Circle of Enemies (Twenty Palaces, #3)

Dec 22, 2012 Greg Kemble rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've been reading up on urban fantasy as a way to become familiar with the genre, since I'm in the process of writing one myself. I read the first book of a number of series, and Connolly's first book in this series (Child of Fire) remains my favorite first-in-a-series. I was mildly disappointed with the second, which seems to be a common reaction. It's unfortunate, because I fear that second disappointment led people not to read the third -- this book, Circle of Enemies. I like this one best (t...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Third in the Twenty Palaces urban fantasy series revolving around Ray Lilly, a man with a ghost knife who is both attracted and repelled by the organization for which he works.

My Take
Phfft...this is a bunch of "friends" Ray is much better off without! Friends who betray and rob each other at the drop of a hat.

How sick is this? Wally claims he's doing these things to his old circle because Ray helped him in high school???

Why is it people never seem to grasp when to shut up and be still in a dange...more

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May 19, 2012 JJ DeBenedictis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dang, I love these books. I'm so bummed the publisher had to cancel the series (and they seemed sorry about it too.) If the author decides to self-publish, I'll definitely keep buying this series.

As I quipped on Twitter, this book grabbed me like a facehugger from the Alien movies. It had me reading until late into the night (and wobbling with sleep-deprivation the next day.) The plot is gripping, and while the action moves quickly, the writing is so clean and skillful that you never get confus...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Ranting Dragon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: garrett

http://www.rantingdragon.com/circle-o...

The third installment in Harry Connolly’s Twenty Palaces series, Circle of Enemies returns us once again to the story of Ray Lilly. Continuing in the footsteps of its predecessors, Circle of Enemies is full of wonderfully gritty realism and a completely morally ambiguous protagonist who is a lot of fun to follow.

This time, it’s personal
Yes, the tagline is cheesy, but it’s the best way to sum up the initial premise of the novel. An ex-convict, Ray has survi...more http://www.rantingdragon.com/circle-o...

The third installment in Harry Connolly’s Twenty Palaces series, Circle of Enemies returns us once again to the story of Ray Lilly. Continuing in the footsteps of its predecessors, Circle of Enemies is full of wonderfully gritty realism and a completely morally ambiguous protagonist who is a lot of fun to follow.

This time, it’s personal
Yes, the tagline is cheesy, but it’s the best way to sum up the initial premise of the novel. An ex-convict, Ray has survived more during his time with the Twenty Palace Society than any “wooden man” probably should have. Up to this point, Ray has been able to tough it out and has bounced back from everything thrown at him reasonably well. However, when members of his old gang back in Los Angeles begin falling victim to magical attack, the personal stakes are raised—and not only because Ray is being blamed for the attacks. A little bit of digging reveals that Wally King, the sorcerer who thrust Ray into this mess in the first place, is behind the attacks. Ray has to make a decision between his past and his responsibilities—and he has to do it fast, as the threat of Wally King and a bizarre new predator barrels ever closer.

There will be blood
As I mentioned, Circle of Enemies follows in the footsteps of it’s predecessors. This remains no less true in regards to the sheer amount of violence in the novel. There is a lot of it in Circle of Enemies, with people being murdered pretty much right and left. However, it’s not killing just for killing’s sake; most every death impacts the plot—if not necessarily Ray—in some significant way. And it’s not sugar coated. It is stark, blatant, and bloody. Connolly does a good job of keeping the violence interesting and plot-related, but if you’re not a fan of uber-violent novels, this may not be the thing for you. It didn’t bother me much, though.

Insights abound
Circle of Enemies is less physically action-oriented than the first two novels in the series. By its very nature, it is a lot more character-driven as we gain glimpses of Ray’s powerful and personal reactions to the events unfolding around him. Not only that, but he has gained a measure of morality over the course of the series, feeling guilt over some of the events that took place during Child of Fire and Game of Cages. All of these things make Ray more believable as a character, not to mention more human. On top of all that, this book bears witness to the evolving relationship between Ray and Annalise. It is no longer the boss-minion relationship of the first novel, but something… different, and it was a delight to see things unfold.

