Circle of Enemies: A Twenty Palaces Novel
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Former car thief Ray Lilly is now the expendable grunt of a sorcerer responsible for destroying extradimensional predators summoned to our world by power-hungry magicians. Luckily, Ray has some magic of his own, and so far it’s kept him alive. But when a friend from his former gang calls him back to his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles, Ray may have to face a threat even he can’t handle. A mysterious spell is killing Ray’s former associates, and they blame him. Worse yet, the spell was cast by Wally King, the sorcerer who first dragged Ray into the brutal world of the Twenty Palace Society. Now Ray will have to choose between the ties of the past and the responsibilities of the present, as he and the Society face not only Wally King but a bizarre new predator.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant book continuing one of the most entertaining series I've read,
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This review is from: Circle of Enemies: A Twenty Palaces Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
This grabbed me in a way very few books have recently. One of those books you read despite the fact you have other important things to do. This is very well written with great pace and believable characters.It is hard-boiled, in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. A man working on his own against impossible odds and in a world with no moral certainties. What is the right thing to do is never clear, and some of the brutal things he has to do to get the job done weigh on his concience. Enemies surround him, and only a quick wit, a quicker right hook and instant action keep him alive. This has a typical twisty Urban Fantasy Noir plot, with double crossing baddies creating a complex problem for the straight talking hero. Whenever the pace slows, someone comes through the door with a gun, or perhaps a nameless horror from the places outside of time. The hero (Ray Lilly) always has a wise-crack ready to greet them. Ray Lilly isn't one of those ridiculous super-powered wizards (yet). He is human, and vulnerable. That is what makes him tough. The people he fights are the wannabe Harry Potters, obssessed with getting power and a trick bag full of flashy effects. Ray just wants to save the greatest number of people, and agonises over those he can't save and those he is forced to kill. One of the things I love about the series is the way it is being miserly with the underlying story about the nature of how magic exists and the Twenty Palace Society which polices it. The Twenty Palace Society is a great invention, such a self-absorbed and brutal secret society. Almost as bad as the horrors they fight. Except their enemy is truly terrifying. Lovecraftian Horrors from the 'Deeps'. The first reviewer says he wants a more thorough description of the monsters. They are invisible so description is tricky. They are also in the tradition of Lovecraft, so are supposed to be a bit mysterious. On the other hand, how they feed is quite specific and really quite disturbing. A good reason too for Ray Lilly to fight as hard and as toughly as he does. I like the fact that Ray is growing in power and knowledge slowly, almost reluctantly. Every decision he makes is another moral puzzle, with power he gains from victories often being dangerous and corrupting, yet neccesary to fight the worst evil. I'm always really glad when his boss, Annalise, turns up, because she is also a complex and interesting character, and their relationship brings out much of the world-view of the novels. Even as an unstoppable killing machine, she sometimes has to rely on Ray Lilly to finish the fight (although it is good that she isn't in all of them, as they are tenser when Ray has only his wits and his single spell to rely on.) . Brilliant stuff and great central characters. I am in withdrawal and need my next fix. Looking forward to how things will progress in the next one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent 3rd in series - look forward to the next,
This review is from: Circle of Enemies: A Twenty Palaces Novel (Kindle Edition)
I disagree with the negative review that precedes this one.I discovered The Twenty Palaces series last week through Charles Stross' blog and have now read all three. I found the third novel just as good as the first two, building nicely from them, filling in more information on the nature of magic and the Twenty Palaces society. I am looking forward to the fourth. I see from the author's blog that he has written it and deciding how to make it available to the public.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A ghost knife is not enough of an arsenal.,
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This review is from: Circle of Enemies: A Twenty Palaces Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Ray Lilly, the anti-hero, is turning into a very sensitive guy. Of course, in this book everybody he meets wants to kill him and they are all former friends of his so what's a guy to do? Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel and Game of Cages: A Twenty Palaces Novel were both very enjoyable, good books for me. That's why I instantly began reading this book as soon as it came out of the Amazon shipping box. And then I struggled with it the entire time. When I realize I'm doing math in my head to see how many pages remain, oops, that spells trouble.Ray is visited by a woman who was his very good friend and she accuses him of killing her. Naturally Ray was startled to hear this and even more surprised at how his skin began to burn when she slapped him. That wasn't anything compared to his surprise when she completely vanished from in front of him. Obviously a trip from Seattle down to Los Angeles is in order to find out what is going on. Everybody from his old crowd from before his prison days is involved in something and it definitely is not good. This character has turned into a one-trick wonder. In the first two books it worked out fine because he had Annalise there to use all sorts of magic ribbons to take care of most of the danger. Ray has only his ghost knife for protection and he has to fight all types of magic with that one weapon. The first third of the book was very vague as to what was going on with all the people who used to be in Ray's circle of friends. Once the predator monsters began showing themselves the author's descriptions of them were very vague. Vague. Not a word I want to utilize when trying to describe an urban fantasy novel. Once Ray applied a name to the predators he was hunting he called them "drapes". Now I don't know about you, but it's rather difficult for me to feel any kind of fear whatsoever about something called a drape. Maybe if I were writing my final paper to get my university degree in Interior Design the word "drape" would hold some kind of terror, but not in an urban fantasy novel. The repetition of ghost knife and fire episodes continued throughout the novel. I counted the pages to the end. I can't put it any more strongly than that. I was determined to finish it, but I counted the pages. Some good points: 1. Once Annalise showed up in the story (Ray's Boss from The Twenty Palaces) it got better. Except she wasn't IN the story all that much. 2. Author Harry Connolly has given readers much more information about The Twenty Palaces this time. So, I have to say I didn't enjoy this one very much at all. Ray needs more weapons to fight the bad guys/bad things with. Annalise needs to be in the story for extended periods so Ray has somebody to talk things over with. Recommended only if you insist on reading each book in a series.
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