The Iron Wyrm Affair

Bannon & Clare #1

by Lilith Saintcrow

Emma Bannon, forensic sorceress in the service of the Empire, has a mission: to protect Archibald Clare, a failed, unregistered mentath. His skills of deduction are legendary, and her own sorcery is not inconsiderable. It doesn't help much that they barely tolerate each other, or that Bannon's Shield, Mikal, might just be a traitor himself. Or that the conspiracy killing registered mentaths and sorcerers alike will just as likely kill them as seduce them into treachery toward their Queen.

In an alternate London where illogical magic has turned the Industrial Revolution on its head, Bannon and Clare now face hostility, treason, cannon fire, black sorcery, and the problem of reliably finding hansom cabs.

The game is afoot..

Genres: Steampunk, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Fiction, Magic

323 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

Lilith Saintcrow was born in New Mexico, bounced around the world as a child, and fell in love with writing stories when she was ten years old. She and her library co-habitate in Vancouver, Washington.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most succinct way to describe The Iron Wyrm Affair is "a convoluted mess." It is really disappointing to have looked forward to this book for the last few months only to be let down so thoroughly. Not just let down - I have rarely been so frustrated by a book that I wanted to hurl my Kindle across the room. If the following review sounds confused and incoherent, that is because I just wasted the last few hours of my life reading one of the most incoherent books I've ever had the misfortune to come across.

There is little I have taken away from this story other than the following: Archibald Clare is supposed to be a mentath and one half of this "Bannon & Clare" story but was outshone by one of Emma Bannon's Shields, Emma Bannon has a short temper and serious trust issues and this was an urban fantasy novel disguised as steampunk.

Firstly, those who're reading this as a "steampunk" novel should be quickly disabused of this notion - there is little of the steampunk variety here other than vague mentions of automatons, logic engines and various "mechas." They attack our heroes, although it's not very well-established why this happens; it just does. Magic is really the name of the game here, since Emma Bannon is a sorceress through and through. Apparently one of the most feared classes of sorcerers in the realm, she tosses it around without a thought, defeats enemy after enemy with her powers and so on - it's frankly hard to see why it was even necessary for there to be machines if she could do everything with her magic. I would be greatly distressed if people walk away from this book feeling like the steampunk genre is not for them. Let me assure them that this is hardly a representative example.

It's fairly obvious from the cover that The Iron Wyrm Affair has "borrowed" from the Guy Ritchie film in the most outrageous fashion - about the only noticeable difference is that we have a girl on the cover rather than two guys. The things immediately established at the outset only confirm that this is a failed attempt to imitate Sherlock Holmes; Archibald Clare constantly harps on about his powers of "deduction", except rather than impressive showings of logic, he only ever waffles on about things that I figured out long before he put a stop to his verbal diarrhea. He even has an arch-nemesis, "Dr. Vance," who is mentioned in passing but never appears at all. Instead, Emma Bannon charges into his house and drags him off with great urgency, they are attacked by various supernatural/natural beings (this entire episode was such a mess that I could hardly follow it) and it is thus established that Clare's genius is in danger. Oohhh.

After this most confusing opening, it only gets worse. The author appears to think that if she'd just toss out new terminology and insert character/place names as she goes, readers will simply figure it out. NO. It doesn't work that way, particularly when we are given no context whatsoever on most occasions. More often than not, details are either not explained or a passing remark made MUCH LATER will finally enlighten me. Really, I shouldn't have to find myself wondering things like, "What the heck is a/the Shadow?" when characters are talking about it, only to reach the next chapter and it'd be finally placed in context so that I realize, "Oh, I think it's the name of a place!" There are also many instances where the tension builds to a climax and you're at the point where a character's fighting for their lives... and then you're ripped away and dropped into a different POV. By the time you return, the action's over and you're only told what has happened. Worse, the magic system, which Emma constantly references and is obviously central to her scenes, is only explained 4/5ths of the way through the book at page 246. By then, I had given up on understanding it, only to be greeted with a one-page infodump.