Why should you read this book?
Harry Connolly has done it again, folks. Circle of Enemies is hands-down my favorite of the Twenty Palaces series thus far. It is a novel full of dark realism, gritty violence, and a fantastic magic system. But more than that, it is a novel of deep insight and character development. As always, if you are new to the series, I suggest reading books one and two first, but you won’t be lost if you begin with this novel. All in all, a very fun and entertaining ride well worth your time.

Now, this is where I must be the bearer of bad news. If you haven’t yet heard, Circle of Enemies was the last Twenty Palaces novel under contract, and that contract was not renewed. Connolly has said that it will be the last Twenty Palaces novel for now, and he is currently moving on to other things. I cannot thank you enough, Mr. Connolly, for your time and effort in sharing your stories with us. It has been a wonderful journey. Here’s to the next one.(less)

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Sep 19, 2011 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-f

I was about to give up on this series after the last book(Game of Cages). It was a grim series to start with and it looked to just keep getting grimmer. Well, I'm glad I didn't give up, because Circle of Enemies is a really good book. And it is a bit lighter in tone(but don't take that to mean it's a bundle of laughs). Ray is not an upbeat character and probably never will be.
Ray is back in sunny southern California because members of the car-heist gang he used to belong to have acquired some ma...more

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Jun 10, 2012 K. Bird rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not a fan of gritty/noir investigations, but boy does author Harry Connolly know how to draw you in and leave you no room for attention wandering.

I really enjoyed the first two books, but only at the 4 star level. I think this the first time in my reading career I've ever given a 5 start review to the third book in a series when the other two were 4 stars.

If you like Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden or Kevin Hearne's Atticus, and you haven't hung out yet with Connolly's Ray Lily, then you're tota...more I'm not a fan of gritty/noir investigations, but boy does author Harry Connolly know how to draw you in and leave you no room for attention wandering.

I really enjoyed the first two books, but only at the 4 star level. I think this the first time in my reading career I've ever given a 5 start review to the third book in a series when the other two were 4 stars.

If you like Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden or Kevin Hearne's Atticus, and you haven't hung out yet with Connolly's Ray Lily, then you're totally missing out.

Ray is a wooden man; basically the red shirt of the Twenty Palaces Society. He goes in and distracts the bad guys so the mages can destroy them. Needless to say, this isn't a long-lived profession. Ray has just come off of book two where a lot of people were killed in the collateral damage of destroying a bunch of predators.

Ray is sick of death, and unhappy with how Twenty Palaces and his boss, Annalise, seem to have no compunction about killing off innocents to save the world from the predators.

An old friend pops in and tells him "I'm dying and its your fault", disappears, and sets Ray on a path back to his Southern California roots as a small time car thief. But all the members from his gang seem to have gained a special power, and are mixed up with an old enemy of Ray.

Predators are on the loose, and Ray has to face the heartbreaking question of whether the ends justifies the means in a personal way.

That is what makes this book stand out from the others. Not only do we get the non-stop action, the clever use of Ray's "ghost knife" in fights, and delve deeper into the secrets and background of both Ray himself and the Twenty Palaces society, but we get more fleshed out moral quandries both from Ray, and a bit of humanity from Annalise.

I've heard this is the last, contracted book in the series, and I for one am sad to see Ray go just when he was blossoming. Still, the ending has a satisfying potential for Ray to play a bigger part in Twenty Palaces (as he seems to be the only one getting results these days according to Annalise) and some loose ends are tied up.

This Book's Snack Rating: Like gnoshing on a bag of Wasabi peas for the addictive action and gradual, spicy heat of the layered moral quandries
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Jan 28, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Writing about the Twenty Palaces series is mildly frustrating.

