I love this series and I'm only two books in. We meet up with Ray Lilly several months after Child of Fire. He's working at a grocery store and trying to forget about the events in Hammer Bay when an investigator with the Twenty Palaces Society shows up. A group is auctioning off a predator, and they're being sent in to gather information.

On the one hand I'm disappointed by the fact that we see less of Annalise in this book, as I find the interaction between she and Ray a lot of fun. On the other hand, we get to see Ray flounder about on his own without any magical backup, making his own mistakes and coming into his own. I'm also pretty intrigued by the insinuations that Ray is something more than your average Wooden Man. It's a bit obvious, or he wouldn't be our main character, but hints are definitely being dropped that Ray might be something special, or have more of a future in the Twenty Palaces Society than as low tier cannon fodder. It's a great hook and I'll definitely be coming back for more. ( )

With Game of Cages, the sequel to the debut Twenty Palaces novel Child of Fire, Harry Connolly has not only avoided the sophomore slump, but exceeded even my high expectations for this story. The book, which continues the adventures of Ray Lilly, a “wooden man” working for a mysterious organization of sorcerers, is even better than its “Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2009″ predecessor. As with Child of Fire, the plot moves forward at a brisk pace and the world is populated with interesting characters spouting crisp dialogue.

Where the sequel surpasses the first book is in the fleshing out of both the main character and the world in which he lives. Connolly gives us just enough information about the Twenty Palaces Society, the Empty Spaces, and the way magic works to keep the reader wanting more. It’s a great read that raises my anticipation level for the third book even higher than it was for this one.
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The second book picks up about 6 months after the end of the first book and Ray has not heard a peep out of anyone from Twenty Palaces until today when someone picks him up from work as backup for an auction. Things go wrong of course and Ray and Catherine are trying to hunt down the predator before anyone else gets hurt or someone decides they want it for themselves. The actions of the townspeople were a bit odd until it was revealed the entire town was under a spell cutting it off from the rest of the world. Ray gets the snot beat out of him but manages to come out on top. The book ends with not many questions answered about Twenty Palaces and I have to wonder if they will be answered in the next one.
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Picked it up and read it in a day because I couldn't put it down! Then promptly kicked myself for not making it last longer. ( )

In this book, Ray Lilly is picked up at his working class job by Catherine because the twenty palaces society has work for him to do. She is not impressed to drive an hour out of her way to pick a wooden man. A big auction is happening for a predator in the tiny town of Washaway and Ray and Catherine are tasked with finding out the details of what is going on.

As to be expected, the situation quickly escalates and Ray becomes a one man rescuer once again. Someone has to save the town from the sapphire dog who has made pets of most of the town's residents causing them to kill each other so that it can feed on them. The sapphire dog creates feelings of love and adoration in its victim when you look at it and marks you as belonging to it when it licks you. Because of the power the sapphire dog wields a primary - a powerful sorcerer, who has actually been on the hit list of the twenty palace society for quite some time will stop at nothing to possess the sapphire dog and has used magic to make it impossible for anyone to leave town or call for help.

We do briefly see a return of Annalise towards the end of the book. Ray is relieved to see her because he knows that he is in over his head and yet once again, Annalise is not around for the final showdown. Though all he has is his ghost knife and known of her power, Ray is able to defeat the primary that Annalise lost to. Uh huh. I don't understand the point of repeatedly suggesting that Annalise is this all powerful being, only to have Ray save her again. If you don't actually follow through with a display of power, telling us about her power is pointless. It feels at this point more like Annalise is Ray's wooden man than the other way around. This theme is somewhat relieved by Catherine who when kidnapped does manage to rescue herself before Ray can do his prince charming to the rescue routine; however, once again when the action happens, Catherine is nowhere to be seen. Ray sends her away because she is a mother of two small children.


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