An Inheritance of Magic

By: Benedict Jacka

Narrated by: Will Watt

The super-rich control everything—including magic—in this thrilling and brilliant, contemporary fantasy from the author of the Alex Verus novels.

The wealthy seem to exist in a different, glittering world from the rest of us. Almost as if by . . . magic.

Stephen Oakwood is a young man on the edge of this hidden world. He has talent and potential, but turning that potential into magical power takes money, opportunity, and training. All Stephen has is a minimum wage job and a cat.

But when a chance encounter with a member of House Ashford gets him noticed by the wrong people, Stephen is thrown in the deep end. For centuries, the vast corporations and aristocratic Houses of the magical world have grown impossibly rich and influential by hoarding their knowledge. To survive, Stephen will have to take his talent and build it up into something greater—for only then can he beat them at their own game.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing the Glossary from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio

©2023 Benedict Jacka (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"One of the most satisfying contemporary fantasies I have read in a long time; cozy and human, with some good fight scenes to boot. . . . an enchanting journey into a world where sorcery may be for sale, but agency is beyond price."—Wall Street Journal

"Benedict Jacka gives us a flawed protagonist but ensures we are always on his side. Stephen Oakwood has many strikes against him: absent father and mother, financial woes, dead-end jobs. But he perseveres in the face of danger and death, and he loves his cat. It's more than enough. Benedict Jacka is one of my must-reads."—#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

"This first entry in Jacka’s (Risen) new urban fantasy series combines a coming-of-age and coming-into-power story with a fresh new take on magic. Stephen is a character at a crossroads, and watching him figure out which way to turn and how to amass enough power to make it happen will power the series. . . . Readers looking for a new take on urban fantasy, those who enjoy coming-of-age or training stories, and anyone who likes watching the rich fall will be delighted."—Library Journal

This author is trouble…

This is not my usual genre, but it came up as a suggestion and after listening to a bit of the sample I decided to give it a bash. I was sucked in to this magical world and couldn’t stop listening. Great story, Perfect narration. I listened as I cooked, showered, did laundry and drove to appointments, I finished this book in two days. I was nearly apoplectic to find the sequel isn’t out yet. No worries there is an earlier series… I won’t mention I’ve been sucked into yet another magical world and am on book two in that series in just days (and bought the next few in the series). Watch out because this author will capture your imagination.. on second thought maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.

Good start to a new series

This was a good book, but clearly it's an opening book to the series. I wouldn't expect this book to knock the socks off of anyone, but I definitely recommend it and am looking forward to seeing what this series grows into!

You follow a very relatable ~18 year old. He has his tiny apartment, his crappy job, and his small group of friends. And that's pretty much his whole life. He's living paycheck to paycheck and doing what he can to scrape by. That is until he becomes a pawn in other's political games and gets tied up in corporate espionage.

At times this came off as info-dumpy, but it made sense. The magic in this world is a hobby of Stephen's and he has some talent. But with no trainer or mentor to teach him, he's forced to rely on his wits and reverse engineer and experiment in order to figure out how things work. I personally enjoyed these parts and didn't mind that they slowed down the plot.

The plot wasn't always the most intense, which again makes perfect sense. This is a regular guy just trying to get by. He's not out to save the world or stop a war or anything like that. He just wants to be able to control his life and not be subject to the whims of those with more money than him. So while this isn't the most entertaining plot, it does lead to making Stephen into a relatable character. I could easily see myself in his shoes and was rooting for him the entire way.

And speaking of character work, it didn't take long for one character in particular to join the list of my most hated characters of all time.

Overall, a good and entertaining start to this new urban fantasy series and Will Watt did an excellent job with the narration. Overall score 77/100.

Loved it!

I was so happy to find out this wonderful author had written another book!! Very enjoyable. Can't wait until the ebook comes out!!

Good magic system

This had a great magic system that didn't sacrifice plot or characters, like many others fall into. The only con was that I discovered this series too early and now have to wait for the next book.

So good!

I can’t wait for more of this series! Someone said it starts slowly but I was hooked right away.

It could seem to start slow because the story doesn’t follow the most common story structure that we’re used to in the west. It’s more of a progression story, like 36th Chamber of Shaolin or Jumper (the book, not the movie). So it feels like the actual plot hasn’t really started, but it has. You just don’t realize it until it all comes together.

Off to a great start!

I enjoyed the new magic system as well as the sidekick. Looking forward to the next one!

Enjoyed it

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Can’t wait for the next in the series!

Interesting start to a new series

Things I liked: I liked that Stephen was younger and less experienced than Alex so we got to learn the world along with him. I enjoyed the Magic system. Things I didn’t like: It was all a bit confusing as to what was going on. I can tell there are several big mysteries to be unraveled over the series especially about Stephens parentage, his mother and father. Overall I have no idea where this series is going but I would give book 2 a try.

Interesting Listen

I really enjoyed this book overall. The plotting is strange, it's a mix of philosophy and progression fantasy, both of which I love. But there isn't a point in the story. The MC is trying to accomplish life goals, but none of them really get resolved in the first book, and there isn't a smaller book length objective that gets worked through. Now, that's how most stories are, and you can make an argument that it makes a story contrived, but the lack of structure makes the story just feel like a series of things happening, almost all of which will be resolved at a later date. Despite that, I really enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun listening, and found it thought provoking to boot. I'm looking forward to the next book, which I will definitely have pre-ordered.

A fantastic start to Benedict Jacka's new series!

As a huge fan of the Alex Verus series, I was super excited to listen to his newest book, An Inheritance of Magic: it did not disappoint.

The book only came out last week, and I've already listened to it twice. I loved the book and Will Watt's excellent narration. My only complaint is that book 2 isn't out yet!

Thank you to both Benedict Jacka and Will Watt for the great listen.

4/18/24: I wanted to add more about the audiobook & narration by Will Watt.

I read the book before I listened to it and, I gotta say, I wish I had been able to listen to it first. The narration by Will Watt was phenomenal. I absolutely love his natural, conversational style. It doesn't feel like he's a narrator reading a book, it feels like he's a friend telling the story over a few pints down at the pub. He's also an amazing voice actor, giving each character a unique and very recognizable personality and voice of their own. But his performance really shines during the action scenes. He gives those exciting scenes so much energy that they truly kept me on the edge of my seat even though I knew what was going to happen. I wouldn't hesitate to listen to anything else read by Will Watt.

Even for people who don't normally listen to urban fantasy books, I'd recommend listening to this one because the narration is just that good.