Overall, this book was good- very good, even. A lot of the problems that I had in the series were ironed out, and whereas I felt like the second book was absurdly unlikable and borderline pointless, this one felt solid. Ray Lily, the protagonist, is still the vaguely misanthropic yet moralistic asshole who works for powerful mages, but by introducing elements of his past, the character seems to become much more fleshed out. Likewise,...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Bridget rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who enjoys the genre this book is in

This was a book that I couldn't put down and now that I've finished it, I'm still going back to read over my favorite parts, and there is a lot of them. I'm also feeling the sleep deprivation from staying up too late and getting up too early to read it in-between taking care of my kids but this book was worth it. It was the third in a series though and I just ordered the first two to be able to read them. If I had known this book was going to be so good, I would have waited until I received and...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Christopher Valin rated it 5 of 5 stars

If Circle of Enemies were made into a film and marketed by the wrong people, the tagline would definitely read: "This time it's personal." Still, in a nutshell, that's what makes the third Twenty Palaces novel stand out from the other two. Rather than protagonist Ray Lilly running around meeting new people in a new place, he's back to his old haunts trying to figure out why one of his old group of friends is accusing him of killing them all. This one has all the things that made the first two bo...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Jami Zehr rated it 5 of 5 stars

Circle of Enemies is the third book in Harry Connolly’s Twenty Palaces series, and the last book to be published by Del Rey. Which is completely unfortunate. This book was amazing, most definitely the best of the three, and had only just begun to explain Ray Lily’s background and how he was thrown into magic, predators, and spell books.

Ray is visited by a ghost from his past. She appears out of nowhere in his apartment above his aunt’s garage, blames him for killing her and the rest of their mut...more Circle of Enemies is the third book in Harry Connolly’s Twenty Palaces series, and the last book to be published by Del Rey. Which is completely unfortunate. This book was amazing, most definitely the best of the three, and had only just begun to explain Ray Lily’s background and how he was thrown into magic, predators, and spell books.

Ray is visited by a ghost from his past. She appears out of nowhere in his apartment above his aunt’s garage, blames him for killing her and the rest of their mutual friends, and disappears. Ray realizes that somehow magic has infiltrated his group of friends from the old days, the days he left behind when he was finally released from prison, and in spite of what may be a personal set back, he is determined to discover what is happening and help his old friends, if he can. And if he can’t, then he knows he has to call the Twenty Palaces Society, a society that shoots to kill first, and then asks questions. Ray is weary of involving the Society before figuring out what is really going on, and wants to see if he can save anyone from magic, predators, or themselves.

Ray is intelligent, he is both street savvy and thinks through consequences of his decisions. Although new to the Twenty Palaces Society he tries to learn what he can to make informed decisions. But he is man haunted by his past, like the rest of us. (Well, maybe my ghost’s are a little less blood thirsty.) He has a lot to overcome, both the accusations of his friends and his own guilt. I always liked Ray in the previous books, but I admired his tenacity and his willingness to do the right thing (which often got him into more trouble) in the third book. I also liked reading the fight scenes, something I usually skip over. I liked reading them because Ray always did what I thought he should do, he was scrappy and didn’t hesitate to hurt someone who was trying to hurt him. Not to say this always worked in his favor, but it was a relief to read fight scenes that I was mentally yelling at the character to do the smart thing, and he did. I was also quite pleased that Ray would steal food out of people’s refrigerators after he was finished fighting them, knowing he needed fuel for the hard road ahead. Yes, totally. That is exactly what a character like this would do, and Connolly always played Ray truthfully to his character. So refreshing.

