Customer Reviews

Rise Of The Iron Moon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Kingdom of Jackals and the Quatérshift must now work together to defeat a common foe. The Army of Shadows has come to strip the land and enslave the population. Those that remain will be nothing more than sheep to be used as a food source by the masters.

A small band of unlikely heroes is the only hope. Molly Templar, a celestial fiction writer who suddenly starts having visions of the heximachina. Purity Drake, quite mad, yet with royal blood running through her veins. Kyorin, an alien in hiding, hoping to save what was left of his own world from the Army of Shadows. Magic and machinery must come together and secrets too dark to believe must come to light.

Not having read the first two books in this series, I felt a little lost at first. It took a little time before I got a feel for the world and began getting into the characters of the story. After that point, though, I found it hard to put the book down. Absolutely loved the twists and turns and the surprising directions and mis-directions the action took.

It's rare to find a novelist who attempts so many things in a fantasy novel as this, but Stephen Hunt dives into the pages of Rise of the Iron Moon with an abandon that might just be a little bit scary, and it reads as if he doesn't come up for air until he had finished. So where to start? Well, although marketed as fantasy, the novel might just as well be sold as science fiction, because it blends elements of both. This runs the danger that fantasy fans will dislike the SF elements while you can reverse that for science fiction fans. However, discerning readers who venture outside the genre will know that what Hunt is attempting - and largely succeeding with here - is a high adventure tale with post modern echoes of the classic pulps, blended with a well executed plot brim full of twists.

Rise of the Iron Moon is a continuation of what has gone on before, in the earlier books, as far as world building is concerned, but has a stand-alone story (a trick I read in an interview he was taught by fellow British author, Terry Pratchett). An excellent edition to the opus and I am fascinated to discover where the Jackelian series move on from here.

One gripe. Would benefit from a map. Please.

I would recommend this fast-paced novel to just about anyone (whether you love the genre or not). Having read The Rise of the Iron Moon in a couple of days, I couldn't believe the third Kingdom of Jackals novel would be as good as the second book, but Stephen Hunt has proved me wrong.

It has at the heart of its book the story of a girl, Purity Drake, who has to escape from a prison run by parliament to contain the children of the old regime. She has the bad luck to escape during an invasion, though, with a horde of what is initially believed to be polar barbarians sweeping down on the good guys.

In the end, events prove a lot more complex, and without revealing too many spoilers, she is swept up on a grand adventure. The novel brings a lot of tension to the party, and I dare you to read this without getting swept up in the action and excitement. Great, taut plotting, fully rounded characters and a truly unique world all go to making this one of my favourites so far.

Give The Rise of the Iron Moon a go, you won't be disappointed.

I'd heard very good things about Rise of the Iron Moon from my brother before I got my hands on a copy of this novel and it was just as good as described. It is a beautifully-written fantasy tale about a young woman who finds herself on the run alongside a hunted alien in an Earth of the future where all the resources have been used up and steam-power is the default for many societies, including a far-future-like UK. There's a feast of colorful characters including steam robots and submarine pirates and all sorts of wonders. The Rise of the Iron Moon is the most riveting novel I have read since coming across Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - the grandeur and scale of the world are truly mind-blowing. I can't wait for the next novel to come out now.

With The Rise of the Iron Moon, you have a tour de force of fantasy packing in just about everything including the kitchen sink. It has brilliant character development (albeit possibly with a few too many bodies), a world so replete with imagination that it's only possible equals in the genre are Dune and Middle Earth (possibly the two blended), and a plot that whisks you through the pages like the rocket ship on the cover.

This time around, the Jackelian people are being invaded - but the invaders aren't quite who or what the characters (or many of the readers) think they are, and thereby hangs the mystery that yanks you though the pages with great style and verve.

These books are created as stand-alone works, but this one is possibly not the best to start off on as it throws you in at the deep end - a little like starting the A Song of Ice and Fire cycle with A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow rather than the 1st book.

Still, Stephen Hunt writes beautifully and his books are so easy to breeze through it would be a crime not to add The Rise of the Iron Moon to the collection.

Stephen Hunt's Jackelian series gets ever-richer with each installment.

Here, The Rise of the Iron Moon starts fast and never really slows down as it gallops along with the tale of Purity Drake, a prisoner of the royal breeding house and multi-generational loser in the nation's ancient war between king and parliament. And joy of joys, Molly from The Court of the Air returns along with her steamman housemate and of course, Commodore Black.

A word of warning - not much of a spoiler if you have read any of the other books by the author - never get too attached to any characters in one of Hunt's books, he's studied at the same school as George RR Martin when it comes to keeping you on your toes by murdering favorites.

Hunt is one of the most important new voices in the genre and it's clear that a large number of other authors in the fantasy and science fiction field have been influenced by his novels, pushing away from the old elves and dragons tropes, and opening up new horizons in both worlds and plots.