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clendorie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
javvtrujillo's review
I know this is supposed to be dark fantasy/grimdark, but the way this paedophilic relationship is romanticized and the author won’t explicitly say how utterly wrong that is, its too much for me.
An 87 year old man who looks late twenties/early thirties fantasizing about a seventeen year old CHILD? No ma’am. And the fact the child returns the feelings? No.
An 87 year old man who looks late twenties/early thirties fantasizing about a seventeen year old CHILD? No ma’am. And the fact the child returns the feelings? No.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
Ephephobilia all through out the book.observantraven's review against another edition
4.0
In today’s world of well-crafted fantasy books, with fantastical and in-depth magic systems, I sometimes think back to the great low fantasy books we have had over the years, such as The First Law trilogy, The Broken Empire trilogy and Conan The Barbarian. But wait! I hear you say. “I know these books as another genre!” You would be correct, as over the years these books in particular are now known as part of the fantasy sub-genre “grimdark”. It is with this mindset we delve into the dark, gritty and beautiful world in Touch of Iron.
During your first dive into this world, it may seem like you are reading an in-depth and intriguing historical fiction book, but within the first few chapters the veil is quickly lifted, and you are drawn into a dark and gritty world filled with blood, intrigue, mythical swords, and “monstrous” humans.
The world Timandra has created was a joy to read about and beautifully crafted. The way the world is spoken about and detailed can give you the perspective of a well-crafted historical fiction novel, that makes you see and feel the world the characters reside in. I think the world-building in Touch of Iron is well handled. Some worlds are created to such a fine level of detail and information that you start to become bogged down in detail and you can lose track of what’s going on, but I didn’t once experience this with Touch of Iron. I believe the great world-building stems from its delivery, as you see the world develop and grow as if you were experiencing it through the eyes of each character, and we are also given different views of the world due to a characters perspective of said world.
My favourite aspect of this book was the diverse characters that Timandra provides you with, that to me almost seem like they were jumping straight from a detailed D&D; these are characters that each have their own personalities, alignments and abilities. I sometimes find books will sideline certain characters in favour of the main protagonists and antagonists, but I never once found this with Touch of Iron. I believe each character is thoroughly developed during natural progression scenes rather than forcing them into unnecessary situations just for the sake of development, which some books can do. This not only leads to a great reading experience, but it always leaves you wanting more as certain scenes will not only answer questions but they will then open the door to more.
My favourite character of all is Master Telen Diaz himself, because at times you want to hate him for what he does but you soon come to realise that his reason for making certain choices are just – and if not, then he does them out of loyalty, which I find admirable despite all his wrong doings.
The story of the book is developed using POV characters. At the start we only initially experience the story from two perspectives but as it progresses this branches out further as certain secondary characters become primary. As the story develops it becomes more intriguing and in-depth as we discover more and more about what is going on. One aspect of the story I loved was how it handled combat, as the battle scenes felt very well constructed and they always gripped you. There aren’t too many battle scenes but when they came along they always left you with a satisfying feel and wanting more. The combat in Touch of Iron is made all the more enjoyable by seeing certain characters grow, because at the start, you can see certain characters are strong during certain combat situations and weak at others, but as the book progresses we certain characters become finely tuned warriors. The only aspect of the story that I disliked was that I felt certain scenes were slightly dragged out or unnecessary, which made the book feel somewhat slow at times, but these were few and far between.
With all of the above in mind I thoroughly enjoyed reading Touch of Iron and I found there were many occasions while reading this book that I lost all sense of time. If you are a fan of grimdark fantasy or fantasy in general then I would highly recommend you read this as I have no doubt you will enjoy it. I am greatly looking forward to see how Timandra progresses the story in book two and all of her future work.
During your first dive into this world, it may seem like you are reading an in-depth and intriguing historical fiction book, but within the first few chapters the veil is quickly lifted, and you are drawn into a dark and gritty world filled with blood, intrigue, mythical swords, and “monstrous” humans.