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Mar 10, 2012 Gillian Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was the best installment of the series so far. While Ray (the main character) isn't the most well-adjusted or even likable character in Urban Fantasy, he is one of the most unique. The entire concept of the Twenty Palaces is quite a departure from the typical supernatural-woman-with-a-complicated-love-life chum that is out there that I was really happy. It's too bad the publisher wasn't as fearless as the author or character.
This series is for those readers who like a little more gray in t...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Tasula rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I just love Connolly's series about an ex-con (Ray) recruited to be a sorcerer's "wooden man"- kind of an expendable assistant in fighting horrific predators from "the empty spaces". Ray is a man with a conscience, feeling guilty about the suffering and death he has HAD to cause in his new job. Annalise is a Peer, a high level sorcerer, who ruthlessly kills predators, without regard for collateral damage. This 3rd in the series after Child of Fire and Game of Cages, stars Annalise again, and mov...more

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Nov 23, 2011 David Marshall rated it 2 of 5 stars

Very disappointing. This started well as a series with the first two published books being entertaining page-turners. Unfortunately, this has action but I couldn't have cared less about any of the people involved. Worse, it's getting very repetitive. The fighting is just the same-old as in the first two volumes. The only saving virtue is that Harry Connolly is apparently going to develop the story constructively by getting Ray Lilly into the Twenty Palaces Society. This is one book too late but...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars

These books might seem like fantasy if you glance at them, but they're actually horror. Which makes sense. The story of a pretty normal guy dealing with magic would probably be a horror story.

We get some more background on Ray Lilly in this story, meeting his cohort from before he got involved with magic. We also see the shape of things to come, as Lilly and Annalise come to mutually trust each other and dare to speak about the future.

I like that the books in this series are self-contained, ther...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

I ask you, is anyone else in the "hunting urban monsters" subgenre actually writing *scary*? Because this is the scary stuff. (Okay, F. Paul Wilson can also do scary. I'm behind on his series.) Small-time thief continues to hunt the alien horrors from outside space and time. They're not sexy-scary, they don't have charming accents, and they're not good in bed. They're also backdrop: this series is about the Twenty Palace Society, who are not exactly the Happy Ending Club either, and what our her...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Priscilla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Harry Connolly is one of the most innovative new voices in Urban Fantasy, and I wish his sales numbers reflected how mind-blowingly awesometasticsauce his books are. Harry creates original monsters that are truly formidable, not just because they appear difficult to defeat, but because they are so strange and alien that those fighting them often have no idea what their weaknesses are, or if those who fall prey to the monsters have any chance of being saved. This series is gritty and brutal and u...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Kristin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ray Lilly hasn’t had much contact with the Twenty Palace Society or his sometime boss, Annalise Powliss, lately, until someone from his past mysteriously appears to him, telling him all of his old friends are going to die because of him. This has Ray heading back to L.A., his old home, to revisit the gang he used to run around committing crimes with years ago. Once there, he realizes magic is being used, predators are being loosed on Earth and he knows that, despite what it might mean for his fo...more Ray Lilly hasn’t had much contact with the Twenty Palace Society or his sometime boss, Annalise Powliss, lately, until someone from his past mysteriously appears to him, telling him all of his old friends are going to die because of him. This has Ray heading back to L.A., his old home, to revisit the gang he used to run around committing crimes with years ago. Once there, he realizes magic is being used, predators are being loosed on Earth and he knows that, despite what it might mean for his former friends, the Twenty Palace Society must be called in to deal with it. Particularly when he discovers the person behind everything that’s going on is the one responsible for Ray getting involved with the Society in the first place.

For fictional urban fantasy guys, Rob Thurman sets the gold standard as far as I’m concerned. Between Niko, Stefan and now Jackson, they are the perfect male protagonists to me. Then came along Ray Lilly and I totally fell in love with this character. It’s not that he’s insecure, but he’s not a superhero and knows his limits, though he frequently pushes them. He knows right from wrong and while he occasionally has to cross boundaries he’d rather not, it’s not his go-to move and he’d like nothing more than to stop not only all predators, but also the Society. As the series progresses, Ray’s hatred of having to kill innocents hasn’t lessened, but he is coming to understand that doing something for the greater good sometimes means that you can’t save everyone. Also, I love the tattoos Ray has (was really hoping to see them on a cover one day), they’re very creative and effective, and the ghost knife has to be one of the coolest things ever.

