Book Review: Child of Fire by Harry Connelly

As I am generally a fan of magical fantasy and urban dark fantasy, this novel sounded like it would be right my alley and it was! I can't tell you the last time I picked up a novel that was so captivating that I read it in basically 2 or 3 sittings, and that's what happened with Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel. Harry Connolly is a new talent and this is the first of a series, so there are still questions left unanswered at the end of this book that I assume will be fleshed out in the future installments.

The group at the center of the action is the Twenty Palace Society, comprised of powerful magicians who use whatever means necessary to control use of magic in the general population, since so often spells and demons go wrong and end up running amuck. Our unlikely protagonist is Ray Lilly, the driver and "wooden man" (i.e., fall guy or cannon fodder) for Society enforcer Annalise. They are called to a major predicament where many children in a town called Hammer Bay are spontaneously combusting, turning into worms, and then promply being wiped out of people's memories. Their own parents do not remember them and do not even see their books, clothes, or toys right in front of them.

Annalise is sent to find the source of the problem and wipe it out. Unfortunately she is badly wounded (which is hard to achieve on a centuries old magician) and Ray must complete her job alone. There are good guys, bad guys, ghosts, demons, spells, werewolves, corrupt politicians, and a crazy generations old magical web created within the Hammer family.

A great scary, gory, funny, fascinating thrill ride of a novel!

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