The world Timandra has created was a joy to read about and beautifully crafted. The way the world is spoken about and detailed can give you the perspective of a well-crafted historical fiction novel, that makes you see and feel the world the characters reside in. I think the world-building in Touch of Iron is well handled. Some worlds are created to such a fine level of detail and information that you start to become bogged down in detail and you can lose track of what’s going on, but I didn’t once experience this with Touch of Iron. I believe the great world-building stems from its delivery, as you see the world develop and grow as if you were experiencing it through the eyes of each character, and we are also given different views of the world due to a characters perspective of said world.
My favourite aspect of this book was the diverse characters that Timandra provides you with, that to me almost seem like they were jumping straight from a detailed D&D; these are characters that each have their own personalities, alignments and abilities. I sometimes find books will sideline certain characters in favour of the main protagonists and antagonists, but I never once found this with Touch of Iron. I believe each character is thoroughly developed during natural progression scenes rather than forcing them into unnecessary situations just for the sake of development, which some books can do. This not only leads to a great reading experience, but it always leaves you wanting more as certain scenes will not only answer questions but they will then open the door to more.
My favourite character of all is Master Telen Diaz himself, because at times you want to hate him for what he does but you soon come to realise that his reason for making certain choices are just – and if not, then he does them out of loyalty, which I find admirable despite all his wrong doings.
The story of the book is developed using POV characters. At the start we only initially experience the story from two perspectives but as it progresses this branches out further as certain secondary characters become primary. As the story develops it becomes more intriguing and in-depth as we discover more and more about what is going on. One aspect of the story I loved was how it handled combat, as the battle scenes felt very well constructed and they always gripped you. There aren’t too many battle scenes but when they came along they always left you with a satisfying feel and wanting more. The combat in Touch of Iron is made all the more enjoyable by seeing certain characters grow, because at the start, you can see certain characters are strong during certain combat situations and weak at others, but as the book progresses we certain characters become finely tuned warriors. The only aspect of the story that I disliked was that I felt certain scenes were slightly dragged out or unnecessary, which made the book feel somewhat slow at times, but these were few and far between.
With all of the above in mind I thoroughly enjoyed reading Touch of Iron and I found there were many occasions while reading this book that I lost all sense of time. If you are a fan of grimdark fantasy or fantasy in general then I would highly recommend you read this as I have no doubt you will enjoy it. I am greatly looking forward to see how Timandra progresses the story in book two and all of her future work.
richard_nell's review against another edition
3.0
Overall/Tl;dr
This is a very hard review because I'm not exactly sure who to recommend the book to. My best guess is YA fans who are getting a little older and looking to push their boundaries. The basic problem is this: the writing style and protagonist are YA, but the plot/content/language is Grimdark. It's a very interesting and unusual mix, it just didn't work that well for me.
Setting/World-building
Fairly light and non-intrusive. The book does a good job of easing you into the world, though those looking for in-depth explanations of how things work might be disappointed. It's closer to low fantasy than high, with magic being pretty rare, though there is at least one other 'race' of humanoids called wraiths. But they seem more or less like humans with a sip of superiority juice.
Plot
Also known as: How Much Can Noraya Take. Seriously, by the end of the book it's like Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction.
But, no, ostensibly the adventure-quest is to find The Living Blade. A variety of characters seem to have pretty good reasons to find it, too. Except not our protagonist. She really doesn't care. She just wants to protect her brother, which I suppose is a very laudible thing to want, but I must admit it isn't very compelling.
There's also romance elements, especially in the last 1/3 of the book, and actually it oozed with the sexual tension of a good YA or romance story. Did I mention this is an odd, but interesting Grimdark read?
Characters
Our hero Nora is a foul-mouthed, stubborn teenage girl who swings a helluva meat cleaver. She has something of an undeniable quality - an intransigent, refuses-to-stop, refuses-to-die nature. I can appreciate that, even if it seemed a bit...unbelievable.
Around her we get a fairly large cast of different and interesting characters. Actually I would have loved to get more from them and less from Nora - perhaps this is the case in book 2. There's a pretender trying to take his throne, academics, priestesses, bandits, and an evil sorceress. My honorable mention and I'm sure practically everyone else's is the half-wight master Diaz.
Writing
I struggled with it. The protagonist is a teenage girl and she talks (and thinks) like one. The pacing has some hiccups, passive voice abounds, and as I said at the start...it's like reading a grimdark novel in YA style. This resulted in occasionally leaping from something that felt kind of silly, to something violent and horrific, and the contrast (while shocking) felt bizarre.