This is all unfortunately coupled with overly verbose prose that is often grammatically incorrect or simply clunky - it's an obvious effort to twist words around so that they'd sound as complicated and "historical" as possible. Take the following sentence, for example:

A traitorous warmth bloomed in her belly, was sternly shelved.

Or this one:

Clare freed himself with a violent, wrenching twist, losing his top hat, and made it up to one knee, his freshly loaded silver-chased pepperbox pistol out.

...What? I had to read that sentence several times.

I could forgive these poor attempts to imitate period language if it wasn't so obvious that the author couldn't decide whether to make Londinium (yes, not London, because that would be too normal, see?) true to the Victorian Era or turn it into a totally unique fantasy world. There seemed to be a reluctance to commit to either, so we end up with a weird combination of both - Emma talks about hiring hansom cabs, there are apparently social norms for well-bred ladies that she's clearly not following, there's a queen and her consort, a Duchess of Kent, Buckingham, etc. However, the queen has been renamed Victrix and her husband Alberich, the spirit of Britannia apparently chooses vessels and are surrounded by sorcerers... it's really a badly disguised alternate London. I'd probably appreciate it more if there was better world-building, but I lost my grasp of anything in this novel somewhere at the beginning.

As for the characters, they're little better developed than the rest of the novel. I've already mentioned Clare's so-called "logical deductions" that are less deductions than they are gigantic, unexplained mental leaps that serve to move the plot along. Emma is much better developed and it is thankfully her POV that we get most of the time, but she irritates me almost as much as Clare's completely useless self because she spends much of the book insisting on her distrust of her Shield/bodyguard, Mikal. This is after he has saved her life repeatedly, worried about her safety like a mother hen and made it obvious to everyone who isn't BLIND that he thinks the world of her.

On the upside, the complicated burgeoning relationship between Emma and Mikal was not only a very pleasant surprise, but also the only thing that kept me reading this horrendous mess. The slowly unfolding details of their history was fascinating, and I gave it one more star for this sole reason. I might even have considered picking up the sequel and only reading their sections if the author interview at the end of the book had not taken away this one point of satisfaction with her comment that Mikal was not so much a love interest as a way for Emma to "release a little pressure." WTF? How do all the ways she reacted to Mikal and the emotions she displayed translate to that?

The Iron Wyrm Affair is the perfect example that too much is not necessarily a good thing. It's as if the author tossed every single idea into a melting pot and hoped some magical chemical reaction would produce a great story. Instead, we have a badly executed mess that was a truly painful read. The only joy that I experienced was when I reached the last page and contemplated the scathing review that I was going to write on Goodreads.

[Emma Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I don’t know exactly how I feel about this book it intrigued me enough to read the second one anyway.
...
After reading a few chapters of the 2nd I can say I will not be finishing this series.
I loved the idea and while I believe people who enjoy steam punk, sorcerers and murder mysteries will enjoy this book.
The writing style was not for me. 2 and half stars. ⭐️⭐️1/5

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like the writing style of this at all. It was choppy and jumped all over the place. The changing POVs were confusing because I couldn't always tell at first that they had changed, and the world-building was basically non-existent. I feel like I missed an entire book that actually explained the world, the magic, and all the terms that were randomly thrown at me throughout.

There were many scenes that I had to go back and re-read because I realized that I had no idea what I had just read. They were garbled and confused, and re-reading didn't always help. That's when I started to skim. I skimmed until I found explanations and scenes that I could actually understand. And I skimmed until I had enough of a sense of the story that I was half-way interested in what was going to happen, and then I managed to care enough to finish the book (while still skimming the confusing parts!).

The thing is, I think there's a good story in there somewhere. I had to dig really hard to find it, and it was obscured by choppy and chaotic scenes. But it was enough in the end for me to give this two stars instead of one, if only because I'm a sucker for historical fantasy / steampunk settings like this.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emma Bannon is a powerful sorceress in service to the British Empire. When the mutilated corpses of mentaths (super-geniuses) start showing up, she is the only one to link the deaths to a potential threat to Britain itself. She manages to save the last mentath from an assassination attempt, then enlists him to her cause. While Emma investigates the sorcerous conspiracy, Archibald Clare the mentath pounds the pavement looking for clues.

