House of Cards by C.E. Murphy

So this is the very first post of my own blog (finally!).

I'd been playing around with the idea for some time and finally the benefits of one outweighed my lack of time.

House of Cards by C.E. Murphy is the second in the Negotiator trilogy. I'm not generally one for sci-fi or so I thought. I bulldozed my way through the first novel, Heart of Stone, and loved it so much I could barely believe the second one was immediately available for literary consumption.

C.E. Murphy has a way of writing that makes me slow down. The word use and concepts are excellently twisted and complex. C.E. easily throws out ideas that are rather foreign to me as a non-sci-fi reader (generally) but does it with such nonchalance as to make those ideas instantly acceptable. What is impossible in other books becomes unerring truth in this series. As this is my first experience with C.E. Murphy I'll have to withold judgement about other series. I know that I will be reading more of her work soon.

In regards to this book in particular, our heroine Margrit, becomes the main negotiator between the races and what they desire from their changing world. Selkies make a reappearance (in bulk) in this novel and all of our favorite characters from the first novel slip effortlessly into the second.

The relationship between Alban and Margrit is illogically simple within the confines of such a complex plot. It is basically Beauty and the Beast with enough lovely quirks to make it new and dramatic. Alban suffers from more human emotions than he can ever recall having and seems to be having a fantastic time of it. The gargoyle can't seem to reconcile himself to change but changes easily enough to accomodate Margrit's whims.

So much seems to happen within the pages that it is difficult to put down what aspect of the plot takes precedence over the others. Trying to boil it down is just wrong and ends up sounding like a poor Dick & Jane story that outlines the basics but is devoid of the inherent drama.

Margrit has become a major player within the Old Races and negotiates a quorum with one member of each of the Old Races present: Janx for the Dragons, Daisani for the Vampires, Malik for the Djinn, Kaimana for the Selkies and Alban/Biali for the Gargoyles.

They discuss the three exiling offenses to the Old Races and overturn two of the three. The overturning of the "breed with humans" rule allows the Selkies to return to the society surrounding the Old Races and gives Alban and Margrit a chance of actually being together.

That is probably the biggest step the plot takes but there are dozens of other small things that happen. Margrit breaks up with Tony. Margrit's boss at Legal Aid dies. Margrit takes a job for Daisani. Alban takes a job with Janx. We find out about how Margrit's mother knows Daisani. (This is the bad Dick & Jane style that I was so afraid of...)

It's a terrific book. I very much recommend it although you must read the first novel (Heart of Stone) first so that you are not completely overwhelmed but the jump-right-in style that C.E. Murphy uses so well.