Final thoughts
I struggled with this book, but I'll re-iterate I don't think I'm the audience for it, and if you're a fan of YA and want a bit more darkness I think this might be right up your alley. Also it's another young, indie writer who deserves support, and I'm interested to see more of her work in the future.
This is a very hard review because I'm not exactly sure who to recommend the book to. My best guess is YA fans who are getting a little older and looking to push their boundaries. The basic problem is this: the writing style and protagonist are YA, but the plot/content/language is Grimdark. It's a very interesting and unusual mix, it just didn't work that well for me.
Setting/World-building
Fairly light and non-intrusive. The book does a good job of easing you into the world, though those looking for in-depth explanations of how things work might be disappointed. It's closer to low fantasy than high, with magic being pretty rare, though there is at least one other 'race' of humanoids called wraiths. But they seem more or less like humans with a sip of superiority juice.
Plot
Also known as: How Much Can Noraya Take. Seriously, by the end of the book it's like Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction.
But, no, ostensibly the adventure-quest is to find The Living Blade. A variety of characters seem to have pretty good reasons to find it, too. Except not our protagonist. She really doesn't care. She just wants to protect her brother, which I suppose is a very laudible thing to want, but I must admit it isn't very compelling.
There's also romance elements, especially in the last 1/3 of the book, and actually it oozed with the sexual tension of a good YA or romance story. Did I mention this is an odd, but interesting Grimdark read?
Characters
Our hero Nora is a foul-mouthed, stubborn teenage girl who swings a helluva meat cleaver. She has something of an undeniable quality - an intransigent, refuses-to-stop, refuses-to-die nature. I can appreciate that, even if it seemed a bit...unbelievable.
Around her we get a fairly large cast of different and interesting characters. Actually I would have loved to get more from them and less from Nora - perhaps this is the case in book 2. There's a pretender trying to take his throne, academics, priestesses, bandits, and an evil sorceress. My honorable mention and I'm sure practically everyone else's is the half-wight master Diaz.
Writing
I struggled with it. The protagonist is a teenage girl and she talks (and thinks) like one. The pacing has some hiccups, passive voice abounds, and as I said at the start...it's like reading a grimdark novel in YA style. This resulted in occasionally leaping from something that felt kind of silly, to something violent and horrific, and the contrast (while shocking) felt bizarre.
Final thoughts
I struggled with this book, but I'll re-iterate I don't think I'm the audience for it, and if you're a fan of YA and want a bit more darkness I think this might be right up your alley. Also it's another young, indie writer who deserves support, and I'm interested to see more of her work in the future.
kiah's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book through the SPFBO 2016 (via Mark Lawrence) and added it as something to get to one day. I received my copy through a Goodreads Giveaway. As such I jumped it up by TBR and started it the second I opened the package. I am incredibly pleased that I read this book sooner rather than later.
This book toys the line between adventure and character fantasy for me. The over arching plot of the book took the back seat a lot as I was reading and my concern and interest remained with the characters. The action served to further the plot but unlike some adventure/quest fantasy, did not sacrifice character development in order to do so. E.g. Even in the midst of a fight Noraya's focus is on saving people whether they are women rounded up for rape or Shade/Owen. Her rage during the scene where a new mother is raped to death and her desire to help people even when the situation is helpless bled character into action scenes.
I loved this book, particularly the explorations of sex and people as sexual beings in different contexts, including the very real possible threat of rape throughout the book in different cultures. The book separates sex and rape clearly with phrases suchs as 'I want to/you' and questioning whether both parties consent without it disrupting the scene as a whole. Throughout the book sex is enjoyed, rape is a threat. I liked the questions raised through Diaz and Suranna's 'relationship' and the implications of the removal of consent whether this was intentional or otherwise. I adored Noraya's fault filled character and her constant 'foot in mouth' dialogue. Her interactions with Owen, the push and pull of siblings, felt wonderfully realistic and when I had time to sit with the book I tore through it.