Archibald Clare is the weakest part of this book. He's supposedly this fantasy/steampunk world's version of Sherlock Holmes, but he talks in a bad knock-off of a dithering public school accent: lots of "I say!" and "Good day sir" and "how improper". (I'm not exagerating in the least--these are actual samples of actual dialog.) He's a genius, but I saw no examples within the text. For instance, Emma mentions that she was a poor orphan, and three pages later he "deduces" that she grew up poor based on her table manners. She just told you, dimwit! Alas, it seems that he is a permanent main character.

Emma's sections of the book are just as silly as Archibald's but at least she does things. Her magic is dramatic and dark. The dragons she encounters are easily the most interesting aspects of the book, being both intriguing twists on the usual bodies dragons get and sounding quite frightening. And I loved that she was a balls-to-the-wall kind of badass, who throws her all into a battle and then, having barely survived, immediately fight another. She has a series of furious rides that are downright inspiring. Fans of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series will like her; I certainly did. She's like a normal dark sorceress cranked up to 11.

The plot is basically just a bunch of random ideas Saintcrow throws at the heroes, without much development or explanation. So don't read this if you're expecting a mystery, because there aren't clues or hidden threads or anything like. But do read this if you're in the mood for flashy clockwork creatures and campy pseudo-Victorian dialog.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on audio, and it was definitely a distinctive read. I have to say that while I enjoyed it, it was challenging to listen to. I found it hard to visualize some concepts. I honestly have no brain for mechanical concepts, so listening to descriptions of the mecha devices was difficult for me. I decided to stop analyzing and go with it. Not worry about trying to get a crystal clear image of those parts of the story, but just enjoy what I could understand. The ideas were interesting, but I was a bit clueless about what exactly made Clare what he was, and the exact interplay between his physiology and his abilities. At the end, I determined that he was heavily depending on the continual processing of information for his well-being, but he could think too much and end up in trouble. Perhaps he also has some enhanced sensory abilities which also make him susceptible to different environments.

While the magic system was very intriguing, it took me a long time to understand it or get a handle on it. I absolutely loved some parts. They were darkly beautiful. They inspired a deep sense of unease with the arcane natures of the magical acts and the beings perpetuating them, but also a sense of awe. While I have no real life interest in magic whatsoever, I do love reading about magic in this kind of fictional setting. And I thoroughly enjoyed the fact magic is so intrinsic to the fabric of Great Britain in this novel. It was very cool that the present monarch is a host for the spirit of Britannia. I haven't encountered that concept before.

As far as characters, Emma really came to life for me. She's such a complex person. She's a mix of good and bad, and her manner of interacting with others can inspire winces as often as wows. I loved how vigilant and fierce she was. She took her role as a Prime sorcerer very seriously, and her vow to protect Britain. And it often cost her personally. The scene near the end brought shivers down my spine. I also loved Mikhail. He was luscious. The way the moderator spoke his parts was utterly appealing. Especially the way he spoke to Emma and called her Prima. It sounded like a verbal caress. I was surprised at the direction that the author took with Emma's relationship with Mikhail. It added to the complexity of her character. I wish I had more answers about what Mikhail is. I have to be honest that he is a big draw for me right now, although I also find Emma very appealing as a heroine, although not always laudable in the way she acted towards some characters. Clare was interesting. I enjoyed his deductive reasoning and analysis of the very strange situations he encountered after being recruited by Emma as the sole surviving unregistered mentath. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't always 'get' what he was doing and how it affected him. I hope that will change with later books. I also liked Valetinelli. I have a fondness for roguish characters who are insanely good at being lethal. That's definitely him. The moderator made his voice very fun. He spoke with a blatant Italian accent that was lyrical and appealing.

