I just want to punch the world in the nose for these books not finding a larger audience. But ok, I get it. They're dark. These are not your standard urban fantasy stories. They're bitter, there's a sense of real ugliness in the world, a last-stand mentality that's all about true evil and the only thing that can oppose it is some hard fucking work. The choices are do what's right or die, no time for waffling or pondering the deeper questions or even debating right from wrong, bad from worse, gray from black. If it gets the job done, it is, by default, the right thing to do.UF these days is mostly a gigantic leaf pile of nice people doing nice things and nice is... it's nice. I guess. The bad guys are naughty. Even when the writers make the stakes life or death, I never really think someone's going to die. When someone does die, there's a sad scene then everyone goes back to fighting with jaws squared and chins outthrust. It's all a little bland, a little samey-samey.The Twenty Palaces novels are about a war, and a man who gets dragged into it, not because of any special virtue or talent, not because he's a Chosen One, just because he was convenient and disposable. He chooses not to be disposed of, but that doesn't mean he becomes indispensible. He's very dispensible, so to speak. He knows it, mostly because the people and situation continue to remind him of it.But the things he's fighting are horrors. Terrors. Things that make no sense and do the unspeakable. Even Ray can't turn his back on what's happening, and his refusal to give up and roll over makes him someone worth knowing.If you're in the mood for something more horror than straight-up urban fantasy, give these a read. There's a novella, published later but first in the timeline, that's excellent. You can read it first, but I got a kick out of going back and reading it after I'd finished the trilogy, when my opinions were set. Enjoyed this book, and series, quite a bit. Novel approach to magic and how it is used. This feels a little like a second book even though it is the first in the series. In fact, there is a .5 novel out there which takes place before this one. Makes me wonder if it was written first.Good characters and some interesting themes in the series. If you like modern magic using detective novels, give this series a shot. Word of warning, this is farther into the horror genre than something like The Dresden Chronicles.
Do You like book Child Of Fire (2009)?
Actually read 20 Palaces the prequel to Child of Fire which is going on my to read list.
—justine
Super engaging. Couldn't stop reading. Moving to the next one! =D
—kadengreen4
