Blood and Iron: A Novel of the Promethean Age

Overall, I consider myself a fan of the urban fantasy genre. There are a few authors that I purchase sight unseen because I enjoy all their books. While some of them may use elements of classic fantasy, they typically redesign the characters to fit their own world. There's a lot to be said for that type of fantasy. Most of the books are fun and easy reads. I enjoy them a lot. Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron doesn't have a lot in common with those books. She goes the opposite direction - she takes classic fantasy (Sidhe, Wild Hunt, Arthur Pendragon, Puck, etc) and treats it with utmost respect. Her writing is lyrical and not quick to read, almost like poetry in prose. As someone else mentions, anything worthwhile comes through sacrifice and the book doesn't end with happy endings all around. There is good & bad in all views and she leaves the reader to make his/her own interpretations. I can easily see myself reading this book 4 - 5 times and taking something different away each time. It was difficult to get into - the book switches locations/viewpoints without warning and until you get a handle on the characters, it's a little confusing. However, by the end of the book I read long into the night to finish it and immediately downloaded the other 3 books in the series. I would highly recommend this book to any adult fantasy lover.

What fun! A thoroughly detailed universe where the world of (modern) man is linked with the world of the Fae. Clever ideas link the two worlds - and with enough imagination you can see the shadows concealing the Seekers in your own house... A battle between the two worlds rages, bringing in Werewolves, King Arthur and a huge Dragon, along with a host of believable (but strange) characters from legend and myth (or perhaps Shakespeare) - Puck, Peaseblossom and an assortment of goblins, bogies and fairies. The book is not at all "fey" but a robust tale (and the fairies swear!) that zooms along like a thriller, mixed with Arthurian Legend, a dash of fairy [faerie] tales and nursery rhymes, and the underlying theme of the legendary ballad of Tam Lin. I have already ordered the second book in the series...

"Blood and Iron," the prolifically brilliant Elizabeth Bear's shimmery, impressionist novel is equal part fairy tale, critique of fairy tales, and the history of fairy tales; and it's grim but dryly witty. ("Nothing but glamourie, and gone on the stroke of midnight. Fortunately there were no clocks in Faerie.") It examines, among much else, Celtic mythology, werewolvery, and the Arthurian legends; it's inhabited by female merlins, water horses, a unicorn or two, a talking willow tree, and some spellbound sleeping royalty. Characters here appear because they've been written about in other tales, and thus become part of this book's reality. Its as close to a heroine as you'll find in it is Elaine Andraste (I love the traditional Arthurian first name and the Romanian surname), called Seeker. She's bound by the faeries to kidnap halfbreed children and deliver them unto the Queen, Mebd. The mortal group known as the Prometheans, led by Elaine's mother Jane, want to stop the faerie folk once and for all. Essentially, it's a battle between the forces of ancient magic (the blood), who are trying to hold on against the forces of modernity (the iron). It's setting is contemporary, and so is the language. An occasional four-letter word helps mock the traditional high-flown speech you usually find in fantasies. It's by no means an easy read. It's a novel of images, glimmerings, indirections. The points of view constantly shift, and the narrative switches off beween first- and third-person. And not everything's explained. Maybe you'll stop and read a passage a second time, or a third. It lacks a badly needed list of characters. But it's very much worth the effort. NOTES AND ASIDES: Google Tam Lin before reading . . . the author salutes the late Peter Jennings by giving him a very brief cameo . . . first of (so far) four, but complete in itself.

Drawing on centuries of folklore and ballads about the cruel and inhuman Sidhe, Elizabeth Bear puts it all on the table: The Ballad of Tam Lin, about a woman rescuing her true love from the clutches of the Faerie Queen; Arthurian Legend, where Arthur is taken off to Avalon and his sister, Morgan Le Fay is the Queen of Air and Darkness, Ancient Dragons that lie at the root of the world (so to speak), Water sprites that exist to lure the unwitting into death by drowning-- Plus Urban Fantasy, with Man against Nature, the dangers of the dark alleys--as hazardous as the intrigues of the Sidhe and the Unseelie Court, Madness, Revenge... and back to Arthur with a mortal Merlin. And even a dash of the Eternal Hero and the sacrifice of Kings. Oh, and werewolves. Somehow Bear manages to juggle it all and add suspense and action, with a huge cast of characters, well-drawn and never quite two-dimensional, despite the limited attention paid to each. The tale is wound around Elaine Adraste, who has been stolen away by the diminishing race of Faeries due to her heritage of Faerie blood, and is bound to the Queen as her Seeker--the one who steals away human children. Not only spells and geas bind her, but also her own child, also kept by the Queen. And the theme extends to Elaine's mother, powerful leader of the ancient Prometheus Club, who will do anything to destroy Faerie, including sacrifice her own child. Few people can adequately capture the cruel and alien beauty of the Faery Court in a manner that compels as well as repels, but Elizabeth Bear is one. This is a complex, epic tale that is sure to appeal to anyone remotely interested in any of the many elements involved.

Elaine Andraste, now known simply as Seeker, is a servant of the Medb, Queen of the Daoine Sidhe; stolen by the Fae in childhood, she has spent her life bound to the Faerie Realm, stealing other human children for the queen. Matthew is a mage, of the mysterious Promethean Club, a group of human magic users in league against Faerie. When the Medb requires Seeker to trap the Merlin, the newest incarnation of the powerful wizard who could save Faerie or doom it, Seeker comes into conflict with Matthew and his allies, as well as with rivals from other Faerie factions. Bear weaves together strands of folklore and legend from King Arthur to Tam Lin with her own imaginings to create a compelling vision of Faerie, both terrible and beautiful; it's no wonder the Merlin has difficulty deciding whether to aid Faerie or oppose it. The characters are fiercely memorable, particularly Elaine and her wild Fae companion, Whiskey the kelpie (a shapeshifting water horse). The story is immersive and intricate, full of schemes and rivalries, blood ties and friendships, mystery and sorcery, and the prose is equally complex and allusive. It required some concentration to sink into the narrative, but once I was in, I emerged only with reluctance. This is one of the best books I've read this year, and one of the best treatments of Faerie I've ever read; I await the sequel, _Whiskey and Water_, with great eagerness.