Was looking forward to having a read of Jon Sprunk. Unfortunately the experience was not very memorable. The story is very one dimensionable and lacking in character.

The world building was poor at the beginning and did not pick up greatly. The characterization was quite dull and yet again did not improve much, essentially the book was only relevant around one character. The writing was ok. Overall there is not much to say the overall story is pretty dull and lacking in anything exciting with the intrigue and politics lacking in creativity.

This had so much promise. But sadly I found myself being bored at times. I think many hard core Fantasy (guys) will like this however, it's more for lover of the Wheel of time, than me.

The world building was quite intriguing, quite classic epic fantasy with it's own unique world inspired by the ancient world. I think it's actually my favorite part.

The writing style and Character building were ok, but I seriously found it really hard to keep myself interested. It was just too slow for me. I had started it ages ago, feeling excited about it. Then I put it down and read the odd chapter here and there. But I never got into it. So finally I forced myself to finish it. And the epilogue.. Damn!! So now I don't know if I will read the next one or not. I guess I'll wait and see if any of my friends adore the next one before giving it a try

Overall for me the story was good, but the problems I ran into were basically these two: It was another "powerless to powerful" story where of course everyone else saw how powerful Horace was except for Horace, and two: the characters were completely un-engaging. I read the book cover to cover and by the end of it I honestly couldn't have cared much less whether they all lived or got hit by a fourth wall-breaking bus. I don't think I'll be reading the sequel, but if I decide to I'll get it from the library so I don't have to spend money on it. If I had to sum it up in a word, it would be "dry."

One thing I did find refreshing was that one of the major side characters was gay and another was bisexual, but there was no sex in the story. It was nice to see LGBT characters and not have the sex overblown (I'm looking at you Mr. Morgan...). It's hard for me to find LGBT fantasy novels without it turning into LGBT "sexual fantasy" novels. I don't want to read smut, I want to read an engaging story with magic and dragons and stuff. *Climbs off soapbox but keeps it handy...*

I thought the premise was interesting, and I wanted to like it, but it leaned a little too heavily on tropes, and I kept thinking, "why is everything being explained to me?" way too often...

(These are book club questions for the entire book. There will be spoilers)
Blood and Iron by Jon Sprunk Book Club
1. What do you think of the 3rd person narration?
2. How do you feel about Horace?
3. Do you feel like you are experiencing the shipwreck with Horace?
4. Horace is dropped into a world where he cannot speak the language after the shipwreck, what do you think of this as a way to learn about the world with him?
5. What do you think of Jirom?
6. Compare and contrast Horace and Jirom at the beginning of the book?
7. What do you think of the world?
8. Does the world remind you of any place in the history of our world, especially Akeshia?
9. Do you want to know exactly what happened to Horace’s family when he first starts to flashback to them?
10. What do you think of slavery in Akeshia?
11. What do you think of Horace discovering he is a magician by stopping the storm?
12. Is it more interesting that he had no idea that he had magic or zoana before the storm?
13. Is it hard to know which characters to trust in the book?
14. What do you think of Alyra?
15. How is your opinion of her shaped by the fact that we find out she is a spy as soon as we meet her?
16. How is it disconcerting to follow Horace’s changes in circumstances in captivity?
17. How do you feel about Queen Byleth?
18. Do you feel like Horace that you need to pick sides without having all of the information?
19. Does the training of soldiers in Akeshia seem wasteful?
20. Who is your favorite character?
21. What do you think of Astaptah?
22. Is the flying ship cool?
23. Did you expect the ship to crash?
24. Did you expect the fight with the Kurgarru and was it super creepy?
25. Did you expect Horace to walk away at the end of the duel rather than killing his defeated opponent?
26. What do you think of solitary confinement without death forever as a punishment?
27. Should Horace have followed Rimesh after he saved Byleth?
28. Do you like it that Alyra saved Horace from Rimesh?
29. What do you think of Mulcihar’s final letter to Horace?
30. Did the Epilogue set up the next book nicely?
31. Did you like the book?
32. Do you want to read more in the series?

