Cursed cover art

Cursed

An Alex Verus Novel

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Cursed

By: Benedict Jacka
Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Things are going well for Alex Verus. He's on moderately good terms with the Council, his apprentice is settling in, and his shop in Camden is gaining quite a reputation.

But when a mysterious woman bursts into the Arcana Emporium one night with an assassin on her tail, Alex is thrown into a plot to revive a long-forbidden ritual. His old enemies are after the secret as well as a Council mage named Belthas and a mercenary named Garrick, and at least one of them is trying to get Alex killed - if he only knew which.

He can see the future, but knowing who to trust is something else.

©2012 Benedict Jacka (P)2014 Tantor Fantasy Science Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Chasing Embers cover art
The 13th Witch cover art
The Ward Witch cover art
The Accidental Alchemist cover art
The Night Raven cover art
The Librarian of Crooked Lane cover art
Storm Front cover art
The Stranger Times cover art
The Malevolent Seven cover art
Starter Villain cover art
Third Eye cover art
The Invisible Library cover art
The Wolves of London cover art
The Very First Damned Thing cover art
Dead Man's Hand cover art
The Crypt: Shakedown cover art

Critic reviews

"Fast-moving and energetic." ( Sunday Telegraph)
All stars
Most relevant
This book makes me wish we had a more detailed rating system. Is it a Dresden files rip off? Well yes but then I'm enjoying these books more than the latter books in that series. Is the narrator as good as James Masters? Of course not it's James Masters. I really wish so many reviewers weren't making comparisons here because Gildart Jackson really isn't that bad, in fact I'd give him 4/5 as he's great at doing characters voices, doesn't feel the need to screech as so many male narrators do as soon as they get a villain that is female and is really enjoyable to listen to. His only real problems are, as many people have correctly said, that he sounds too old for the role (as narration is first person) and that he's not James Masters ( I swear fans would clone him if they could.) The story is even better than the first book and I was gripped from start to finish. Alex is the only genuine wizard to run a magic shop, it's a hobby, in between, training his sometimes apprentice, dropping in for tea with his friend/ possible creature from ancient mythology or somewhere and assisting other wizards in their various tasks, so that hopefully they won't kill him someday. 4.5/5 because I really enjoyed it and will be buying the whole series shortly, even if it's not original or well enough crafted to merit the top twenty. A good book is a good book and the story should appeal to most readers of this genre male or female. If you are on one credit a month then as others have suggested Ben Aaronovitch is better but when a new series comes out I like to check the reviews on Audible dot com. Same book different cover, at the time of typing this, Cursed has a 4.40 average and 924 ratings - so most people like it.

They got the series :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Yet again Jim butcher keeps me on the edge of my seat, brilliant!!
I like Thomas character he's fun & dangerous.

More twisting turns

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As with the first book, the overarching story and links between books is great. This one was more predictable though which was a slight shame.
The types of magic are interesting and glimpses into more magical creatures are enticing.
Looking forward to starting the next in the series.

Enjoyable and great performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the second book in this series and this is a really nice development of the characters in the first

I'm enjoying the writing style and the narration and looking forward to the next!

Nice development.....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend it if they didn't have anything else to listen to. The characters and their relationships to each other are well crafted and you want to know what happens to them and get invested in their lives. The universe is a fun one although it's nothing original. The writing is a little awkward and you usually work out exactly where the story is going by the first few chapters.

What other book might you compare Cursed to, and why?

It's not quite as good as the Rivers of London and James Quill books but it's a good listen while you're waiting for the next one of those books to come out.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration is better than the last book, Gildart Jackson has got less robotic

Any additional comments?

All the Americanisms drive me round the bend. Why does a British author writing about a British character living in London use words like; gotten, yards, highschool ect?

Delightfully average

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews