Good Morning Adventurers, How has your weekend been? Mine was filled with whimsy trips to the renaissance festival, good company, and just getting to kick back and simply relax. However, on this morning, I need to talk about a certain book that I have been given the chance to read a head of it’s actual release. I have the graphics, I have the book, and now I need to create the review.
So here it is, the book cover and the title itself. “Of Iron and Moonlight” by Irene Edwards. While I’m at it, I’ll add the blurb for your convenience(and to make this post longer, hehehe).
For generations, the fae have long been absent from human lands—long enough for most people to forget they ever existed, and for the old stories to become little more than myth.
Then people start disappearing.
The search for answers draws a grieving duke into a growing political crisis, sends a young woman in desperate pursuit of her missing best friend, and traps a blacksmith inside the stolen identity he never intended to keep. Their paths converge as buried histories resurface, dormant powers awaken, and the boundaries between human and fae unravel.
Because while humans forgot the fae, the fae never forgot them.
So, I think I stumbled upon Irene’s work by simply scrolling through instagram on my author account. Of the many ads(that always seem to replace your actual followed accounts), Irene’s was one of the first that really stood out to me. After a few interactions with her posts, I grew pretty excited for the upcoming release date for her book(HINT: October 8th). However, when she made a post about looking for ARC readers, I just had to throw my name into the hat and hope that I get picked.
Now, here we are, writing my first ever review for an ARC read. It’s kinda exciting getting the chance to talk about something that only a select few has gotten a chance to read before its official release. Anyways, first things first, I’m not going to go into incredible detail about the plot, simply because I want to save that surprise for the next reader. So I’ll be talking about the quality and style of the writing itself, as well as pacing of the story itself.
Characters:
The characters that Irene created and how she decided to reveal them are the biggest reasons why I found this book interesting. I have not read a story about a commoner taking on the identity of a nobel in a while. The Duke and his wife are just as equally interesting but I was originally Gavriel, the blacksmith who turned the tide of battle until he was captured. That happens at the beginning of the book and then we don’t hear from him for the next few chapters. Instead we shift POV to the other characters in order for the reader to get a feel of the realm.
This is probably the best move that Irene could have done to keep a reader like me invested in a story. Normally I don’t go for the political intrigue in writing, but because I wanted to know more about Gavriel, then I just had to keep on reading. Just because he was the character that I was interested in, doesn’t mean the other characters are weak. Each of the characters could go through this story as the only POV and would hold the story together alibet making it that much shorter. So I am very thankful for all of the characters and extended length of the novel(split into three parts).
Plot & Vibe:
So the overall vibe of this story reminds me of a Brandon Sanderson novel. Heavy on the character interaction but not filled with political intrigue like Game of Thrones. Irene doesn’t shy away from the challenges that you would find in a massive empire, but she does an excellent job at keeping the window small enough for the reader to not get swamped in detail and info dumps. If anything, that’s probably the strongest aspect of this novel. Irene has a way with building her world through the interactions of her characters. She doesn’t get caught up in the little tidbits of traveling and open space, but fills each scene with details that help create the image that she wants the reader to see.
Honestly, this helps with the pacing of the story as well. I never once felt like the story was dragging or I was bored with the characters. Between the chapters, I was always left with wanting to know more. Heck, Irene does such a good job at leaving some chapters with cliffhangers, that I got irritated when I couldn’t keep on reading due to an obligation that took me away from the book. So well done, Irene, well done.
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