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A review by katyanaish
Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews
4.0
I enjoyed it. To be clear, it's a set-up book... lots of things are hinted at - complicated, layered backstories - but very little is made clear. And that's okay. Teasing out a richly developed character arc is something Andrews excels at.
For me, this novel really hinged on whether it was even possible for me to like Hugh. Because to be really clear: I'm not, and have never been, the type of woman who drools over abusive men. So lots of mainstream stories are a total bust for me. Like, don't even get me started on 50 Shades. And Hugh is the guy who tortured - literally - the heroine of my favorite series.
So was it possible for me to like Hugh? How could that happen?
I'm going to be really direct about it, because I think I can't possible be the only one who wasn't sure about this series for this reason. So don't click the spoiler tag if you don't want this to be spoiled.
So do I buy it?
Well, look. This is obviously retconned. I don't think Andrews ever intended to make him a redeemable character. And given that the KD series is my favorite, and I've probably read it at least a half-dozen times, I can't erase Hugh's glee in the bullshit he did. So ... it is a retcon. Roland may have erased the resistance and blanked out the guilt, but he can't make Hugh take pleasure in what he's doing. I'm guessing that the original plan was for Hugh to meet a bad end while the audience cheers, the way we cheered when Joffrey died. And I will say that usually retconning is a deal-breaker for me. I hate it.
But not so much here. Whether that's because I particularly love this author team, or because I feel it was deftly done, who can say? But I feel like Andrews straddled the line nicely, where Hugh remembered what he had done, and beat himself up over it. He reached for that reassurance from Roland over and over, as if it was some opiate that he had used to keep himself numb before. Hugh coming to terms with who he had been, and how people hated him, that was very well done. And I think that... building this new version of Hugh out of his protectiveness of his people, his Iron Dogs, made it feel anchored in a solid reality for Hugh. That was also a little retconned ("You threw him away. Sloppy, Hugh. Sloppy."), but again, I could buy it. Maybe he treated his foot soldiers a little more like they were disposable, but his core structure was one he had solid loyalty to.
That, to me, was the big hurdle of the book. I enjoyed everything else - Elara, her people, their situation - just as much as I knew I would. And I'm excited to find out more. Can't wait to see how this rolls into the KD finale, and where Hugh and Elara go from there.
Looming questions I want answered:
1 - Who / what is Elara?
2 - Who are the Remaining, and what is their relationship to the Departed?
3 - Why can Hugh use blood magic?
4 - What were those Pictish dudes after?
5 - Why did Nez want that land (because he wanted it before Hugh showed up and the goal shifted to "get Hugh")? Was it the same thing the Pictish dudes wanted?
6 - Can Nez please just die horribly already?
7 - What happened to the elephant god? Is he just chilling in the forest now?
8 - Is Roland really going to leave Hugh as a potential ally for Kate? Or did he take off because Elara surprised him, and he's going to do some research and come back?
For me, this novel really hinged on whether it was even possible for me to like Hugh. Because to be really clear: I'm not, and have never been, the type of woman who drools over abusive men. So lots of mainstream stories are a total bust for me. Like, don't even get me started on 50 Shades. And Hugh is the guy who tortured - literally - the heroine of my favorite series.
So was it possible for me to like Hugh? How could that happen?
I'm going to be really direct about it, because I think I can't possible be the only one who wasn't sure about this series for this reason. So don't click the spoiler tag if you don't want this to be spoiled.
Spoiler
It is heavily implied - but never directly stated - that Roland largely... well, I don't know the right word. Brainwashed, maybe? Roland brainwashed Hugh. It is set up really well. We see Hugh found by Roland as a child, which we knew already, but actually seeing the scene of this street kid be found and saved by this glowing god... I mean, it has an impact. How could a child protect himself from the kind of cult-like worship something like that would inspire? Additionally, while in Hugh's head, there's lots of narrative moments where he would feel guilt, or disappointment, and go to reassure himself through his connection to Roland... only to find that black void where Roland used to be. It is done in such a way that we see that Roland was always a presence in Hugh's mind - overriding his conscience, reassuring his guilty thoughts, soothing away resistance. The closest it comes to being directly stated is when Nez tells Hugh that Roland cooked him, when they are arguing about who Roland kept on a shorter leash. Now, in the KD universe, that phrase - being cooked - is pretty loaded. We're told that's how Kate's mother got Voron to abandon Roland... and we know that she quite literally stripped away his free will. So the implication there is that a lot of the bad shit ... that was Hugh when he was brainwashed, not what Hugh the person may have chosen.So do I buy it?
Well, look. This is obviously retconned. I don't think Andrews ever intended to make him a redeemable character. And given that the KD series is my favorite, and I've probably read it at least a half-dozen times, I can't erase Hugh's glee in the bullshit he did. So ... it is a retcon. Roland may have erased the resistance and blanked out the guilt, but he can't make Hugh take pleasure in what he's doing. I'm guessing that the original plan was for Hugh to meet a bad end while the audience cheers, the way we cheered when Joffrey died. And I will say that usually retconning is a deal-breaker for me. I hate it.
But not so much here. Whether that's because I particularly love this author team, or because I feel it was deftly done, who can say? But I feel like Andrews straddled the line nicely, where Hugh remembered what he had done, and beat himself up over it. He reached for that reassurance from Roland over and over, as if it was some opiate that he had used to keep himself numb before. Hugh coming to terms with who he had been, and how people hated him, that was very well done. And I think that... building this new version of Hugh out of his protectiveness of his people, his Iron Dogs, made it feel anchored in a solid reality for Hugh. That was also a little retconned ("You threw him away. Sloppy, Hugh. Sloppy."), but again, I could buy it. Maybe he treated his foot soldiers a little more like they were disposable, but his core structure was one he had solid loyalty to.
That, to me, was the big hurdle of the book. I enjoyed everything else - Elara, her people, their situation - just as much as I knew I would. And I'm excited to find out more. Can't wait to see how this rolls into the KD finale, and where Hugh and Elara go from there.
Looming questions I want answered:
Spoiler
1 - Who / what is Elara?
2 - Who are the Remaining, and what is their relationship to the Departed?
3 - Why can Hugh use blood magic?
4 - What were those Pictish dudes after?
5 - Why did Nez want that land (because he wanted it before Hugh showed up and the goal shifted to "get Hugh")? Was it the same thing the Pictish dudes wanted?
6 - Can Nez please just die horribly already?
7 - What happened to the elephant god? Is he just chilling in the forest now?
8 - Is Roland really going to leave Hugh as a potential ally for Kate? Or did he take off because Elara surprised him, and he's going to do some research and come back?