I think the major reason why I didn't give this a higher rating was that I had a hard time getting a grasp on the story to the extent that I desired. I had a lot of questions. As far as the writing having an appeal and impact on me, that was very well done. Saintcrow has a way of bringing magical and arcane elements to vibrant life that stays with me. That imagery was very well depicted. As a visual reader, I could feel and experience the powerful magics that the characters employed, although some parts were just plain weird and my brain didn't know what to make of those. I also give this book points on having such a distinctive heroine. Not always pure in her motives, but underneath, driven to do what is right. That's a hard thing to conceptualize in a novel without polarizing your audience.

I have to give this 3.5 stars because it was flawed in some ways, but in others a very good book. I will continue this series with the hopes I will be enlightened on some of the world-building particulars and to explore more of Emma, Clare, and Mikhail, and not to mention, Supernatural Victorian Great Britain.

Recommended with reservations.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot itself was fine (even interesting by the end) but you could barely see it under the heaving mass of purple prose. The style deployed (selected, I assume, to embody the ornate & power gradation-heavy world) ultimately harms the text as a whole. Unnecessary details make the story and world seem clunky, particularly as the same unnecessary details tend to be repeated nearly verbatim on a regular basis. I understood that Bannon's face was "childlike" the first time around and didn't find it a very convincing physical manifestation of her actual vulnerability versus her perceived immense strength then. By the sixth or seventh time the same description and implication was given I began to suspect that the author, who clearly had easy access to a thesaurus, didn't really have much of a mental picture of the heroine herself in either a physical or figurative sense and so could not provide more (still superfluous!) details.

Bannon's interior monologues were similarly dramatic and while this did allow for a nice contrast with Clare, the regular failure to match Bannon's perception of what others think and are doing with what they actually appear to be thinking and doing makes her seem both unreliable and unpleasant as a narrator. This is particularly true of the many instances in which she attributes excessively anti-feminist thoughts and motivations to characters around her only to have her interactions with those characters come across with far more ambivalence. I'm not sure if this is a failure of the author to depict the very sexist world Bannon seems to feel she lives in, if Bannon is actually just highly unpleasant and the antipathy some people express towards her is product of her personality, or if Bannon's dark view of gender relations is the result of past trauma that now lingers on in her worldview (that at least might explain the atrocious "She was, indeed, a spectacular failure at femininity -- except in the area of weakness" line).

Clare's portions of the book, on the other hand, were generally better. His first several chapters were, admittedly, slow but the gained speed about halfway through the novel and became genuinely entertaining by the end (this was true for the entire plot, really). Because Clare's bit was so very entertaining I will likely try the second book in the series as well and hope that the other faults improve.

A pro-tip to the author. The next time you find yourself writing sentences that include the phrase "his organ of Remembrance" set down your pen, shut your Lisa Frank-branded notebook, and lay your head down on your desk for awhile.

P.S. There is no way to make bondage and enslavement, even marginally willing bondage and enslavement recast as servitude, sexy. Please stop now.

[Justine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ahh, I fell for the 'This cover looks real neat, maybe the story will be too' trap again. I have to stop doing that. But then, it wasn't just the cover that pulled me in, it was the synopsis too. I mean Alternate Victorian London? Steampunk? Sorcery? Sherlock Holmes influenced? I was in.

It gave me everything I expected, alright, but all in an inferior and poorly written way. London became Londonium, Queen Victoria became Queen Victrix, her husband, Prince Alberich. Mayfair became Mayefair. And then after that, it seemed like the author gave up and kept Hyde Park, the Seven Dials, etc... as they were in 'real' London. I get that this was supposed to be AU Victorian London but the name changes came across as rather unnecessary and, well... lame. And their mode of speech! Clearly the author has not read many historical novels because then she'd know that inserting complicated words and jumbling up sentence structures do not equal period speech. If you're an avid reader of Victorian Era-set stories, this is not for you.

Yes there was Steampunk, if steampunk meant things with gears in them.If one read proper steampunk novels, they'd know that'd be untrue. Sorcery, check. Emma chants (we never know what she chants), says a word (again, we're not shown what it is) she raises her hand and stuff happens. Oh and she's from this really scary discipline that she makes cryptic statements about. Maybe it's because I just ended an Urban Fantasy/High Fantasy binge, but I would have expected a bit more exposition on the dynamics of her sorcery, considering that half of the book is in her perspective.