I wanted to like the concept of this book -- Crusader type gets shipwrecked in the country of his enemies, is enslaved, has to learn their language and culture to survive etc.

Unfortunately it's not terribly well plotted. Stuff just sort of... happens, as the protagonist(s) stumble through the story. There are multiple protagonists and storylines that intersect... once, about halfway through the book. I think the author was going for a story of mystery, intrigue, and the sense that larger forces/long-term plans are at work... but it just came off as "this stuff is just kind of happening and I don't really know why".

There's also some weird and unnecessary inclusion of sexuality in a way that didn't really feel necessary and kind of leaves a greasy taste in your mouth. I don't have a problem with sexuality in books, but it really needs to be there for a reason, and I couldn't figure out what the reason was here (unless it was as simple/shallow as some kind of weird "Egyptian queens were harlots" thing).

Specific spoiler-y questions below:

Why does a foreign slave who is completely unfamiliar with local politics, the ins and outs of his own power, etc get elevated to one of the most powerful positions in the country?

I could see the queen etc seeing him as a potential ally, and I could see as he learns to harness/control his powers him becoming more powerful in society as well, but the timing here is just insanely compressed. Possibly this is a victim of poor plotting, but it rather seemed like he goes from slave-in-chains to personal guard of the queen in a handful of days, with no real assurance that he has any ability to, or interest in, such a duty. Having a bad (or treacherous!) bodyguard seems worse than not having one at all, I would think...


Then there's the stereotypical "shadowy can you trust him/can you not/what is he up to" necromancer-ish type down in the tunnels, the surprisingly incompetent professional spy who falls in love with the foreigner, jeopardizing everything she's worked her whole life for except that it may actually achieve what she's worked her whole life for, sort of...

The book is just a mess of ideas all thrown together with no real sense of pacing or artistry. It's serviceable enough as beach fantasy reading, maybe, but it won't really bring anything new to the table.

I wanted to like the concept of this book -- Crusader type gets shipwrecked in the country of his enemies, is enslaved, has to learn their language and culture to survive etc.

Unfortunately it's not terribly well plotted. Stuff just sort of... happens, as the protagonist(s) stumble through the story. There are multiple protagonists and storylines that intersect... once, about halfway through the book. I think the author was going for a story of mystery, intrigue, and the sense that larger forces/long-term plans are at work... but it just came off as "this stuff is just kind of happening and I don't really know why".

There's also some weird and unnecessary inclusion of sexuality in a way that didn't really feel necessary and kind of leaves a greasy taste in your mouth. I don't have a problem with sexuality in books, but it really needs to be there for a reason, and I couldn't figure out what the reason was here (unless it was as simple/shallow as some kind of weird "Egyptian queens were harlots" thing).

Specific spoiler-y questions below:

Why does a foreign slave who is completely unfamiliar with local politics, the ins and outs of his own power, etc get elevated to one of the most powerful positions in the country?

I could see the queen etc seeing him as a potential ally, and I could see as he learns to harness/control his powers him becoming more powerful in society as well, but the timing here is just insanely compressed. Possibly this is a victim of poor plotting, but it rather seemed like he goes from slave-in-chains to personal guard of the queen in a handful of days, with no real assurance that he has any ability to, or interest in, such a duty. Having a bad (or treacherous!) bodyguard seems worse than not having one at all, I would think...


Then there's the stereotypical "shadowy can you trust him/can you not/what is he up to" necromancer-ish type down in the tunnels, the surprisingly incompetent professional spy who falls in love with the foreigner, jeopardizing everything she's worked her whole life for except that it may actually achieve what she's worked her whole life for, sort of...

The book is just a mess of ideas all thrown together with no real sense of pacing or artistry. It's serviceable enough as beach fantasy reading, maybe, but it won't really bring anything new to the table.

Interesting world, but the plight of the characters didn't grasp me

Blood and Iron, not to be confused with the urban fantasy novel of the same name by Elizabeth Bear, is the first entry in a trilogy by Jon Sprunk about fantasy nations at war. Our hero is Horace, a shipwright and carpenter stranded on the shores of a hostile empire, at their mercy, who suddenly finds out he can do magic. What ensues in the slow self-destruction of the capital city of this kingdom within the empire while Horace stands around making amazed noises at it all.