Everything about this book worked for me (with the exception of the quickie thrown in at the end. Not that I don’t want to see Ray end up with someone, but, ew, skank alert! I wouldn’t have touched her with a ten-foot pole after what she did, guess that’s where the difference in chromosomes comes into play), from the characters to the storyline and I loved getting a nice, long look into Ray’s past. This go around, we also learned a bit more about the Society, its members and more about Annalise, who isn’t as fearless and indestructible as one might think. And what Ray discovers near the end of the book could change things between him and Annalise, the Society, and even change the world, forever.

Of course we’ll never know what would’ve happened now. Before I finished Circle of Enemies, I was looking around to see when the next book was coming out and saw that there was a prequel, which I never read, I don’t really like the .5 novellas that come out and feel the same way about prequels, though this one sounds like it could be good, as I believe it details how Ray became Annalise’s wooden man. After looking around a bit more, I eventually found out that sales of this series has gone down with each book so the publisher opted not to continue with it. To say that I was monumentally pissed would be a massive understatement. I mean, Fifty Shades of Grey is basically fan-fic porn of Twilight (from what I hear, I haven’t read it and have no plans to), yet it sells millions of copies and has been optioned for a freaking movie??!! Please stop this planet, I really want to get off.

I hope that some day, some way, Connolly can continue this series because it was really, really getting good and I’m dying to read more about Ray Lilly and the Twenty Palace Society.
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Oct 01, 2012 Christine Rains rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ray Lilly is an ex-con and has been thrown into a world much more brutal than a jailhouse. As a Wooden Man for the Twenty Palace Society, he has the life expectancy of a fruit fly, but he's somehow managed to survive a few encounters with predators already. When an old friend calls for help, Ray heads back to his old neighborhood and is faced with the supernatural mess they blame him for. He has to decide if he should help them or destroy them, but only if he manages to survive the new predators...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Garrett Jones rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: top-favorites, urban-fantasy

http://www.rantingdragon.com/circle-o...

The third installment in Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series, Circle of Enemies returns us once again to the story of Ray Lilly. Continuing in the footsteps of its predecessors, Circle of Enemies is full of wonderfully gritty realism and a completely morally ambiguous protagonist who is a lot of fun to follow.

This time, it's personal

Yes, the tagline is cheesy, but it's the best way to sum up the initial premise of the novel. An ex-convict, Ray has survi

...more http://www.rantingdragon.com/circle-o...

The third installment in Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series, Circle of Enemies returns us once again to the story of Ray Lilly. Continuing in the footsteps of its predecessors, Circle of Enemies is full of wonderfully gritty realism and a completely morally ambiguous protagonist who is a lot of fun to follow.

This time, it's personal

Yes, the tagline is cheesy, but it's the best way to sum up the initial premise of the novel. An ex-convict, Ray has survived more during his time with the Twenty Palace Society than any "wooden man" probably should have. Up to this point, Ray has been able to tough it out and has bounced back from everything thrown at him reasonably well. However, when members of his old gang back in Los Angeles begin falling victim to magical attack, the personal stakes are raised—and not only because Ray is being blamed for the attacks. A little bit of digging reveals that Wally King, the sorcerer who thrust Ray into this mess in the first place, is behind the attacks. Ray has to make a decision between his past and his responsibilities—and he has to do it fast, as the threat of Wally King and a bizarre new predator barrels ever closer.

There will be blood

As I mentioned, Circle of Enemies follows in the footsteps of it's predecessors. This remains no less true in regards to the sheer amount of violence in the novel. There is a lot of it in Circle of Enemies, with people being murdered pretty much right and left. However, it's not killing just for killing's sake; most every death impacts the plot—if not necessarily Ray—in some significant way. And it's not sugar coated. It is stark, blatant, and bloody. Connolly does a good job of keeping the violence interesting and plot-related, but if you're not a fan of uber-violent novels, this may not be the thing for you. It didn't bother me much, though.

