Benedict Jacka

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-30

Benedict Jacka is a British author of urban fantasy fiction, born September 25, 1980, in London, England. He was educated at the City of London School before attending Cambridge University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and met his future literary agent. Before establishing himself as a novelist, Jacka wrote several unpublished children's fantasy manuscripts and published two children's books, Ninja: The Beginning (2005) and Ninja: The Battle (2007). He is best known for the Alex Verus series, an urban fantasy sequence launched in 2012 that follows a diviner and magic-shop owner in London; the series ran to twelve novels through 2021, supplemented by novellas including Favours (2021) and Gardens (2022). Jacka subsequently began the New Sorcery series with An Inheritance of Magic (2023), followed by An Instruction in Shadow (2024) and A Judgement of Powers (2025). His work has drawn generally positive reviews from genre outlets, which have praised his characters and use of chapter cliffhangers while noting the books' comfortable familiarity within the urban fantasy genre. Jacka married Rolari Kuti in 2015. His novels are noted for building an information-based magic system around Alex Verus's divination ability, distinguishing the series within a crowded urban fantasy field.