It was a great read and I eagerly await the second book in this series. 4.5*/5
This book toys the line between adventure and character fantasy for me. The over arching plot of the book took the back seat a lot as I was reading and my concern and interest remained with the characters. The action served to further the plot but unlike some adventure/quest fantasy, did not sacrifice character development in order to do so. E.g.
I loved this book, particularly the explorations of sex and people as sexual beings in different contexts, including
It was a great read and I eagerly await the second book in this series. 4.5*/5
borisignatievich's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
its_justine's review against another edition
4.0
Touch of iron. Touch of home.
Touch of Iron is Timandra Whitecastle’s debut novel, and is a savagely alluring tale of the danger of beauty, and the beauty of danger. It’s an account of an epic quest for a magical artifact, conscious sacrifice, and the ties that bind; the bonds of family, the bonds of love, and the bonds of necessity. This story also closely examines the effects of power and the inevitable manipulation that will surely follow. There’s a bit of adventure and romance, and lots of suspenseful action and gruesome violence, both physical and sexual – the latter more implied than explicit. Initially interpreted with a Young Adult/New Adult tone, this initial installment in her Living Blade series quickly evolves into a bleak, gritty, and unrestrained grimdark that hits hard, and refuses even a moment of rest.
The main focus of this story is on its characters and their relationships, which grow and develop in the most authentic of ways. We follow the misadventures and misfortunes of Noraya, Nora for short, as she journeys to protect the only aspect of her life that truly matters to her: her twin brother Owen. Each the other’s converse, she’s resilient, headstrong, impulsive, and dangerous, unsure of her path in life, whereas he’s a book-smart academic, determined, naive, and relatively certain of what his future holds. Their campaign brings along diverse company, including an enigmatic and reserved half-wight pilgrim master, a treacherous and vile exiled prince, and a calculating monster hidden beneath a sultry facade. There’s plenty of banter, but also sincere and poignant emotion.
There’s also a romantic element to this tale resulting from an unexpected budding love, despite the jarring differences between the two characters involved. Both struggle with their feelings, internally and outwardly, yet sexual tension exquisitely oozes from the pages beginning with their first encounter. The challenges they face along the way, which should negatively impact their relationship, only serve to make it stronger. As someone who has read quite a bit of fantasy infused with romance, I really appreciated how Whitecastle approached this trope of forbidden love, making it progress in such a magnificently organic fashion.
In addition to strong characters, the worldbuilding in this book is incredible, and at times it feels as though this story could possibly be categorized as historical fiction. Whitecastle shapes a dark and vivid world around us as we venture alongside Nora, only presenting us with critical building blocks. She smartly omits overwhelming details, allowing our imaginations to run rampant, which I always appreciate in a book. The world itself is full of tales of dead gods and superstitions, each piece crucial to the grand scheme as we watch the story arc unfold. There are also facets influenced by mythology and folklore, creating another bridge between the fantastical world she has created and our own.
The hunt for a magical relic featured within the pages is one that could potentially change the world in its entirety, and its scope becomes more ambitious and convoluted as the story continues. Unforeseen twists add to the intricacy of the plot introduced, and as the complexity increases, the danger increases. This advancement is basically the root of all conflict. The action is intense, the violence is ample, and the bloodshed is sufficient, each becoming more excessive as the story progresses. Following this trend, I’m excited to see what levels Whitecastle takes us to in the remaining books of the series.
Touch of Iron is a severe and tragic account of a woman’s pilgrimage in an unfair and somber world, and an absolutely fantastic debut. Raw and visceral, there are so many things worthy of praise, and this review only begins to scrape the surface. My favorite part of reading this book was discovering new depths along the way, and I only hope that future readers have as much as an exceptional experience as I have. If you’re into darker fantasy, but also appreciate unexpected moments of tenderness, then I highly recommend you give this a read. I’m excited to continue my journey for the Living Blade.
Touch of Iron is Timandra Whitecastle’s debut novel, and is a savagely alluring tale of the danger of beauty, and the beauty of danger. It’s an account of an epic quest for a magical artifact, conscious sacrifice, and the ties that bind; the bonds of family, the bonds of love, and the bonds of necessity. This story also closely examines the effects of power and the inevitable manipulation that will surely follow. There’s a bit of adventure and romance, and lots of suspenseful action and gruesome violence, both physical and sexual – the latter more implied than explicit. Initially interpreted with a Young Adult/New Adult tone, this initial installment in her Living Blade series quickly evolves into a bleak, gritty, and unrestrained grimdark that hits hard, and refuses even a moment of rest.
