Hands of Flame (The Negotiator, Book 3) by C. E. Murphy
C. E. Murphy stuns again in her third book of the Negotiator series.
Hands of Flame begins a few weeks after the end of the last book House of Cards. At this point we are well-entrenched in the series and it's not recommended to read this book as a standalone novel.
Margrit Knight has only known of the Old Races (Dragons & Djinn, Gargoyles & Selkies and Vampires) for a scant three months but her life has been immeasurably affected by her knowledge. Having quit her old job as a lawyer at Legal Aid, Margrit is poised to begin a new job as Eliseo Daisani's secretary which would give her considerable freedom to pursue "jobs" for the Old Races.
In the last book Margrit found herself sitting on a quorum as the representative of her race. In this book Margrit takes her role as token human to a higher level of respect within the Old Races. In this novel she continues to push the Old Races to change their centuries-old traditions in favor of new governances that will help them survive the ever-shifting world of humans. Margrit negotiates a peace agreement on the docks between the Selkies and Djinn and faces Alban's detractor Biali in a gargoyle trial in an effort to win Alban back into the Gargoyle's gestalt.
As usual it's a complicated plot fraught with financial politics and pitfalls. Trading "favors" (destroying an empire, removing a dragon, stopping a war) seems to take up much of Margrit's time and her quick mind seems to catch on to the intricacies of the problems much faster than I would have had I been in her shoes.
My only real complaint is that Alban kept to shadows, showing up to protect Margrit or push the plot along with little jabs. Margrit handles almost all of the action - including a few fights scenes. It's really quite impressive when comparing her character through the duration of the series, but I miss some of Alban's quirks.
C. E. Murphy stuns again in her third book of the Negotiator series.
Hands of Flame begins a few weeks after the end of the last book House of Cards. At this point we are well-entrenched in the series and it's not recommended to read this book as a standalone novel.
Margrit Knight has only known of the Old Races (Dragons & Djinn, Gargoyles & Selkies and Vampires) for a scant three months but her life has been immeasurably affected by her knowledge. Having quit her old job as a lawyer at Legal Aid, Margrit is poised to begin a new job as Eliseo Daisani's secretary which would give her considerable freedom to pursue "jobs" for the Old Races.
In the last book Margrit found herself sitting on a quorum as the representative of her race. In this book Margrit takes her role as token human to a higher level of respect within the Old Races. In this novel she continues to push the Old Races to change their centuries-old traditions in favor of new governances that will help them survive the ever-shifting world of humans. Margrit negotiates a peace agreement on the docks between the Selkies and Djinn and faces Alban's detractor Biali in a gargoyle trial in an effort to win Alban back into the Gargoyle's gestalt.
As usual it's a complicated plot fraught with financial politics and pitfalls. Trading "favors" (destroying an empire, removing a dragon, stopping a war) seems to take up much of Margrit's time and her quick mind seems to catch on to the intricacies of the problems much faster than I would have had I been in her shoes.
My only real complaint is that Alban kept to shadows, showing up to protect Margrit or push the plot along with little jabs. Margrit handles almost all of the action - including a few fights scenes. It's really quite impressive when comparing her character through the duration of the series, but I miss some of Alban's quirks.
No comments:
Post a Comment