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yodamom's review against another edition
5.0
Iron and Magic, filled with some of my favorite things. Snark, sparks, witty comebacks, testy relationships, challenging characters, magic, fantastic beasties and romance.
Finally Hugh got his own book. Yes the dude who was treated so badly by his father figure and his semi sibling while being one super nasty dark dastardly villain. You know in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews ? Yes that Hugh. Hugh is so cold he's hot. Yup ladies he's one of those boys you hate to love and can't stop yourself from drooling too. Please if you haven't read the Daniels series do before you start this, you need to know this man before.
Hugh has been through so serious battles, hard core childhood, and lived a one dimensional focused unemotional life. War, war war, fight, fight ,fight, blood, blood, blood, it was his thing till he was booted out of the dread kids club. He took his most loyal warriors The black Dogs and they hit the road trying to.... well staying alive would be nice. You see more than one person wanted them dead or worse. On this path they stumble upon a castle filled with people who are in danger of __________ . This castle has a harpy and she loathes this man. Let the fun begin !
Elara, the harpy. she is something. Snarktastic ! Her lines are some of the funniest I think I might have gotten the Guinness record for highlighting. Strong, yes she is and she struggles not to to fall for the bad guy. I loved her while she felt unwanted feelings she never wavered who she was to fit a mold.
Bucky, he won my heart more than any character. He's a stud, a big hot blooded stud with such and attitude ! When he pranced after a nasty bit I burst out laughing.
I'm not going to tell you anymore, no spoilers. This is going to be another fantastic series from these wonderfully creative authors. Thank you NetGalley and NYLA Publishers for the chance to review it.
Finally Hugh got his own book. Yes the dude who was treated so badly by his father figure and his semi sibling while being one super nasty dark dastardly villain. You know in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews ? Yes that Hugh. Hugh is so cold he's hot. Yup ladies he's one of those boys you hate to love and can't stop yourself from drooling too. Please if you haven't read the Daniels series do before you start this, you need to know this man before.
Hugh has been through so serious battles, hard core childhood, and lived a one dimensional focused unemotional life. War, war war, fight, fight ,fight, blood, blood, blood, it was his thing till he was booted out of the dread kids club. He took his most loyal warriors The black Dogs and they hit the road trying to.... well staying alive would be nice. You see more than one person wanted them dead or worse. On this path they stumble upon a castle filled with people who are in danger of __________ . This castle has a harpy and she loathes this man. Let the fun begin !
Elara, the harpy. she is something. Snarktastic ! Her lines are some of the funniest I think I might have gotten the Guinness record for highlighting. Strong, yes she is and she struggles not to to fall for the bad guy. I loved her while she felt unwanted feelings she never wavered who she was to fit a mold.
Bucky, he won my heart more than any character. He's a stud, a big hot blooded stud with such and attitude ! When he pranced after a nasty bit I burst out laughing.
I'm not going to tell you anymore, no spoilers. This is going to be another fantastic series from these wonderfully creative authors. Thank you NetGalley and NYLA Publishers for the chance to review it.
midnightowl5's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
severelyhopefulcloud's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ingread27's review against another edition
5.0
Great book. Though I clearly need to read earlier books in order to understand the concept of magic and tech in this world. Author assumes I know this already. It didn’t really take too much away from the story but was a little annoying to not even have a cursory explanation for those new to the universe.
gillianw's review against another edition
3.0
3.5ish stars
I'm really having a hard time rating this because, let's face it, nothing could possibly live up to the amazingness of Kate Daniels. One of the things I always appreciated about the KD series is that the focus is always on Kate's ability to kick ass. I have no idea if she's got killer breasts or shapely legs. I know she has hair, but I'm not sure if it's *good* hair (and in books it can generally only be good if it's long, preferably straight and have natural highlights). The focus has only ever been on her physical strength, wit and smarts (both street smarts and book smarts).
This book isn't like that.
The physical attributes of both MCs (and of pretty much every woman named in this book) are established from the start. Look, if I want two perfect people then I'll read a straight-up romance. But I want my UF heroines to be strong, smart and capable. Perfectly shaped breasts don't factor into it. So, when the female MC is introduced as wearing a long dress that covers her body, except for the *important* parts which are somehow on display despite the outfit, it kind of makes my eye twitch.