Insights abound

Circle of Enemies is less physically action-oriented than the first two novels in the series. By its very nature, it is a lot more character-driven as we gain glimpses of Ray's powerful and personal reactions to the events unfolding around him. Not only that, but he has gained a measure of morality over the course of the series, feeling guilt over some of the events that took place during Child of Fire and Game of Cages. All of these things make Ray more believable as a character, not to mention more human. On top of all that, this book bears witness to the evolving relationship between Ray and Annalise. It is no longer the boss-minion relationship of the first novel, but something… different, and it was a delight to see things unfold.

Why should you read this book?

Harry Connolly has done it again, folks. Circle of Enemies is hands-down my favorite of the Twenty Palaces series thus far. It is a novel full of dark realism, gritty violence, and a fantastic magic system. But more than that, it is a novel of deep insight and character development. As always, if you are new to the series, I suggest reading books one and two first, but you won't be lost if you begin with this novel. All in all, a very fun and entertaining ride well worth your time.

Now, this is where I must be the bearer of bad news. If you haven't yet heard, Circle of Enemies was the last Twenty Palaces novel under contract, and that contract was not renewed. Connolly has said that it will be the last Twenty Palaces novel for now, and he is currently moving on to other things. I cannot thank you enough, Mr. Connolly, for your time and effort in sharing your stories with us. It has been a wonderful journey. Here's to the next one.

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Jul 01, 2012 Sven rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

I thought Circle of Enemies was the best of it's series so far. Not only is a great book by itself it's also a great part of the series.

I was a bit reluctant about the plot at first because, frankly, I felt like I got too strong a dose of Ray Lilly's "I used to be a criminal" introspection in the first book. Which has always been the least interesting part of this series for me and not something I wanted to revisit. So the idea of him returning to his old criminal stomping ground did not appeal...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Emmie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: series, supernatural-creatures

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 10, 2011 WillowBe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anti-hero-who-can-t-win-for-losing

REally I would give it 3 1/2, though I thought Annalise' sudden chattiness odd and disruptive in the extreme. She did a 180 degree turn. And, the author, also racheted way down, Ray's unrequited hunger for her. I think Iliked her mean. She was way too mean before, but it made sense- he was an untried asshole, and likely to die any minute. She was mysterious, almost godlike. Now she is like any other harried middle-management with asshole bosses, difficult coworkers and challenging subordinates....more

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Oct 28, 2011 Shanshad Whelan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-giveaway-win, fantasy, urban-fantasy, series, goodread-first-reads

Got this book as a first reads giveaway from Goodreads. Happening to win this particular book was fortunate since I'd been aiming to read it anyway.

There's a lot of urban fantasy out there these days. There are also a lot of paranormal romances out there. Often it can be hard to tell the difference or mark exactly where a book crosses the line in subgenre. With Connolly's Twenty Palaces series that's not a problem in the slightest. This uber-violent take no prisoners series is the furthest thin...more Got this book as a first reads giveaway from Goodreads. Happening to win this particular book was fortunate since I'd been aiming to read it anyway.

There's a lot of urban fantasy out there these days. There are also a lot of paranormal romances out there. Often it can be hard to tell the difference or mark exactly where a book crosses the line in subgenre. With Connolly's Twenty Palaces series that's not a problem in the slightest. This uber-violent take no prisoners series is the furthest thing from romance. If you have an antipathy for sexy furballs and sparkly vamps, don't mind a high body count and enjoy fast-paced action, then this may be just the thing for you.

The first and second books in this series were good, but I have to say this third book brought some needed dimension to the protagonist. Rather than have Ray out in the middle of nowhere facing a town of strangers, he's back in his haunts from his former life, facing old friends and associates and dealing with more magical fallout.

I'll be honest here and admit you've got to be willing to put up with a lot of violence, plenty of people murdered or killed and no attempt to sugar coat it. Connolly has us look at his world through a relatively unforgiving lens where most of the individuals are tarnished. Ray Lily's an interesting character to be following. Certainly he's no saint, but he holds to certain shreds of morality where he can. He's still very human and readers will like him for that. This third book gives him the background that was missing in the other two books, fleshing him out more and providing him with some difficult choices.

