An Inheritance of Magic

An Inheritance of Magic

by Benedict Jacka
Series: Inheritance of Magic #1
Setting: England
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Urban
Length: 10:42
Narrator: Will Watt
Published on October 10, 2023
Pages: 384
Format: Audiobook Source: Library

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.

I picked this audiobook up randomly because it was available when I needed a new one in my library app. I’m now on my second listen because I knew that the husband would like it too.

It reminds me a bit of The Wizard’s Butler in that it is very hard to describe the story. It just follows a guy along in his life as he discovers that there is more to the magic world than he expected. This book has bursts of more action but there are long stretches where not a lot is happening. But somehow, at least in the audio version, that isn’t boring.

Stephen was raised by a single father who disappeared three years ago. He taught Stephen about magic (called Drucraft). Stephen doesn’t know any other Drucraft users. He’s just trying to make enough money to survive in London in a series of temp jobs. Then he meets a girl who asks him about Drucraft and says that she is related to his mother who abandoned his family when he was an infant. When they talk and he starts to ask questions that reveal the extent of his powers, she decides he is a threat and tries to have him eliminated. That is his introduction to the larger magical world. He decides that he needs to get more powerful but how? Who can he ask? Why does this family hate him? Stephen is looking around trying to find answers while trying to stay off the radar of anyone dangerous.

The world is well imagined with enough mysteries not answered in this book to provide fuel for many stories to come. I’m picking these up especially on the second listen. I’m thinking, “Wait a minute. They never talked about that again. That’s going to be important again someday…..”

I’d recommend this audiobook for leisurely listening when you can just let yourself be immersed in trying to figure out a magical London.

——–One big caveat/spoiler/trigger warning though ——-

There is a cat. He is wonderful and perfect. However, a Very Bad Thing happens to the cat. He ends up being fine in the end but for quite a while you don’t know that and it seems bleak. I don’t why I’m getting a lot of animal bad stuff in books lately but I Don’t Like It.