Then we come to Clare, the mentath aka the diluted Sherlock clone. He wasn't so much as a 'nod' to Sherlock Holmes but rather close to a blatant plagiarism. Close, but not exactly. He plays the viola (play chromatic scales to fruit flies, yes I got that reference but it just me facepalm), he's super bored and a deductive genius, as apparently all mentaths are. His deductions aren't very clever, they only sound clever cause he likes to do a kind of intellectual word vomit where he just spoutns of complicated words and tries, tries to make them fit into one coherent sentence.

This isn't for people who like Historical, Alternate Historical, Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Sherlock Holmes. I know that's kind of the genres this book is in, but if you're familiar with these genres, then you'd know good from.

TLDR: It's vague and a bit amateurish. I read half of the book and skipped to the last few chapters, and I am fine with that.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really well done, exciting new mystery/steampunk series! Really a steampunk/alt history set in Victorian Brittania, the reader is thrown into the middle of the story when Emma Bannon, a Prima sorceress along with her guardian Shield, Mikal, rescue Archibald Clare, a mentath (a logic is his life, very aspergers-like in manner, Sherlockian detective.) There's no backstory, so you're figuring out the past of all three as you go, which makes this book fascinating since by the end you are left wondering some things, which make you want to read the next one. A very satisfying use of allusions to a romance without directly using the romance as a tool also was ingenious. Loved it! Emma is bad-ass lady! For those who like Gail Carriger.

[AH · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The premise was good, the steampunk fascinating, however, the book failed to hold my attention. I considered not finishing it, but continued reading. The last part was the best part of the novel.


The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow had everything going for it: A beautiful cover, Victorian background, sorcery and magic, steampunk gadgets and machines, and some mythical creatures. The world is richly detailed and the characters are intriguing. Unfortunately, the book fell flat for me and I almost did not finish it. In fact, I took a break and read a few other books from different genres just to clear my mind. I hesitated to pick up this book again, but in a way, I am glad that I finished it. The last quarter of the book was exciting and action packed.

First, the good. The steampunk elements were incredible: Clockwork horses, flying carriages, logic engines, mechanical men, and much more. Then there were the altered people – people with steampunk limbs attached to their bodies. The altered people had hideous lobster claws or scythes for hands and some even had wheels for feet. Just creepy. Even the rats were altered in some way or another. Oh, I loved the big giant mechanical spider thing wreaking havoc on London.

The mythical creatures were nicely done. The dragon or wyrm was different from any I’ve encountered. It could alter Time and waking a dragon would have serious repercussions for the population. The gryphons were predatory and fearsome. There is even a golem.

I found the characters quite likeable. The banter between Emma Bannon and Archibald Clare was interesting. Emma had a lot of inner dialogue going on as well showing that she was very astute. Mikal the Shield was fierce and protective and he had a lot of unexpected affection for Emma. The Italian assassin was entertaining as was Sigmund who always seemed to have some wurst available as a tasty snack.

So many positives. So why only 2.5 stars? Perhaps it was a case of First Book in a Series Syndrome. Maybe it was information overload. This book is incredibly detailed, but maddeningly so, because the very things you want explained, aren’t. It felt as if key elements were left out, and that left me feeling confused. The pacing was quite slow for the first half of the book, and didn’t really pick up until closer to the end. Not much seemed to happen. There was clever banter, some tea, then some excitement, then repeat. The language also proved to be difficult and my ereader’s dictionary got quite the workout.

The book includes a listing of the Ranks of the Sorcerousse at the end of the book listing the different types of sorcerers. There is also a Q&A with the author. The review version had an excerpt from the next book in the series The Red Plague Affair. I think it would have been a good idea to include a glossary of terms for the reader.

While this book did not work for me, I am curious to continue the series and will most likely read the next book.

