Game Of Cages by Henry Connolly
Book 2 in the ‘Twenty Palaces’ saga starts out well as lowlife thug Ray tries to redeem himself by fighting evil using dark magic. But the plot is slow and meandering and the hardboiled dialogue Ray utters is ridiculous. Also the world building, magic system and motives are contradictory and this was exhaustively dull. No wonder this saga bombed harder than Dresden. I have no interest in the other books in the saga: ‘Child of Fire’, ‘Circle of Enemies’ and ‘Twenty Palaces’.
Best Lines:
“What’s wrong with it? Rabies? Why is it blue?”
“While you were carrying your books in the halls and complaining about homework, I was on the streets stealing cars and getting high. I was doing time in juvie for shooting my best friend.”
“I knew someone named King. I hoped to God it wasn’t the same guy.”
“I didn’t deserve to be safe.”
“Is this conversation going to take long? Because my socks are wet.”