Horace is essentially an Idiot Protagonist (TVTropes), so your mileage is going to vary quite a bit here. He goes from being a prisoner to a magic-wielding-but-still-clueless leader of the Queen’s guard in about a hundred and fifty pages. If this rise to power isn’t unbelievable enough, all this happens without Horace taking any initiative. Instead, he just reacts to everyone else manipulating him like the pawn that he is. From Mulcibar to Byleth to Alyra, all the supporting characters push and prod Horace into the few actions he actually takes on his own.

Although there is nothing inherently wrong with having an idiot protagonist, when deployed the way it is here, it gets boring. Fast. I just had nothing invested in Horace. Instead of taking stock of his impossible situation and coming up with a plan, he just waits for things to happen and then hopes for the best. That’s not how a clever, commendable hero should act! Even if their plans don’t work out (and it’s often more entertaining that way) heroes need to make them! Horace learns the language (with surprising speed) but consistently fails to learn much about court politics, assuming instead that he can continue to blunder about and act on his own recognizance without much threat to his life.

Horace not making plans comes to a head along with the climax of the book itself: rather than, you know, making a plan to save the queen and all that, Horace decides to run full tilt at the bad guys and rely on his precarious grasp of his magical ability. The result is a series of interlinked scenes in which Horace continually pummels people with magic. There is no brinksmanship, no intrigue involved, just a straight-up no-holds-barred magical firefight. And while this might be appealing to some people, it once again left me feeling cold and unsatisfied.

Then there’s the fact that Horace seems to have no distinguishing characteristics other than being a brooding foreign carpenter who suddenly can do magic—yet the only two women in the book of note are immediately, hopelessly fascinated by him. Horace is not fascinating. Horace is a dolt who once built ships and now does magic with the finesse of someone trying to embroider a throw pillow using a fencing sword. Now, in the disgustingly chauvinistic types of fantasy books of yore that Blood and Iron unfortunately seems to be trying to emulate, the women all swoon over the hero because he actually is, you know, heroic. Not because he is the designated hero of the story.

Let me tick off a few more clichés while we’re at it. Evil priesthood? Check. Slave revolution? Check. (Actually, I was extremely confused by Jirom’s entire subplot, and I had no clue what was going on for most of it.) Embattled queen forced into marriage with a charmless ape? Check.

By no means do I want to suggest that Blood and Iron simply retreads the same, old grooves in fantasy without much to show for it. There are certainly some commendable aspects. Sprunk includes a pair of gay characters in an offhanded manner and in a way that makes it seem like no one else considers it a big deal (and I think that they might be the first to get a romantic kiss as well). The magic system is interesting. Sprunk clearly has it worked out, but he doesn’t dump too much exposition on us, and I admit he has piqued my curiosity. (I just wish that it weren’t used as a sledgehammer in the climax.) Although the two supporting women were indeed pressed in service as Horace’s admirers, they are also fairly three-dimensional characters in their own right, with problems and desires of their own. Byleth reminds me a lot of Elizabeth I; Alyra is an interesting albeit not very competent spy with a believable backstory.

One last quibble, and one which has absolutely nothing to do with Sprunk’s writing: my edition has absurdly huge headers consisting of the title on the verso and Sprunk’s name on the recto. I’m used to headers and footers being in a much smaller font size than the body text. These were larger and darker type, in all-capitals, and very distracting. It’s a shame, because the large-format trade paperback is otherwise extremely nice to read.

Blood and Iron is not a stunning new work of fantasy. I’m not really interested in reading the next book in this series. But it’s also not a bad book. It leans a little too much on the conventions of the genre and seems to think it is more clever than it actually is. But I can see how other readers might find it more to their liking. So while I won’t recommend it, it is nice to know there are other options out there.

Originally reviewed at Thoughts Stained With Ink:

It took me five sittings to read this book. Hint: that is four too many. That's how good this book is, friends.

