The Iron Gate

A Twenty Palaces Novel, Book 4

By: Harry Connolly

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

Stormy Bay is a dying town nestled against an eerily placid ocean, and Ray Lilly is trapped in it. He can barely remember his name let alone his mission for the Twenty Palace society. Worse, he realizes that for some time now he's been living as a puppet, his body and mind under the complete domination of an unknown power, and the townsfolk think this puppet is his real identity.

And that power can still seize control of Ray's body at any time, forcing him and the people around him to playact in nonsense stories that center around a mysterious boy and his monster dog.

The town and its people shift and change, but only Ray seems to notice. He has no idea what sort of magic has imprisoned all these ordinary folks in Stormy Bay, but he does know he needs to get them, and himself, out.

But that might mean crossing a line he has never crossed before. While Ray has certainly taken lives in his work for the society, it was always in self-defense or in the desperate moments before impending calamity. Can he bring himself to commit cold-blooded murder, even to save dozens of lives?

©2017 Harry Connolly (P)2023 Tantor

Interesting twists

Our two stars are split up and solving separate issues toward finding each other again. Some character development for each, plus tangly mysteries…

Very happy

I loved the pervious twentypalaces novels and this one is just as good. Can't wait for more.

Finished in one night!

I cannot wait for the next one. I'm glad the series is starting to see more readers!

Get ready to be surprised

Great imagination. suspenseful. its hard to put it aside after you have started reading it.

This all seems strangely familiar...

An excellent tone shift from Ray and Annalise's usual (mis)adventures, giving us time to catch our breath and let their personalities develop. A great listen!

More! Love this series.

I’m really enjoying the development of Ray and Annalise’s arc as their story continues to develop.
The flavor of this world that Harry has developed in this series is compelling and fascinating. I can’t wait to see where the overarching storyline of the series goes. Please keep writing, and I’ll keep buying audiobooks and referring friends.

Best 20 Palaces novel yet!

Connolly dove in deep on characterization and honestly it paid off massive dividends in enhanced immersion in the world he’s crafting. The story starts out a bit slow, but that’s ultimately important to what Connolly is crafting in this specific story. Thanks for giving Annalise some humanity and real depth, I cried for her pain and feel I really understand why she does what she does and now is what she is as a person. Also thanks for giving her an opportunity to feel her humanity again, I get why she is often robotic now and regret judging the characterization of Annalise early. I cannot wait for more books, this series really deserves more readers.

the characters

this book is a return to form from Harry Connolly, reminding us all why we fell in love with the series originally

Massive "Where am I"? How did I get here?"

I am asking myself the same thing.

This has got to the 'slowest' of the series so far. SMH. A real snooze. Good sleep aid. A lot of 'Detective work' happening, just for the author to realize you can't follow all the crazy and just tells you what's going on. Essentially wasted the time of anyone who did try to pay attention, which should be few people because, it is a real snooze fest like I said before.