Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now, his immortal and nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he once 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, shelter, nor food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.
Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people, 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.”
Hugh and Elara may do both.
5 STARS
Iron and Magic delivers an epic fantasy spectacle that Kate fans will relish.
Finding the redeemable in an unredeemable villain-turned-savior has been done splendidly. Ilona Andrews lavishes readers with an audacious writing style, relinquishing battle fields before our eyes. Iron and Magic wages war on our emotional and intellectual psyche.
Iron and Magic had its work cut out for it. How do you deliver a villain with an evil moral compass, with a slew of heinous acts in his past in a new light? How will he receive the respect of readers faithful to his victims? How did Ilona Andrews turn our protagonist into our new hero?
By charming us with his wit and master strategy, by allowing us a glimpse of the past, Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs and Warlord of the Builder of Towers, an ambidextrous character is unearthed. His past molded him into the evil we have come to know, peeling away layers that camouflaged his actions. Hugh treats us as his confidant, his inner most thoughts and plans revealed to us. Just enough to begin to see an entirely different picture of who he truly is. His success tweaked his sense of identity. Believing in supreme reign defined him until it was all stripped away. Our Hugh is no longer the all powerful, he is now an underdog. Oh, and nothing fuels the need to rise up in defense of an underdog like the connection to their pain and suffering. Sharing in his struggles helps us push past his odious intoxication of power and makes him one of us.
After the Preceptor's life is ripped away, was it more of Ilona Andrew's masterful foreshadowing or wishful thinking on my part that hoped he would find his own true north. Enter Elena Harper, the true mystery in this fantasy, Hugh's wife. Where did she come from, what are her powers, and everything else in-between? Andrews acquaints us with Elena, a powerful being that owns a large track of land and a CASTLE! What fantasy would be complete without one, right?!?! Her past is riddled with pain and struggles that we have yet to unearth. She is the perfect pairing to our damaged Hugh, but you must read Iron and Magic to learn more.
Iron and Magic is the promise of being part of something grand and we are in it for the long haul. In sheer tactile fury, Iron and Magic delivers everything we love about a Ilona Andrews novel and much more. It fuels a giddy escalation, page after page, you are on the edge of a precipice of what you know and what you have yet to learn. A foreshadowing of what awaits us in Magic Triumphs, tantalizing us with a looming battle of epic proportions. Knowing there is more to learn about Hugh and his new ally, his wife, arouses a resounding need for the next book in the Iron Covenant. Crowd-pleasing battles, magical words that leave us with bated breath, descriptions of weaponry alongside the pairing of elegant battlefield ballets are a few of the morsels that make the Iron Convenient a new favorite.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. ~ Marcus Aurelius
A must read before the August 28th release of Magic Triumphs!!!
Publisher: NYLA
Pub Date: Jun. 26, 2018
Personal Purchase
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