House of Cards

The Negotiator Trilogy, Book 2

By: C. E. Murphy

Narrated by: Eve Bianco

New York City's only legal counsel to the fabled Old Races, Margrit Knight is levelheaded in all matters extraordinary. But when she's summoned to negotiate a peace treaty among rival factions, her own mortal world threatens to fall apart. Margrit's been in hot water before, but reentering the underworld brings a new set of problems. And a new set of friends and enemies, including a ruthless vampire mobster, a dragonlord who won't take no for an answer, a band of subversive selkies...oh, and Alban Korund, the sexy gargoyle who got her into this mess - and whose granite-strong touch still haunts her every fantasy.©2008 C. E. Murphy (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

2nd of the series....

Loved this book and the narrator was perfect for it too!
Well written and well read.
You can always tell which person was talking - always a help with an audio book.
Great!

Better than the first

Definitely better than the first book. I enjoyed the twist and turns of this one a lot more. And I like that we got to know the other characters more. I still feel like the main character Margrit talked too much sometimes but I think that's my only gripe.

Wishing For More!

Thank you C. E. Murphy and Eve Bianco for this very entertaining story. Can’t wait to start book 3.

Strong middle book for the trilogy.

The second in the Negotiator Trilogy finds Magrit Knight thrust once more into the world of the old races even as she comes to terms with how she feels for the Gargoyle, Alban Korund.

When her on again/off again boyfriend, Tony, invites Magrit to attend a function with him (one he's acting as a body guard for the visiting wealthy Hawaiin, Kaimana) she's introduced to the all too human world of wealth and power. Except Kaimana isn't human. No more than another of the party goers, Daisani, is.

When the world of the old races pulls Magrit back into their side of things, Magrit doesn't protest - at first, but things rapidly spin in a direction she wasn't ready to face. One that loses her Tony as anything other than a friend, and exposes her to the unexpected prejudice of one of her roommates, Cole.

Add in the fact that someone is trying to kill the Djinn, Malik - someone Magrit would happily see dead herself - and things start to become a little complicated for the legal aid lawyer.

As the middle book in the trilogy House of Cards is a solid, enjoyable read (or in this case, listen). Murphy continues to build on the strong foundations of the setting without swamping the reader with too much background. The draw between Alban and Magrit feels real, just as Janx and Daisani continue to be compelling in their own ways.

I could feel Tony's frustration when he finally gives up on the relationship, and the way Magrit deals with that reminded me of more than one friend's reaction to a bad break-up.

The narrator works brilliantly, to me, for this series and I'm glad there wasn't a switch as there have been in some series I've listened to. Her pacing matches the story nicely, making the story easy to listen to.

Testing of the Negotiator

In Bk 2 House of Cards, Margrit Knight aka Rit, legal aid council is trying to set the wrongs right but trying to keep the peace both in the human world and the paranormal world. She's great in the court room, but peace talks over past rival factions test her own life and the lives of those she loves. It's a tricky balance and no matter how hard she attempts to set the past underworld problems on a new course for working together someone always has a hidden agenda.
At least she has her mysterious gargoyle Alban...she thinks
This book was not as quick moving as the first one, but a lot of critical information is discovered that will come to make sense in book 3.