This is the second book in the 'Twenty Palaces" series. I was late to the party and just recently discovered this series. Unfortunately after I fell in love with the first book I discovered that after the third book the series was dropped by the publisher.

That is by no means a reason not to read these.

While it is a second in the series, you don't have to read the first one to completely enjoy this one. I love that in a series, the books have a lose background together (so far) and if you happen to pick this one up first it won't kill you / confuse you to not have read the first one too much.

The story is set in the modern world, and kicks off with a bang from the start. It's told from the viewpoint of Ray, who in the past wasn't the best of kids, and as an adult got involved in something that ended up with a lot of people dead. However, a mysterious group called Twenty Palaces somehow cleared his name, and he is now a helper called a 'Wooden Man' of a powerful magician. Their job is to find bad things with magic, and kill all who are involved.

This time, Ray gets picked up by an 'investigator' vs. a 'peer' we met in the first book. They are trying to check something out when everything goes to crap, and people start dying. People that kinda deserve it, and people who don't. There is some interesting Moral Dilemma's in the character's development, and we learn more about his background and what got him where he is slowly leaked out over the progress of the novel. We have multiple people who may or may not be bad guys, a small town's festival with the potential for a blood bath from a runaway monster, and a prick of a peer who thinks he can do this all on his own and that Ray and his new friend / investigator Catherine are beneath his notice.

I am very excited/sad to read the next in the series. I love this authors style of story. No love stories, you don't know to cheer or fear the main character, and his universe of magic is fairly fascinating and rather refreshing compared to tried and true spell casters & evil things that go bump in the night. I highly recommend you check this out and the others in the series.