The main focus of this story is on its characters and their relationships, which grow and develop in the most authentic of ways. We follow the misadventures and misfortunes of Noraya, Nora for short, as she journeys to protect the only aspect of her life that truly matters to her: her twin brother Owen. Each the other’s converse, she’s resilient, headstrong, impulsive, and dangerous, unsure of her path in life, whereas he’s a book-smart academic, determined, naive, and relatively certain of what his future holds. Their campaign brings along diverse company, including an enigmatic and reserved half-wight pilgrim master, a treacherous and vile exiled prince, and a calculating monster hidden beneath a sultry facade. There’s plenty of banter, but also sincere and poignant emotion.
There’s also a romantic element to this tale resulting from an unexpected budding love, despite the jarring differences between the two characters involved. Both struggle with their feelings, internally and outwardly, yet sexual tension exquisitely oozes from the pages beginning with their first encounter. The challenges they face along the way, which should negatively impact their relationship, only serve to make it stronger. As someone who has read quite a bit of fantasy infused with romance, I really appreciated how Whitecastle approached this trope of forbidden love, making it progress in such a magnificently organic fashion.
In addition to strong characters, the worldbuilding in this book is incredible, and at times it feels as though this story could possibly be categorized as historical fiction. Whitecastle shapes a dark and vivid world around us as we venture alongside Nora, only presenting us with critical building blocks. She smartly omits overwhelming details, allowing our imaginations to run rampant, which I always appreciate in a book. The world itself is full of tales of dead gods and superstitions, each piece crucial to the grand scheme as we watch the story arc unfold. There are also facets influenced by mythology and folklore, creating another bridge between the fantastical world she has created and our own.
The hunt for a magical relic featured within the pages is one that could potentially change the world in its entirety, and its scope becomes more ambitious and convoluted as the story continues. Unforeseen twists add to the intricacy of the plot introduced, and as the complexity increases, the danger increases. This advancement is basically the root of all conflict. The action is intense, the violence is ample, and the bloodshed is sufficient, each becoming more excessive as the story progresses. Following this trend, I’m excited to see what levels Whitecastle takes us to in the remaining books of the series.
Touch of Iron is a severe and tragic account of a woman’s pilgrimage in an unfair and somber world, and an absolutely fantastic debut. Raw and visceral, there are so many things worthy of praise, and this review only begins to scrape the surface. My favorite part of reading this book was discovering new depths along the way, and I only hope that future readers have as much as an exceptional experience as I have. If you’re into darker fantasy, but also appreciate unexpected moments of tenderness, then I highly recommend you give this a read. I’m excited to continue my journey for the Living Blade.
kartiknarayanan's review
4.0
Read more reviews at my site https://digitalamrit.com/blog
I found this book serendipitously. I thought it would be a run of the mill fantasy fare. Well, for the most part it is. But the characters blow you out of the water. I have seen very few books with such powerful feminine characters while not emasculating the masculine ones either. This is a great page turner and I am looking to read the next one in the series.
I found this book serendipitously. I thought it would be a run of the mill fantasy fare. Well, for the most part it is. But the characters blow you out of the water. I have seen very few books with such powerful feminine characters while not emasculating the masculine ones either. This is a great page turner and I am looking to read the next one in the series.
cassanette's review
3.0
I have very conflicted feelings about this book. So much so that my potential rating changed from chapter to chapter, sometimes even within a chapter. My biggest issue was the fixation with rape. I get it, it's grimdark, it's edgy, but it's not cool. Come on. I can't find a good enough excuse for a fantasy book to constantly bring it up and feature it so much.
Other than that, the book was actually pretty good. The story was decent, if somewhat disjointed (part 3 - my least favourite - technically was a logical continuation of the previous two but in reality the tone shift was huge and a lot of it felt like reading a different book, or a much later installment at least), but the characters grew on me. Despite my reservations, I am curious what might happen next and I think I will eventually read the sequel.