Review posted on Badass Book Reviews.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 2 out of 5]

Iron Wyrm got off to a bad start. What others have claimed is a 'nod' to Holmes, I suspect would have Guy Ritchie asking for the return of his intellectual property, "Watson watch what happens when I play chromatic scales to the fruit-flies" I cringed when they mentioned Clare's nemesis 'Dr Vance' the only thing missing was a criminal love-interest who looked like Rachel McAdams.

This poor beginning wasn't helped by the clunky introduction to the world of Britannia. Saintcrow takes the D&D approach of simply producing terminology and jargon, perhaps in the hope readers will be good little nerdlings, and look up what the heck the characters are talking about.

Did I mention the language? Any more verilys, indeeds, whatsoevers, or quites would have made me use the book as firestarter, if it wasn't on Kindle. Ok to be fair I don't think those examples are particularly present, but take a sample look at the prose and I think you'll see what I mean.

The bad start is followed in equal measure by bad middle, and end. The plot consists of Bannon and Clare travelling around the fictional world, meeting people who either help, hinder or try to kill them (I think the plot is revealed along the way, but in all honesty I could not see it through the aforementioned language barrier.) The book ends like a blockbuster movie, giant creatures, and all, which probably would be fine on film, but is a let-down on paper.

Bannon is a well-fleshed out character, a long-lived sorceress with some skeletons in her corset. Her awkward history with her 'shield' is one of the highlights of the book.

Clare on the other hand is just pure frustration - once you get the image of Robert Downey Jnr in his dressing gown out of your head, you'll quickly realise that Saintcrow has created the illusion of brilliant deduction through over-enhancing the characters vocabulary. The deductions Clare makes, are either not-explained to the audience (because the only reason he deduced them was to move the plot along) or entirely kept to his clever self. Over-reliance on his digestion as a way to express emotion, makes Clare appear like a cartoon character who lost his way into a campy epic fantasy. An epic fantasy, mind, which is more about the magic smack-downs rather than who-dunnit mystery, so how his character fits is pure expediency.

The one thing I did enjoy in this mess, was the action and vivid imagery. Saintcrow demonstrates a mean talent for making magic and violence come alive from the book, and for brief moments throughout I forgot my foibles and just enjoyed the ride.

Unfortunately not enough to save this book. I'm not even going to look into the second one to write a scathing review. Given how much I enjoy writing scathe, I hope this communicates my displeasure.

[Athena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't quite sure about this book in the first few pages, then noticed I was 50 pages further in and loving it. Saintcrow has done an excellent job of world-building with this highly imaginative alternate reality Earth (and she does it through showing and not telling, thankfully.) There is a lot of here, here!

Set in early Victorian times, Iron Wyrm melds steampunk technology with magic, the laws of which are firmly rooted in geomancy. Geomancy is a system of magical practice that ties the strength of and/or ability to perform magic to the practitioner's physical location on the earth or to conditions of the earth at the moment of magical practice. Saintcrow uses it well, enforcing both the mundane laws of physics and the physics of geomancy upon her story with a firm hand, there's no sudden flurry of spark-induced-plot-forwarding simply because "hey, magic!"

Iron Wyrm incorporates elements from actual British history & myth She makes delightful use of the story of Vortigern and Merlin Ambrosius at Dinas Emrys, weaving Dark Ages mytho-historical elements cleverly into the book's mixture., braiding in distinct nods to Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Arthurian myth, Celtic kingship ideals and probably several other things I missed.

Taken as a whole it's intelligently thought-out with hints of the historical progenitors of the modern steampunk movement but without the coyness of some who view steam engine technology as an almost mystical balm that might have been laid over the nastier elements of Victorian society.

Nastiness, along with some hair-raising creepiness, is fully present in this book. The 'altered' creatures, humans and other animals with clockwork attributes surgically attached, can be particularly creepy.

This is the first in a series so emphasis is on world-building and plot. Emma Bannon, a sorceress, is rather better fleshed out than the other main character, Archibald Clare, a 'mentath' (a Sherlock Holmes-based class of people in this reality) although I hope to get more character from each in upcoming entries in the series.

