Book Log #19: House of Cards, by C.E. Murphy

[annathepiper]

House of Cards, Book 2 of mizkit's Negotiator series, took me a bit to read. It has less overt action than Book 1 of this series, and a lot more emphasis on the politics between the various Old Races as well as the shifting relationships around the heroine, Margrit. It's not an easy book to read when you're not at the top of your game, since there's a lot to keep track of in here--and with me having the Martian Death Flu going on, I spent quite a bit of time going "wait, what?" and having to double-check what I'd just read.

That's not a bad thing, though. The plot does take a while to build, and spends a lot of initial time on Margrit testing the new status she holds among the Old Races--as well as what her exposure to them will mean for her human relationships. There are casualties both literal and figurative; there are accords reached and accords broken. And there are interesting actions all around from the major power players among the Races, all of whom do a decent job of being intriguingly murky without being evil, a tough job to pull off in an urban fantasy with a cast of this size. Well done, Kit! Four stars.

Comments

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

I finally got around to getting and reading Thunderbird Falls, and now have to get Coyote Dreams. I'm guessing that's the last we're seeing of Joanne, eh? That's gonna be too bad, because I really like that character :D

[annathepiper]

Actually, there are more Walker Papers to come! Kit's going to be working on Book 4 this year, with a 2009 release for that, last I checked. :)

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweet! I should go check out her website. Finally remembered to friend her here on lj. Something I mean to do every time you link to her journal. :D

[annathepiper]

Yay! Tell her I sent you. ^_^

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

Will do!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, good! I'm glad you liked it! It's always nerve-wracking to see my own books come up on the flist reviews. O.O :) *hugs*!

[annathepiper]

Hee, like I'm not going to like something you wrote? ;)

I will cheerfully add that so far, this series seems to have the most heft of anything of yours I've read so far; I'm grooving on the complexity of the relationships between Margrit and Alban, and Margrit and Tony, and Margrit and your various major power players. It's a very different feel overall from the Walker Papers. And I'll be very intrigued to see how TQB compares!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I'm really going to be interested to see what people think of TQB. IMHO, HoC is a light fluffy apolitical romp comparatively, and I ... I mean, I generally think my books are good, of course. I think they're fun reads and all of that. But I think TQB is _good_, if you see what I mean. :)

[annathepiper]

I do! It's coming out soon, yes?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

April 29!

[annathepiper]

YAY!