Other than that, the book was actually pretty good. The story was decent, if somewhat disjointed (part 3 - my least favourite - technically was a logical continuation of the previous two but in reality the tone shift was huge and a lot of it felt like reading a different book, or a much later installment at least), but the characters grew on me. Despite my reservations, I am curious what might happen next and I think I will eventually read the sequel.
bibliotropic's review
4.0
First off, I want to take a moment to praise the person who did the cover art for this book. I don’t usually talk much about cover art, but this is an exception largely because it’s notable that a self-published book has such high-quality art. When most people think self-pub, they usually associate it with covers that look slapped together in MS Paint, or that have okay art on the cover but not really the sort of art that one usually associates with book covers. But let’s be perfectly honest here; if you hadn’t seen that this review was for a book associated with the SPFBO, would you look at that cover and think that it was a traditionally-published book, with all the associated work and assistance that goes into getting an awesome-looking cover? I know I would.
And it’s interesting how that can be the difference between attracting readers and not. As much as we saw we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, we do exactly that all the time. We see a book’s cover and we decide from there whether we even want to look at the back-of-the-book description. It’s the first impression, that one that you don’t get a second chance to make. And so far as I’m concerned, it’s worth pointing out when books do that well, especially in a field where the pervading stereotype is that they don’t.
Anyway, enough about cover art. What did I think of the book itself?
The story centres around Nora, a young woman who left her village with her twin brother, and who runs headfirst into trouble pretty much immediately. She encounters Diaz, a half-wight pilgrim who is assisting a fallen prince in attaining the legendary Living Blade, the sword that once cut down the gods and that will allow the prince to regain his throne. But there’s opposition, naturally, and Nora is half-pulled into a deadly quest and half walks there willingly. But as much as Nora moves forward and seeks the training she desires, she can’t entirely escape the past that shaped her all along.
Whitecastle writes an interesting world in Touch of Iron. It’s not stand-out unique, but it does play with some interesting elements. I admittedly haven’t seen too much with wights (outside of books based on fantasy RPG worlds, that is), let alone half-wights, so that was an unexpected addition to the story. The way twins were handled also caught my attention, with their relation to certain deities. Not the first time I’ve seen anti-twin sentiments in a secondary-world setting, but it’s another rarity — at least in the books I’ve read over the years — so it was cool to see. Both the issue of half-wights and the viewpoint of a twin allow for some good presentations of prejudice and racism to show through, although it was fairly minor, and mostly dealt with through hiding and contemplation of what people might think, rather than showing any overt animosity toward certain characters. Nora has strong feelings about people not abandoning newborn twins to the elements, as is tradition, but she only openly opposes such treatment in one scene, and doesn’t really force the issue with others who believe that twins are cursed or unworthy.
Not that I can blame her. Not everyone is made to fight every fight, and Nora’s cause wasn’t the equal treatment of twins. If expedient, she would pretend to be somebody’s wife, or student, or whatever was needed at the time; it wasn’t her priority to force the issue at every step, however much it may have rankled her. It was more important to find the Living Blade, to be trained by Diaz, to survive.
Of course, this “you can’t right every wrong” attitude in especially difficult to deal with when rape is involved. And it comes up more than once. So, consider this a bit of a trigger warning in regard to this book: if that sort of treatment of rape is one that’s particularly triggering for you, then maybe this isn’t the book for you. It’s difficult to read, in any case, and as much as I can understand the cold practicality behind not being able to save someone from being raped to death if all it will accomplish is you dying too, that doesn’t make my blood boil any less.
I found Diaz talking about his heritage to be something that provoked reflection, and it resonated with me to a degree. I’m paraphrasing, but he talks about how humans consider him half-wight, and wights consider him half-human, and so he fits in nowhere. That struck a chord, and I imagine it will do something similar to readers who feel torn between two halves of themselves, be it culturally or racially or through some other aspect of themselves.
