A review by tasharobinson
Mountain of Iron by Ursula Vernon

4.0

I think the two Black Dogs books are the earliest published prose fiction of Ursula Vernon. The contrast between them and her later work is interesting — this book had none of the whimsy of later books, and none of the familiar fairy-tale references. It's pretty dark, adult fantasy, with sex and violence and death, and quite a bit of emotional anguish and graphic physical torture, plus a heroine who spends a kinda comical percentage of her life naked against her will. I suspect if someone else wrote their own version of this exact same story, I wouldn't enjoy it as much. But my aesthetic just fits so closely into Ursula's. I find the endlessly loyal, ferocious dog-soldier a little corny, and completely delightful. Same with the giant sloth / tiny weasel couple. The villain here is pretty chilling. And of course there are terrifying hyena-people. This is a strange addition to her library, but it's fascinating to see her early work and how she developed away from this particular brand of fantasy — and how with her latest books, she's slowly trending back toward something that feels similar, but more practiced and comfortable.