Game of Cages

A Twenty Palaces Novel, Book 2

By: Harry Connolly

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

A Secret High-Stakes Auction

As a wealthy few gather to bid on a predator capable of destroying all life on earth, the sorcerers of the Twenty Palace Society mobilize to stop them. Caught up in the scramble is Ray Lilly, the lowest of the low in the society - an ex-car thief and the expendable assistant of a powerful sorcerer. Ray possesses exactly one spell to his name, along with a strong left hook. But when he arrives in the small town in the North Cascades where the bidding is to take place, the predator has escaped and the society's most powerful enemies are desperate to recapture it. All Ray has to do is survive until help arrives. But it may already be too late.

©2010 Harry Connolly (P)2020 Tantor

Never read anything quite like it&am SO glad I did

Game of Cages is for you if you truly want something excellent, but also different. Too many people say they want something different. But what they really want is a different series of books than the series they just finished and really liked, but really kinda the same type of thing. There's nothing wrong with liking a certain type of book and not wanting to read something genuinely different from the usual books you like...even if the genuinely different story is really, really good. So Game of Cages and The Twenty Palaces Series is not for you if you want a really well written book about a girl who is loved and pursued and torn between a vampire hot guy and a werewolf hot guy. Believe me, I have nothing against hot guys and actually I think they are either under represented as complex characters in paranormal books or turned into villains or killed off early (especially with male authors)...but I digress. Game of Cages is one of those books I have a hard time categorizing -- in the best way. I want to cut to the chase for a moment and tell you, in my opinion, some of what you will get in Game of Cages or things you won't get, but in either situation, what you will or wont get will be original, fantastic, exciting, impeccably done in every way, brilliantly written, scary, heart pumping and completely different:
A. There will be no fake frustration between the main characters fueled by the possibility of sex or a relationship which you know is coming...and no worn to dust banter to facilitate said frustration.
B. What you will get is characters thrown together to complete terrifying jobs while usually having very little information or instruction (often for their protection) and yet there is a spectacular extremely original magic system which our hero(s) have various levels of access to and adeptness with. It is SOOO cool and so unique...if you just give these books a chance, you will want to know more about where this can go because there is NOTHING like it.
C. If your hero's need to be squeaky clean or it ruins something for you, these books are not for you. You will not get anything or anyone "black & white."
D. What you will get are REAL characters with all the shades of grey that people have. One of the most fascinating aspects is whether our heros are certain that destroying "Predators" from the "empty spaces' is SO important that it basically justifies almost any type of form of ANYTHING to stop/ kill them as the stakes could not be higher, at the same time they also question the methods of some.of the eldest members of their own society. This causes an extremely facinating, layered and terrifying aspect to the stories.
E. You will not be spoon fed the plot. I truly believe that some.of.the difficulty these books have had catching fire (because they should be crazy sucessfull) is because for example, sometimes the opening scene of a book is in the middle of an ongoing investigation, extermination, etc. So it takes some level of either affinity with the written word and story comprehension or an inclination to stick to a story and maybe read a sentence twice if necessary...the type of person who doesn't give up easily.
F. What you will get is non-stop almost overwhelmingly exciting, fast moving, totally original unadulterated action, adventure, horror, adrenaline pinching, creatively and mentally challenging situations thrown at you over and over and over in the most stomach dropping way (like a rollercoaster teetering at the top of a horrendous drop...and then it drops and an invisible fleshy drape slaps you in the face and slowly erodes and eats your face while your arms are up, mouths open...but nobody except you knows why sound isn't coming out).
I guess when something is truly original and truly awesome it's impossible to describe with any justice. You just have to read it for yourself. And then find yourself ordering the next one!
Btw, the first book is:
Twenty Palaces
Child of Fire
Game of Cages
Circle of Friends
***and on audible we are still HOPING AND PRAYING for the promised release of one of the best in the series so far, The Twisted Path. Please Harry Connolly....please release this book on audio even if it is behind schedule. If there is something we could do to help make that happen, please say so. That's how good these books are...id go above and beyond to get this book made Audio (losing eyesight and I don't want to lose you!...ever!!!)
Thank you so much, as always.

great

Great series. the author has a strong voice and vision. read book 0 first and it makes more sense

Great World Building, Overused Tropes

Every time you start to get into the story and really enjoy it, you’ll be ripped right out by someone randomly hating the protagonist Ray Lilly, because they somehow know he has a felonious record. Everyone, bar none, googles him upon meeting him or just knows his name and hates him. It gets sooooooo old and really annoying. I’m only here at this point for the admittedly great world building in terms of her magic works and the mystery of the 20 Palaces society. Seriously though every time you get into the story and are super involved in the plot, you’ll immediately be ripped out by the unrealistic hate everyone has for the main character.