[Milou · Rating 2 out of 5]

There may be a good story in here, somewhere. But damn it is well hidden underneath a whole heap of hot mess. This book throws its readers straight into the deep. We fall in the middle of the action, which goes on and on and on without ever taking a break to explain a single thing. The author has probably put great thought into the world and magic system, but it was impossible for me to understand any of it from mere terminology, names and places. Apparently quite a few important events have happened previously... about which nothing is explained. We are just supposed to figure things out ourselves, which I couldn't be bothered to. I did go and check if this really was the first book in the series, that's how much I had the feeling I was missing something (a whole book worth of something...).

The author seems to have made an attempt to create her own world, so cuddos to that. However, she didn't have the imagination to get much further than 'Londinium' and 'Britania'. I think she should have stayed with our 'normal' world (which isn't any different from the one she 'came up with') and just added magic to that... which would have saved some effort which she could have put in explaining, well, anything...

Then there is the writing style, which was just overly complicated and more than once gramatically incorrect. That, together with the not understanding wtf was going on, made me struggle big time to keep my attention to the story. TBH, I have no idea what happened in the last third of the book. I had properly given up on it then and skimmed through it but didn't take any of it in.

Which brings us to the characters. Archibald Clare is supposed to be the Sherlock Holmes of this world, or so I gather from his introductiory chapter. But he doesn't do anything impressive, apart from the occasions when he makes massive mental (unexplained) leaps that are just there to move the plot along. Than there is Emma, who does a good job of being a 'strong, independent woman'... with massive trust issues. She is the only thing which is slightly fleshed out in this book, helped by us being able to read her inner dialogue (at least I think that's what it is. But maybe it is some awesome magical ability to communicate with others inside her head. Who knows...). But at the same time she is a really frustrating character as well, for a large part because of her trust issues towards her Shield/bodyguard. Which she constantly refers to/treats as a possesion (though I believe it is just another person... then again, maybe he isn't. It's not like we get any explanation about what a Shield is...). And that while there may be a relationship between her and the Shield in the making (which was one of the few somewhat redeeming parts of the book... and that's coming from someone who Hates romance in her stories). Until the author declares that he is not a love interest, he is just there as a way for Emma to 'release a little pressure'. So nope. 

So yeah, don't pick up this book. It really is just a waste of time... There are so many good urban fantasy/steampunk Victorian London books out there, and this is defenitely not one of them. A great idea, gone to waste.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good magical Holmesian steampunk trilogy. Recommended.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really liked this book and was undecided between 4 and 5 Stars ... but maybe that was just because I am in between the elemental assassin -series and this book is quite different
the characters here are really interesting and it took me a while to get into the world. Lilith Saintcrow does a perfect job on explaining the world during the series - that has the disadvantage that you will be slightly confused at the beginning but you don't have to read through explanations of things which are not part of the real story.
the storyline was twisting, fascinating and unpredictable - maybe the showdown was a little bit rushed but not really disturbingly so
on the whole a nearly perfect steampunk book and I am waiting eager for the second book in this series.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Genre* Alternative History, Steampunk, Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.0

*First Thoughts*

The Iron Wyrm Affair is the first book in a new series called Bannon and Clare. Emma Bannon is a forensic (Prima) sorceress who is employed by the crown of Britannia to look into nefarious activities and protect the Queen from anyone that attempts to harm her or the country in any way. Dr. Archibald Clare is an unregistered Mentath, or one who is used to using his brain to calculate all sorts of equations and try to guess their ultimate outcome.

Bannon and Clare are tasked by the crown, after Bannon rescues Clare from attackers, to find out why so many Mentath's have been killed off, and their bodies mutilated. It also seems that there are those who want nothing more than to bring about the absolute destruction of Britannia by unleashing forces of evil, including dragons, against the crown.

I would say that this story is a cross between Sherlock Holmes, Steampunk, and Alternative History with a little mystery tossed in to keep readers interested in the story. I would also say that I'm reserving judgment towards this series after having read this authors Dante Valentine series and found it kind of amusing and depressing when it went in so many different directions.