I like the way the magical system and monsters work within this series; it's a fresh take that takes readers away from well trod tropes. I'm not a huge fan of uber violent books, but this one manages to keep me reading nevertheless. Each time it surprises me. The story telling has to be doing a damn good job to convince me to move past the body count. Overall I don't have much quibble with this third book except for a few areas of overkill on narration.

Ray goes on a few too many times about how cold-blooded Annalise is, and how she'd kill everyone. While I understand bringing it up for those readers new to the series, one or two references would be enough. Beyond that, is, well, overkill. We know what she's like, and if readers didn't get it by then, her actions "on screen" would be enough to confirm it. Likewise, Ray repeats himself a bit too often on how bad the predators are. I think after the first time, most of the readers will comprehend the threat. But these are minor quibbles. I'll be looking for the 4th book if Connolly takes this series further. I'd like to see what Ray Lily will do next!(less)

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Sep 21, 2011 Contrarius rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Once again, Harry Connolly comes up with bizarre monsters and impossible choices for his hero Ray Lilly to struggle against.

I like this series. It's different from most UF that I read -- these aren't your typical monsters, and Ray is often left so much in the dark that my heart really goes out to the guy. On the other hand, his "ghost knife" often seems like the Ginsu knife of the magic world -- it slices, it dices, it can do anything the plot requires of it. So at times Ray seems very underpow...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-book, urban-fantasy

It's my understanding that this is the final book in the series and that the author won't be writing any more. Alas, I say, alas. I'm usually not a fan of the "let's wring every penny out of this series" camp, but this was one I would have liked to have seen a few more books.

Ya know, I really don't have much to say about this one other than I enjoyed it - a lot. It was fast paced, engaging, interesting things are happening and it had a satisfactory conclusion. If I had to pick a criticism, it w...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, demons, magic, urban-fantasy, paranormal

Another good read in the series. In fact, I think this one might be my favorite. The story is well written and complicated, the plot fast but smooth flowing and the secondary characters numerous. In this third release we learn more about the society, magic, the spell books and the world in which Ray now lives. Here also the relationship of Ray and Annalise changes further, deepening into something completely foreign to a peer and wooden man. These two and the world Mr. Connolly has created in en...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Lawrence Watt-Evans rated it 5 of 5 stars

This third novel about Ray Lilly takes a slightly different slant -- where the first two showed us Ray getting involved to protect strangers from magical predators, in this one it's the old gang he left behind in L.A. who have gotten themselves into very deep trouble. That raises the stakes, and gives us a little more insight into Ray's character and history.

I'd rate it as superior to Game of Cages, a toss-up with Child of Fire -- but they're all excellent.

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Jan 16, 2012 Josh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Harry Connolly's third installment in the 'Twenty Palaces' series. This book reveals more of Ray Lilly's background. We meet some of his old crew and discover why they have reached out to him after all this time. This book is fast-moving and Mr. Connolly does not pull any punches. The trust between Ray and Annalise continues to grow as Ray takes a chance and decides to trust Annalise in a major way. It's my favorite book of the series.

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Mar 01, 2013 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

That this series was dropped and all prospects of a fourth book appear to be gone is an absolute tragedy. It's so rare to find a series which holds back explanations instead of just infodumping all the intricacies of the world. And having your good guys be mass murders and homicidal vigilantes is not something that you see much of. This series was unique all round so of course it gets dropped.

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Sep 26, 2011 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, urban-fantasy

Wow!!!! This book was so good. Don't want to say more because I hate to give anything away. I will say you find out more about Ray. More about everything. Man, Harry Connolly has one incredible imagination. On the edge of my seat. Could not put it down. Ray Lilly is my new favorite character. Such a complex, flawed and great, great lead. He and Harry Dresden - my favorites.

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title link	preview: Circle of Enemies
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BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9879129-circle-of-enemies?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320544802l/9879129.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9879129-circle-of-enemies?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Circle of Enemies by Harry Connolly[/url]

Circle of Enemies (Twenty Palaces #3)

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