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A review by mellhay
The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow
4.0
A story with an alternate Victorian Era of elegance, full of crafted magic, touch of steampunk style mystery, and a cunning of Sherlock Holmes creating a memorable and stunning partnership of Emma Bannon and Archibald Clare.
****FULL REVIEW****
Emma Bannon might have been a late to save one unregistered mentath, but she was in time to save Archibald Clare. Though they will have to fight sorcery to keep him safe, that's where Emma comes in - a Prime Sorceress. The Queen relies on sorcerers and mentath's to help her run the country. Someone has been killing registered mentath's of the Queens, and now moved on to unregistered ones. Clare does not feel he was fully the focus after the first attack in the presence of Emma. Maybe the focus on sorcery too?
A story with an alternate Victorian Era of elegance, full of crafted magic, touch of steampunk style mystery, and a cunning of Sherlock Holmes creating a memorable and stunning partnership of Emma Bannon and Archibald Clare. I am a magic lover. I also truly enjoy the Victorian Era feel with steam accents. Blend them together and I'm sold! Lilith blows you away with the combination and an intriguing murder mystery.
Each paragraph is compacted with details of every angle. The world grows, the characters grow. The case reveals. Every word is needed to feel the creation here.
I enjoyed the Prelude. Clare and Bannon first meeting as Clare is called to the Queen by Bannon's visit. Ooooo, makes me curious of Clare and his history along with the strong-ness present in Bannon. When danger is afoot for Clare. We learn quick as the story takes off and doesn't slow with the information or action.
I was taken with the term mentath. See, Clare is a mentath. Mentath's are like walking talking calculators and logic analysts. He reads everything from reactions of people to encyclopedias and deduces logical answers. And he's right! But magic throws a wrench in the gears of his thinking process. For any mentath actually. Clare handles the "logic" of magic rather well...but does find an aspect that doesn't compute for him. When this happens, a mentath can be lost in their minds. Emma finds Clare is unexpectedly digesting magic easier than any mentath has, and could use his logic and calculating to find the murderer.
Now we have the magical side of things. Oh, I don't know where to start to describe this best. Emma is a special brand and branch of magic. It is so COOL! to see her at her best (or worst she might thing). The wave of magic that flows through the city each morning. The powers present. Wow. The Queen and the country...WOW! Emma is strong and a protector. yet, she still wonders about her Shield, her protector that fights to protect her as she is one of many valued sorcerers, with his history.
We get to see the thinking and reasoning from both Emma Bannon and Archibald Clare, Sorceress and Mentath. Two completely different takes on things and the world. Magic and Calculating. We get a chapter from both point of views, moving the story and mystery forward at a solid pace.
This book is worth picking up. It's heavy with amazing building and story.
****FULL REVIEW****
Emma Bannon might have been a late to save one unregistered mentath, but she was in time to save Archibald Clare. Though they will have to fight sorcery to keep him safe, that's where Emma comes in - a Prime Sorceress. The Queen relies on sorcerers and mentath's to help her run the country. Someone has been killing registered mentath's of the Queens, and now moved on to unregistered ones. Clare does not feel he was fully the focus after the first attack in the presence of Emma. Maybe the focus on sorcery too?
A story with an alternate Victorian Era of elegance, full of crafted magic, touch of steampunk style mystery, and a cunning of Sherlock Holmes creating a memorable and stunning partnership of Emma Bannon and Archibald Clare. I am a magic lover. I also truly enjoy the Victorian Era feel with steam accents. Blend them together and I'm sold! Lilith blows you away with the combination and an intriguing murder mystery.
Each paragraph is compacted with details of every angle. The world grows, the characters grow. The case reveals. Every word is needed to feel the creation here.
I enjoyed the Prelude. Clare and Bannon first meeting as Clare is called to the Queen by Bannon's visit. Ooooo, makes me curious of Clare and his history along with the strong-ness present in Bannon. When danger is afoot for Clare. We learn quick as the story takes off and doesn't slow with the information or action.
I was taken with the term mentath. See, Clare is a mentath. Mentath's are like walking talking calculators and logic analysts. He reads everything from reactions of people to encyclopedias and deduces logical answers. And he's right! But magic throws a wrench in the gears of his thinking process. For any mentath actually. Clare handles the "logic" of magic rather well...but does find an aspect that doesn't compute for him. When this happens, a mentath can be lost in their minds. Emma finds Clare is unexpectedly digesting magic easier than any mentath has, and could use his logic and calculating to find the murderer.
Now we have the magical side of things. Oh, I don't know where to start to describe this best. Emma is a special brand and branch of magic. It is so COOL! to see her at her best (or worst she might thing). The wave of magic that flows through the city each morning. The powers present. Wow. The Queen and the country...WOW! Emma is strong and a protector. yet, she still wonders about her Shield, her protector that fights to protect her as she is one of many valued sorcerers, with his history.
We get to see the thinking and reasoning from both Emma Bannon and Archibald Clare, Sorceress and Mentath. Two completely different takes on things and the world. Magic and Calculating. We get a chapter from both point of views, moving the story and mystery forward at a solid pace.
This book is worth picking up. It's heavy with amazing building and story.