{"id":676,"date":"2008-10-03T22:21:49","date_gmt":"2008-10-04T02:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=676"},"modified":"2021-05-31T07:51:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T11:51:04","slug":"hands-of-flame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/676","title":{"rendered":"Hands of Flame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hands of Flame<\/a><\/em> (2008) C.E. Murphy<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The third and (for now) final story in the Negotiator story arc finds Margrit dealing with a conflict between the Old Races that is turning into an out-and-out war.<\/p>\n

A war that Margrit inadvertently started.<\/p>\n

Although I was quickly sucked into the story, and tore through the book to find out what happened, my opinion about the book is conflicted.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, the pace is fast and I was drawn right into the story, reading it in two days, despite the need to go to work. I also liked the resolution of the story arc. Sure there are more stories that could be written, but there is a nice sense of resolution here.<\/p>\n

On the down side, I still don’t get what Margrit sees in Alban. I know she thinks he’s wonderful, but I found Janx far more interesting. And twice in the story I know precisely where things were going, which made getting there a lot less interesting. It’s hard to build up suspense if it’s pretty obvious what is going to happen, and that was probably the books biggest failing.<\/p>\n

SPOILER<\/strong>
\n(rot13<\/a>)
\nVs lbh jnag zr gb oryvrir gung n punenpgre vf qrnq, svefg naq sberzbfg, qba’g gryy gur qrngu sebz svefg crefba cbvag bs ivrj. Gung’f n qrnq tvirnjnl (cneqba gur cha). Frpbaqyl, V’z abg tbvat gb oryvrir gur znva punenpgre va n fgbel vf qrnq vs V fgvyy unir n dhnegre bs gur obbx yrsg gb ernq. <\/p>\n

Fb abg bayl qvq V xabj fur jnfa’g qrnq orpnhfr bs gur svefg crefba aneengvir, gurer jnfa’g nabgure punenpgre fgebat rabhtu gb pneel gur erznvaqre bs gur obbx. Fb V zbfgyl whfg jnagrq ure gb trg ba jvgu ure qenzngvp qrngu naq trg uheel hc naq pbzr onpx gb yvsr fb jr pbhyq TRG BA jvgu gur erfg bs gur fgbel.
\nEND SPOILER<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I was pleased with the resolution of the story arc, and I enjoyed spending time with most of the characters, but some parts of the story drug on a little. And I still just don’t get what she sees in Alban. If you haven’t read the first book, don’t pick up this one. Start in the first book in the series and read through in order. Although in theory the books could stand alone, I don’t think they’d do so very well.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hands of Flame (2008) C.E. Murphy The third and (for now) final story in the Negotiator story arc finds Margrit dealing with a conflict between the Old Races that is turning into an out-and-out war. A war that Margrit inadvertently started. Although I was quickly sucked into the story, and tore through the book to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,291,16],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-supernatural","tag-c-e-murphy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-aU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":604,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/604","url_meta":{"origin":676,"position":0},"title":"House of Cards","author":"Michelle","date":"June 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"House of Cards (2008) C.E. Murphy Book two in the Negotiator series, House of Cards, continues the story of Margrit Knight, who has stumbled upon the existence of the Old Races: gargoyles, djinn, dragons, selkie, and vampires remain hidden in the world, although their numbers are diminished. I enjoyed this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/House-of-Cards.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":602,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/602","url_meta":{"origin":676,"position":1},"title":"Heart of Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"June 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Heart of Stone (2007) C.E. Murphy I inadvertently picked up the second book in this series, so being me, I had to go back and find the first book in the series, and by then I'd gotten sucked into the Repairman Jack series and the Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/Heart-of-Stone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":301,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/301","url_meta":{"origin":676,"position":2},"title":"Winter Moon","author":"Michelle","date":"August 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Winter Moon (2005) Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, and C.E. Murphy Winter Moon contains three novellas all centered around the moon: Moontide by Mercedes Lackey, The Heart of the Moon by Tanith Lee, and Banshee Cries by C.E. Murphy. Moontide and Heart of the Moon are traditional fantasies, while Banshee Cries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Winter-Moon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4734,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4734","url_meta":{"origin":676,"position":3},"title":"Urban Shaman","author":"Michelle","date":"July 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Urban Shaman (2005) C.E. Murphy I read this several years ago, and never read any further in the series, though I remember finding the book and the premise interesting. But I'd forgotten the story completely, and decided I needed to re-read the start before I dove into any sequels. Joanne\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban-Shaman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Urban-Shaman.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10079,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10079","url_meta":{"origin":676,"position":4},"title":"Bewitching Benedict","author":"Michelle","date":"March 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bewitching Benedict (2017) C.E. Murphy I really enjoyed CE Murphy's Magic and Manners, so when I saw she had a straight-up historical romance, I put it on my wish list, and then got a surprise when Tania got it for me. Set in the late 1700s (Many of the male\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bewitching-Benedict.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3020,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3020","url_meta":{"origin":676,"position":5},"title":"Urban Shaman","author":"Michelle","date":"June 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Urban Shaman (2005) C. E. Murphy Joanne Walker is flying home from her mother's funeral with the expectation of being fired from her job as a mechanic for the Seattle police. Staring out the window of the plane as the come in for a landing, she sees a woman being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Shaman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urban-shaman.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}