Forged: An Alex Verus Novel from the New Master of Magical London

I've read the Alex Verus series from the beginning, I have to say I miss the old Alex, the almost powerless mage who kept his head down and sold magical items in Camden Town. Then as the books went on he didn't really get any more powerful but he gained a whole slew of very powerful enemies. the books got darker and darker, it seemed like Alex was doomed. I have to be honest, I gave up part way through book 9 because it was too bleak and Alex looked like he was losing badly. Then I saw this ARC available on NetGalley, not even realising that I had completely missed book 10, and requested it on a whim. Things have changed for Alex, he's turned to the dark side, gained a fateweaver and become more powerful. He's lost some wonderful friends (farewell Arachne) and some have aligned with others and become adversaries (Anne), he's fighting back and if the Light Council won't back off then he'll make them. Honestly there is no downtime in this book, from the very first pages to the last Alex is battling one enemy after the other. It's fast, its frantic and OMG he's changed. It was a struggle to remember who was who, I won't lie, but that didn't matter as I was bowled along in one magical battle after another, hoping that Alex can wrestle Anne from the clutches of the Jinn, scared that he won't. Trying to second guess which of Alex's allies might be an agent for one of his enemies, bouncing from shadow realm to reality and back again. Obviously don't start reading this if you've not read of the previous books, but if you like magic and intrigue and battles and double-crosses then this is definitely the one for you. Word of caution, I was expecting this to be the big finale, it isn't and it ends quite abruptly but I'm absolutely desperate to read book 12. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.