I saw this book sitting on the shelves at Barnes and Noble one day and immediately went to read the back. The cover was just so intriguing to me. And it seemed interesting, yet I couldn't bite the bullet and purchase it, as the price was a bit out of my price range (but, to be honest, all prices are out of my price range; living paycheck-to-paycheck has its drawbacks). So I put it back. And then I kept seeing it, everywhere. Sometimes it'd be on display, so it would be impossible to miss. Other times, I'd just be perusing the spines, innocently dreaming of the day when endless paychecks resulted in an endless supply of all the books I want, and then BAM! there it would be, Blood and Iron, mocking me because I could just tell it was a good book yet I couldn't afford to buy it.

And that was probably, what, over a year ago? Yeah, a long time to pine over a book you want to read. So, cue moving back in with my parents this past semester (remember that paycheck-to-paycheck living comment I made...yeah) and thus, having a library account. For some odd reason, I never use any libraries other than the library I have always used as kid. I don't know why. It's as if, when I'm not staying at home for an extended period of time, other libraries don't exist (even though I work in an academic one). My mind is a weird place.

Anyway, back to reviewing the experience that was reading Blood and Iron.

So, I start getting back into the groove of maxing out the family library card, when suddenly, I remember that cover that has haunted me for so long; three souls locked together by chains, just begging for their story to be read. I rush to put Blood and Iron on hold, which I got roughly two weeks ago. I start reading it, fly through the first 100 pages and then continue to read it in longer spurts throughout the next two weeks, until eventually, I put off walking my dog for an hour and a half, as the chapter I read eating a bowl of cereal just wasn't enough and I had to finish the damn thing (sorry, Shadow).

All in all, I wasn't disappointed.

Blood and Iron follows the lives of three slaves: Horace, a shipwright shipwrecked on enemy territory and taken in custody; Jirom, a gladiator traded into the life of trying to survive as he continues to switch hands and alliances; and Alyra, a slave who chose that fate in order to better live out her true identity as a spy. All of them struggle to survive within the realm of Queen Byleth, a woman who simply wants power, yet is constantly threatened by the religious sect that undermines to dethrone her, through forced marriage. Also, don't forget to include awesome and terrifying storms, political intrigue and just a flair of romance.

Yeah. Bomb stuff, people.

Any time I stopped reading, Blood and Iron always called me back. Similar to how I always found it at the bookstore, even when I wasn't looking for it, when Real Life would force its way into my reading time, I would close the book and, for a couple minutes afterwords, still be living in the world I had just left. Instead of getting ready for work, I would be thinking back to the heat of the desert and imagining how sweaty and painful that experience must be, marching all day with barely any bread or water given to you. Instead of walking my dog, I would be thinking about all the abrupt changes Horace was going through and wondering how on Earth he was going to master his magical powers and manage to keep himself alive. I just wanted to go back, instead of dealing with whatever interruption life had suddenly thrown my way.

Looking at some other reviews, some complaints are possible: the pace at the beginning is a bit slow; the character with latent magical powers saves the day trope is overused; Horace, as the main character, has no agency; the romance was underplayed. Personally, I could see how other readers might give sway to these complaints, yet I didn't think about any of these things whilst I was reading. I was too lost within the story.

So does the plotline incorporate a trope? Yeah, sure. Does the ending scene, which had a chance for a great romantic confession, come up a little bit short? Yep. Could Horace have had a bit more agency? Potentially, but I personally feel that having life throw thing after thing at you and you having no control over it is more realistic than getting to have a say in everything you do. Plus, he is a slave in a foreign country that his people are at war with. So it isn't surprising that he doesn't have a lot of agency in the first half of the book, so I much prefer his "choicelessness" in the matter.

Basically, could or does this book have faults? Yes, it potentially could or maybe does. I dunno. Because I'm not reading books or reviewing them to find all the faults within them. I don't go looking for books that are absent of all tropes and do everything completely new. I read to escape reality, to fall in love with characters and to enjoy myself for a couple of hours as my own problems and stresses slip away. Blood and Iron allowed me to do just that. I enjoyed the writing style, I became loyal to the characters, I cared about them and I grew fascinated by the world that Sprunk created.

As a reader, can I really ask for more than that?

Read on!