Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel

Hey, this book was just selected one of the the 5 BEST *Mass Market* novels of 2009 by Publisher's Weekly: [...] Remember those HBO movies that combined Lovecraft and Chandler? Not like that... CHILD OF FIRE is more of a *Hammett* Continental Op novel like RED HARVEST meets HP Lovecraft - more action oriented, more brutal, more "street" - and a real fast read. Ray Lilly is a career criminal (car thief) who is awaiting trial for some murders he didn't do that have a weird supernatural element to them. His public defender is replaced by some slick mob lawyer type who tells Ray he'll make the charges go away if Ray forgets the supernatural stuff he saw. He even sets Ray up with a job as a driver. This is no normal mob lawyer - this guy is from the Twenty Palace Society - a secret organization of Sorcerers. They control magic, the way some other mob might control drugs or prostitution or motion picture distribution. Ray's driving job is for... Annalese Powess, a sorceress-assassin who kills those who use magic without permission from the Twenty Palace Society mob. Rogue socerers, people who find some spellbook and use it... anyone who is using magic in some way that might bring down the heat on the mob - or maybe get in their way. Cast a spell without permission - they send Annalize to wack you. All of this stuff is back story we have to piece together as we read - because the book hits the ground running! It opens with Ray and Annalise on the way to a hit... Small town in Washington State has an overly successful toy factory - and children who spontaneously combust... and the kid's parents forget they even had kids. They find ways to rationalize the car seats and toys in the front yard. The burning kids are scary and sick and twisted - but that's just the tip of the terror in the novel. This is one of those small towns with a secret - and also a bunch of warring factions that would rather the two outsiders be dead. No shortage of scary stuff, and no shortage of action and tension. Just when you think things can't get worse - Annalise tells Ray that part of his job is to be the decoy that gets killed so that she can attack... But when she attacks, Annalise discovers the evil in this town is more powerful than she is. Ray survives, Annalize is seriously wounded... and now all of that evil from all of the different factions in the town are coming after Ray. He is the man in the middle and must figure out who and what is behind all of this in order to survive. - Bill

I have to say, I was very impressed with Harry Connolly's urban fantasy Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel. I assumed I would like the book because of the description, but I did not realize how much I would enjoy it. I have found that many urban fantasy novels are bogged down with so many different characters of different "breeds". At times, it can be difficult remember who is who and what they are in many of the books I have read. Connolly keeps the amount of "extraordinary" characters to a minimum. Therefore, I did not have the need to pause and try to remember who anybody was while reading the book. Kudos to him for that. I am a huge fan of the main character, Ray Lilly. He is such a likable character. I was surprised by this. Because of his criminal background, I kept expecting the typical characteristics to pop up, such as mean, bitter, self-loathing, etc. He was actually a very decent person, and I loved reading his "thoughts" throughout the book. I thought in the beginning I would be disappointed with his limited powers, but as the story progressed, I realized he didn't need any more powers than he had -- his intellect, street-smarts, and the absolute coolest weapon I've ever seen in a book. I would love to have his ghost knife! What a useful, cool, and unique weapon. The only part of the story that disappointed me was how little time was spent on Analisse, his boss, in the end of the book. I would have liked more time spent on her in the final chapter. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next Ray Lilly story in this series. Can't wait!

Lets get the formalities out of the way first; this review is going to be biased. It's not something I can help, so it's important that you know that right up front. The author and I have been friends for years. We met through [...] and I picked up the Black Gate magazines which had his short stories. I ordered the book months in advance and had very high hopes for Harry Connolly's "Child Of Fire", maybe too high. I was really, really looking forward to his debut novel because of the love I have for Harry's short stories. I always hate it when I find myself clapping like a school boy as I plop down my hard earned money. Life rarely lives up to our dreams. Finally I got to read "Child Of Fire"... "It felt good to sit behind the wheel again, even the wheel of a battered Dodge Sprinter. Even with this passenger beside me." That is how it begins, soon I was done. I could not put this book down. The story is basically about Ray Lilly, an ex-con who is recently released from jail. He's found himself working as the driver for a very deadly woman, Annalise Powliss. She's a member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. That sort of work tends to make one hard to the cruelties of the world, and Annalise is harder than most. She also holds a personal grudge against Ray and searching for an excuse to kill him. The pair make their way to the town of Hammer Bay. Annalise is sent there on a job, someone is using magic against the Twenty Palace Society rules. They don't get far into the city limits before running into victims of this rogue magician's spells. Annalise isn't affected by the nasty scene, but Ray spurs into action. If he could just keep his mouth shut and eyes on the road Ray Lilly might live another day; he can't do anything that he's supposed to. "Child Of Fire" whips into action on the first page and doesn't stop until the last page is turned. I said I went in with high expectations, they were met and exceeded. Harry Connolly has a classic urban fantasy novel, "Child Of Fire" is as good as any I've read. About halfway through, I realized that I was having the same exhilaration that I got reading Stephen King classics like "The Stand", "Misery" or "Pet Cemetery". This is one rollercoaster-fun-tastic book. The characters are believable, even the story is grounded in so much truth that I wouldn't be shocked to see a sorcerer knocking on my door. If I was biased (in a negative way) as I started reading "Child of Fire", I finished the book cheering for more. I am very happy to highly recommend this book. Harry Connolly has come out with all guns loaded.

