” (ACE, $7.99), the first book in a new series by Benedict Jacka, is one of those books.

It’s modern-day London, just like ours save one small detail – there is magic among us. Alex Verus is a diviner; a mage who can see the future. He operates a magic shop in London – and not the card-trick, rabbit-hat kind of magic. He’s also a bit of a pariah among the magical elite due to some unpleasantness in the past, so he tries his best to just keep his head down and stay out of magic’s way.