Though while the world that Nora moves through isn’t a monoculture (there are regional differences in dress, food, manners, etc), there are strong common threads through every place that we see. Every area she travels feels the same way about twins, for instance, and for the same reasons. Every place knows the same legends, about the same gods, with no real differences, or even slightly different interpretations that fit their particular subculture a bit better. It’s hard to tell if this is due to a lack of more detailed culture-building, or because it’s difficult to tell the scope of Nora’s travels. Though at one point she spends months going from one place to the next, that could be only a small part of the world, equivalent to, say, crossing the United States. You’ll find differences between the east coast and the west coast, but not so many that you’ll find an entirely different and unfamiliar way of living. It may be that Nora’s travels only take her that far, when the rest of the world is much larger and much more varied. It’s hard to say.
Whitecastle’s writing is a treat to read, polished and with good flow, even pacing, and a good balance between realistic dialogue and observant narration. I loved the dialogue that Whitecastle writes, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s probably my favourite aspect of her writing. Her characters live through their words, they pop off the page and feel like real people you might talk to on the street, and I loved that! Definitely a skill worthy of praise, right there.
One weakness that I saw in the novel, however, was a general lack of character motivation, or at least my understanding of it. There was plenty of action to drive the story along, lots of events to keep things moving, but I found myself struggling to figure out why any of it was happening in the first place. I mean, yes, there’s a fight scene because bandits are attacking, but why are they attacking? Owen wants to be a pilgrim, but why? Master Cumi betrays everyone, but why? Reasons are given, but they don’t really seem to explain what properly motivated the character in the first place. Especially with Master Cumi. We know that she uses a type of magic that’s seen as evil (in part because of the potential it has to harm as well as heal, but her reason for betraying people seems to be little deeper than, “I’m tired of pretending that evil isn’t inside me, mwahaha!” We don’t really see her be dissatisfied with healing instead of harming. We don’t see her struggle with moral choices. We don’t even see her mutter angrily under her breath. We just see her arrange for a buttload of people to die so that she can go somewhere else and openly practice the kind of magic she uses, instead of hiding it. So we get an explanation, sure, but because we see no real demonstration of her motivation beyond her outright saying it, it feels hollow and weak, and entirely unlike the character we’d gotten to know by that point. Character motivations sometimes get revealed much later on into the story, but by that point they often feel like afterthoughts, because we’ve seen so little of what’s been pushing characters to do anything beyond reactions through most of the story.
Aside from that, though, there’s a whole lot to like about Touch of Iron, and at least at the moment, I think Whitecastle’s novel stands a strong chance of being passed to the final round in the SPFBO. And even if it doesn’t go further, it’s still a good novel that’s worth reading, and there’s plenty of potential for the story to go further. Touch of Iron is a self-published novel that could go far, carried on the strength of Whitecastle’s writing.
(Received for review as part of the SPFBO.)
And it’s interesting how that can be the difference between attracting readers and not. As much as we saw we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, we do exactly that all the time. We see a book’s cover and we decide from there whether we even want to look at the back-of-the-book description. It’s the first impression, that one that you don’t get a second chance to make. And so far as I’m concerned, it’s worth pointing out when books do that well, especially in a field where the pervading stereotype is that they don’t.
Anyway, enough about cover art. What did I think of the book itself?
The story centres around Nora, a young woman who left her village with her twin brother, and who runs headfirst into trouble pretty much immediately. She encounters Diaz, a half-wight pilgrim who is assisting a fallen prince in attaining the legendary Living Blade, the sword that once cut down the gods and that will allow the prince to regain his throne. But there’s opposition, naturally, and Nora is half-pulled into a deadly quest and half walks there willingly. But as much as Nora moves forward and seeks the training she desires, she can’t entirely escape the past that shaped her all along.
Whitecastle writes an interesting world in Touch of Iron. It’s not stand-out unique, but it does play with some interesting elements. I admittedly haven’t seen too much with wights (outside of books based on fantasy RPG worlds, that is), let alone half-wights, so that was an unexpected addition to the story. The way twins were handled also caught my attention, with their relation to certain deities. Not the first time I’ve seen anti-twin sentiments in a secondary-world setting, but it’s another rarity — at least in the books I’ve read over the years — so it was cool to see. Both the issue of half-wights and the viewpoint of a twin allow for some good presentations of prejudice and racism to show through, although it was fairly minor, and mostly dealt with through hiding and contemplation of what people might think, rather than showing any overt animosity toward certain characters. Nora has strong feelings about people not abandoning newborn twins to the elements, as is tradition, but she only openly opposes such treatment in one scene, and doesn’t really force the issue with others who believe that twins are cursed or unworthy.