Ray is just the driver. His boss Annelise hates him -- with good reason, it turns out. Together they ride in a crummy van, chasing after a signal given off by an instance of unauthorized magic. What they find turns out to be more horrific than Ray ever imagined possible, and he's well acquainted with horrific. He just got out of prison. The pair follows the trail further to Hammer Bay, a small city in the Pacific Northwest, known for its improbably successful toy manufacturing. The city is crawling with multi-generation old secrets, corruption, and lethal magic. The story is fast-paced, full of violence, drama, and occasional dark humor. I found Ray Lilly to be complex and sympathetic. He does the hard things that need doing, even as he regrets them. Over the course of the story we learn that both Ray and Annelise have complicated histories -- so much so, I almost felt like I was reading book two in a series, rather than the first volume. Hints about the Twenty Palaces Society were even more tantalizing. They stamp out -- with extreme prejudice, it seems -- unauthorized magic use. Their zeal is appropriate, though. They're the only thing protecting the world from the constant threat of annihilation. Annelise, vastly powerful and nearly indestructible, is merely a junior member. Except what lurks in Hammer Bay is too strong even for Annelise. Saving the world is left to Ray, who has only a little magical protection, a scrap of a spell, and a whole lot of street smarts. Normally I don't read a lot of Urban Fantasy, because common tropes of the field (snarky heroines and sex with undead/demons/monsters) are pet peeves of mine, but I liked this very much. I've seen a few other readers say this is too dark, but I honestly didn't find it that way, and I consider myself pretty sensitive. There are numerous novels where I can't get past the first page because they're so gross and brutal, and I had no trouble with CHILD OF FIRE at all. If you're wondering, try the sample chapter at the author's website. It's a good example of the tone throughout. Overall, highly recommended for readers who like fiction that is action-packed, witty, and sophisticated.

The main thing I would say to potential readers is to judge this book on its own merits. A number of reviewers compare "Child of Fire" to Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" novels. Yes, this is Urban Fantasy. Yes, this is Dark Fantasy. Aside from that, I didn't find a lot of similarities. Keep in mind, just because Butcher likes a book, doesn't mean that it's the same kind of book that he writes! Ray Lilly is in prison. We get some hints as to why, but I expect his back story to be revealed gradually in forthcoming books in the series. He is released from jail by the "Twenty Palace Society". We know even less about them, just that their mission is to track down and destroy anyone who is using magic. (Besides them, of course.) He is assigned to work with Annalise, and we don't know a whole lot about her either, other than that she is almost indestructible and has a really bad attitude about almost everything. Especially Ray. Who she fully expects to die very soon. They are sent to a small town to investigate the disappearance of children, and the strange fact that once they disappear, no one remembers them. Not even their parents. The rest, as they say, is the story. And it's told very well. The narrative is tight and fast paced. The main characters aren't very likable, as some reviewers have mentioned. And on first appearance, they're not. But we don't know a lot about them, and they have a very unlikable job: killing anyone who has, or has been touched by, "unauthorized" magic. And that means there is frequently a lot of collateral damage. This is obviously the start of a series. I'm willing to give Ray and Annalise the benefit of the doubt for now, until I know about them and their mysterious employer. This is not Dresden Files, so don't expect a likable wizard, a sarcastic skull and a cute police woman. And don't expect much humor, unless it's the very, very dark kind. One reviewer compared the book to Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Sorry, I disagree completely. This book isn't much like the Mythos at all, except that they are both in the dark fantasy and horror genre. This book is dark, grim, and frequently unpleasant. And withing those parameters, it's an excellent book. If this is the kind of story you like, then I recommend that you give it a try. But approach it without expectations. Don't expect Butcher, Lovecraft, King, Koontz, or anyone else. Just expect Harry Connolly, and let him take you into his own dark world.