Review: Iron and Magic

Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 stars, 10 stars - who cares?

So, in case you've been living in an alternate universe, this is a spin off from the awesome Kate Daniels series.

Hugh D'Ambray, the creator and leader of the Iron Dogs, was the right hand man of Roland, an omnipotent magician, thousands of years old, able to wield magic like no other. He made a mistake, after hundreds of years of loyal service and he was dismissed, exiled, banished. Drowning himself in a bottle Hugh is brought back to reality by his former centurion commanders who inform him that one of the Golden Legion, Landon Nez, is systematically killing all of the Iron Dogs. Despite his profound depression at being cut off from his pseudo father figure, Hugh still has enough loyalty to his men to try to save them, but without money or land ...

Hugh's second in command identifies a group of witches, occupying a castle, who are in desperate need of soldiers to protect them from a concerted effort (by Landon Nez) to buy their land. An unholy alliance is brokered between the witches and the soldiers, but because both sides have a reputation for reneging on agreements, the agreement is sealed in the most old-fashioned of ways - a marriage.

I have to admit, I always had a soft spot for Hugh, even after all the terrible things he did, so I was over the moon to see he had his own series. And what a start this is. A Taming of the Shrew kind of political marriage. Strange creatures, dogs, a horse who thinks he is a unicorn, vampires, more than one god, sarcasm, pain and gore. It's awesome.

Words fail me, it's poignant, it's sexy (phew Hugh), it's violent, there's magic and modern technology, this is everything that we love in the Kate Daniels world. I was on the edge of my seat and 300+ pages went by in the blink of an eye. And if you follow my reviews you know I rarely gush and probably 60-75% of my reviews hit the middle of the road three stars.

All I can say is, if you loved the Kate Daniels series then you will love this too.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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