Not that I can blame her. Not everyone is made to fight every fight, and Nora’s cause wasn’t the equal treatment of twins. If expedient, she would pretend to be somebody’s wife, or student, or whatever was needed at the time; it wasn’t her priority to force the issue at every step, however much it may have rankled her. It was more important to find the Living Blade, to be trained by Diaz, to survive.
Of course, this “you can’t right every wrong” attitude in especially difficult to deal with when rape is involved. And it comes up more than once. So, consider this a bit of a trigger warning in regard to this book: if that sort of treatment of rape is one that’s particularly triggering for you, then maybe this isn’t the book for you. It’s difficult to read, in any case, and as much as I can understand the cold practicality behind not being able to save someone from being raped to death if all it will accomplish is you dying too, that doesn’t make my blood boil any less.
I found Diaz talking about his heritage to be something that provoked reflection, and it resonated with me to a degree. I’m paraphrasing, but he talks about how humans consider him half-wight, and wights consider him half-human, and so he fits in nowhere. That struck a chord, and I imagine it will do something similar to readers who feel torn between two halves of themselves, be it culturally or racially or through some other aspect of themselves.
Though while the world that Nora moves through isn’t a monoculture (there are regional differences in dress, food, manners, etc), there are strong common threads through every place that we see. Every area she travels feels the same way about twins, for instance, and for the same reasons. Every place knows the same legends, about the same gods, with no real differences, or even slightly different interpretations that fit their particular subculture a bit better. It’s hard to tell if this is due to a lack of more detailed culture-building, or because it’s difficult to tell the scope of Nora’s travels. Though at one point she spends months going from one place to the next, that could be only a small part of the world, equivalent to, say, crossing the United States. You’ll find differences between the east coast and the west coast, but not so many that you’ll find an entirely different and unfamiliar way of living. It may be that Nora’s travels only take her that far, when the rest of the world is much larger and much more varied. It’s hard to say.
Whitecastle’s writing is a treat to read, polished and with good flow, even pacing, and a good balance between realistic dialogue and observant narration. I loved the dialogue that Whitecastle writes, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s probably my favourite aspect of her writing. Her characters live through their words, they pop off the page and feel like real people you might talk to on the street, and I loved that! Definitely a skill worthy of praise, right there.
One weakness that I saw in the novel, however, was a general lack of character motivation, or at least my understanding of it. There was plenty of action to drive the story along, lots of events to keep things moving, but I found myself struggling to figure out why any of it was happening in the first place. I mean, yes, there’s a fight scene because bandits are attacking, but why are they attacking? Owen wants to be a pilgrim, but why? Master Cumi betrays everyone, but why? Reasons are given, but they don’t really seem to explain what properly motivated the character in the first place. Especially with Master Cumi. We know that she uses a type of magic that’s seen as evil (in part because of the potential it has to harm as well as heal, but her reason for betraying people seems to be little deeper than, “I’m tired of pretending that evil isn’t inside me, mwahaha!” We don’t really see her be dissatisfied with healing instead of harming. We don’t see her struggle with moral choices. We don’t even see her mutter angrily under her breath. We just see her arrange for a buttload of people to die so that she can go somewhere else and openly practice the kind of magic she uses, instead of hiding it. So we get an explanation, sure, but because we see no real demonstration of her motivation beyond her outright saying it, it feels hollow and weak, and entirely unlike the character we’d gotten to know by that point. Character motivations sometimes get revealed much later on into the story, but by that point they often feel like afterthoughts, because we’ve seen so little of what’s been pushing characters to do anything beyond reactions through most of the story.
Aside from that, though, there’s a whole lot to like about Touch of Iron, and at least at the moment, I think Whitecastle’s novel stands a strong chance of being passed to the final round in the SPFBO. And even if it doesn’t go further, it’s still a good novel that’s worth reading, and there’s plenty of potential for the story to go further. Touch of Iron is a self-published novel that could go far, carried on the strength of Whitecastle’s writing.
(Received for review as part of the SPFBO.)
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