The KD series is entirely from Kate's POV, so maybe that's why her looks aren't the main focus. In Iron and Magic, there is a dual POV which (for me anyway) distracts from the book. I really only wanted to read it for Hugh. He's an unrepentant asshole and I wanted to know more about him and his relationship with Roland. I wanted to know what motivated him and how, if possible, he could make me like him. And, yeah, I did get that to a certain degree but Elara's POV kept interrupting it!
I honestly couldn't care less about Elara. She's perfect and beautiful and...boring. Okay, so she's got some magic and is apparently hiding a pretty big secret regarding her real identity but even that wasn't enough to keep me interested.
There were good things in this book too, but Elara wasn't one of them. I hope she grows on me. I hope there will be less focus on her perfect boobs. I hope the next book gives me more Hugh! I hope I don't need to wait too long to read it :)
I'm really having a hard time rating this because, let's face it, nothing could possibly live up to the amazingness of Kate Daniels. One of the things I always appreciated about the KD series is that the focus is always on Kate's ability to kick ass. I have no idea if she's got killer breasts or shapely legs. I know she has hair, but I'm not sure if it's *good* hair (and in books it can generally only be good if it's long, preferably straight and have natural highlights). The focus has only ever been on her physical strength, wit and smarts (both street smarts and book smarts).
This book isn't like that.
The physical attributes of both MCs (and of pretty much every woman named in this book) are established from the start. Look, if I want two perfect people then I'll read a straight-up romance. But I want my UF heroines to be strong, smart and capable. Perfectly shaped breasts don't factor into it. So, when the female MC is introduced as wearing a long dress that covers her body, except for the *important* parts which are somehow on display despite the outfit, it kind of makes my eye twitch.
The KD series is entirely from Kate's POV, so maybe that's why her looks aren't the main focus. In Iron and Magic, there is a dual POV which (for me anyway) distracts from the book. I really only wanted to read it for Hugh. He's an unrepentant asshole and I wanted to know more about him and his relationship with Roland. I wanted to know what motivated him and how, if possible, he could make me like him. And, yeah, I did get that to a certain degree but Elara's POV kept interrupting it!
I honestly couldn't care less about Elara. She's perfect and beautiful and...boring. Okay, so she's got some magic and is apparently hiding a pretty big secret regarding her real identity but even that wasn't enough to keep me interested.
There were good things in this book too, but Elara wasn't one of them. I hope she grows on me. I hope there will be less focus on her perfect boobs. I hope the next book gives me more Hugh! I hope I don't need to wait too long to read it :)
jenhurst's review against another edition
5.0
4.5.
I loved this book so much. The story, pacing, characters, world building. I think this might be the best Ilona Andrews book that I’ve read so far and I can’t wait to read the rest of the iron convent.
I loved this book so much. The story, pacing, characters, world building. I think this might be the best Ilona Andrews book that I’ve read so far and I can’t wait to read the rest of the iron convent.
cobaltbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
This is how you do redemption story!! I mean, Hugh redemption was set up in Kate books, so I was excited to read this. Hugh is such an amazing character that I would read anything with him. Him and Elara have great fake marriage/enemies to lovers' romance where they call each constantly husband and wife. Ascanio, my boy, shows up, and that's all I wanted. Overall, it has an open ending for more books. I want them all.
mikilla's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I will read anything Ilona Andrews writes in the Kate Daniels universe. I love getting other perspectives on the world and these other characters. This doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but it definitely ends as the first book in a series.
katieinca's review against another edition
2.0
2.5? I mean, I read it in 2-3 days, because plot. Heck, I'd probably even read the next one. But I'm not a fan of "they start out hating each other and they will always love fighting with each other" romance, and I could take or leave these characters. It's crazy to me that I can be writing that about an Ilona Andrews book, but here we are. I'm still kind of indifferent to both of the leads, and the supporting cast was a big mush puddle. Except Bucky. Yep, best character in the whole book, by far, was the horse.
bookplaits's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0