A Book Obsession..: Early Review: Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

Early Review: Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

, by Kt Clapsadl

Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

The Iron Covenant #1

No day is ordinary in a world where Technology and Magic compete for supremacy…But no matter which force is winning, in the apocalypse, a sword will always work.

Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.

Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she's trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify.

Hugh needs a base, Elara needs soldiers. Both are infamous for betraying their allies, so how can they create a believable alliance to meet the challenge of their enemies?

As the prophet says: “It is better to marry than to burn.”

Holy smokes! Ilona Andrews has done it again! What higher praise can I give other than that they did the impossible. They took the most reviled character from the Kate Daniels world, and made him not only likable but swoon-worthy. I'm seriously in awe of their skill. It's so amusing that this book came from an April Fool's joke they played thinking no one would believe Hugh of all people could get his own romance book. And then the public outcry when it was revealed to be just a joke, hilarious! So needless to say this writing duo had their work cut out for them, and they achieved the goal masterfully. But don't worry, they didn't make Hugh a romance worthy hero by emasculating him, far from it. They just peeled back a few layers we didn't get to see through Kate's eyes AND they gave him a heroine with the ability to meet him step for step. Impressive doesn't even begin to touch this book.

What's even more impressive is the plotline and story. It would have been easy to just focus on the task of making Hugh likable, but they also gave us one heck of a storyline. I really enjoyed how the events tied into the world, and the potential overall reaching arcs for the series as a whole. Some pretty big things happen, especially at the end, and I can't wait to see how that ties into Kate's final book and future Hugh books as well.

Hat's off yet again to the fabulous writing duo, Ilona Andrews. Simply put, they nailed it with IRON AND MAGIC.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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