Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel
Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He’s the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him–or let someone else do the job.
Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise’s next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who’s sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must find–and destroy–the source of that inhuman magic.
BONUS: This edition contains excerpts from Harry Connolly's Game of Cages and Twenty Palaces.
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Community Reviews
The main character, Ray Lilly, was interesting and showed a lot of depth. The world building was excellent and the secondary characters interesting. It is a dark urban fantasy that deal with a lot of gray and black moral issues. The major one: is it better to murder someone in order to save thousands? Through the hunt for the killer of the children, Ray comes to some decisions to these questions and some insights to his very cold Boss, Annalise.
I liked the fact that Ray really could only rely on his intelligence and his skills as a criminal. His body does have magical defenses, but they were given to him by Annalise. His one magic weapon that he created is his Ghost Knife, and at first it doesn't seem like it would be all that important, but that knife saved his bacon more than once!
The action is non stop and the dialog flows well.
I would classify this in the horror side of urban fantasy. The death of the children is horrible and constant. The final body count is very high, with some pretty gruesome details. If you like your Urban Fantasy to have a HEA, this is not for you. If you like a a good story with some horror, this is perfect.
I liked the fact that Ray really could only rely on his intelligence and his skills as a criminal. His body does have magical defenses, but they were given to him by Annalise. His one magic weapon that he created is his Ghost Knife, and at first it doesn't seem like it would be all that important, but that knife saved his bacon more than once!
The action is non stop and the dialog flows well.
I would classify this in the horror side of urban fantasy. The death of the children is horrible and constant. The final body count is very high, with some pretty gruesome details. If you like your Urban Fantasy to have a HEA, this is not for you. If you like a a good story with some horror, this is perfect.