Saintcrow has a tendency of writing bizarre and often strange settings that leaves readers scratching their heads trying to figure out what she is talking about. If you've read her YA series, and read my reviews, you know that I was totally appalled at the way that series ended with little or no answers given to readers of the series.

This story is supposedly set during the time of Queen Victrix and most of the story takes place in the city of Londinium. The story is told in an alternating POV by chapters. I really had a complaint against the whole alternating POV's that Saintcrow uses. You get to the point where Bannon is fighting for her life, only to be taken to Clare's point of view in a totally different setting. We don't get to see what happens to Bannon when she's fighting for her life. We only knows that she wears tons of jewelry that keeps her dark powers. We also know that she goes through a ton of dresses in her battles against the evil that intends to destroy Victrix.

There is also a back story that isn't fully explained that left me perplexed and wanting more information. If you are going to use a background story, the least you could do is fully explain the reason behind it, and why there is so much unease between Bannon and her shield protector Mikal.

If you are looking for a romantic connection between Emma Bannon and Dr. Archibald Clare, don't bother. They are from two different worlds, and Clare isn't the kind of male character that is going to blurber his way through any sort of relationship with someone as powerful and set in her ways as Bannon is. There is an undertow between Bannon and another character that I won't spoil.

In the end, this story is actually interesting once you get passed the world building and the build up to the reason behind all the Mentath's being killed off. You also get a very unique and extraordinary character in Emma Bannon who doesn't take crap from anyone. Her powers are actually pretty amazing, whereas Clare isn't a push over when it comes to getting his hands dirty and protecting the crown.

Next in series: The Red Plague Affair releases TBA.

Expected publication: August 7th 2012 by Orbit - Thank you Orbit for providing me a hard copy of this book in lieu of an honest review.

[All Things Urban Fantasy · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE IRON WORM AFFAIR is one of those books that plays vividly across the mind’s eye, unfolding like a movie in all of it’s fantastic and creepy detail. Clockwork horses, flying carriages, gangs of flashboys with their augmented limbs, stilted mentaths using science to impose order on the world around them even as sorcerors defy all natural laws. Rather than adding fantastical and steampunk elements to familiar history, Saintcrow adds a few drops of the familiar into her own witch’s brew of a world. The tight restraint of her characters isn’t only due to Victorian sensibilities, but also the physics that governs magic and logic in their reality. Saintcrow has created an ambitious new world with the Bannon & Clare series, one that I cannot wait to revisit.

The prologue from Archibald Clare’s perspective was arresting, his visual organization of the world around him made me feel as if I could see it through his eyes. This cinematic introduction to THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR had me excited to explore their world, and I was almost disappointed to revert to the more mundane narration of Emma Bannon. I needn’t have worried, however, as Bannon and Clare pass point of view back and forth between them for the length of the story. I’m rarely willing to share the narrative spotlight with a non-romantic character, but Clare’s meticulous mind and touchingly awkward affections for his colleagues completely won me over. Also, the mentath’s sharp observation and deductive reasoning filled in gaps that the reticent Emma and Mikal left blank.

Bannon is an almost archetypal Saintcrow heroine. Dark, dedicated, sparking and crackling with magic and bruised by a traumatic past. The violence that brought her and Mikal together is also the same thing keeping them apart, and I liked that there was more than simple class-conscious stubbornness stretching out the romance. Of course, all of THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR’s characters are still a bit remote. With their fantastic abilities and passionate loyalties, I found them intriguing but not particularly human.

This didn’t impact my emotional investment in the story, however, but rather left me hungry for more details of their intricate, mysterious inner lives. The relationship between mentaths and sorcerors was very well crafted and fascinating in its own right, but when coupled with with epic characters and a hint of romance, THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR has a lot to offer fans of both steampunk and urban fantasy.

Sexual Content: References to sex.

[Otherwyrld · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally like Lilith Saintcrow as an author, but something about this story just didn't work for me this time.

This is a world where sorcerers and sorceresses are real and wield dark and strange magics. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the Mentaths, people dedicated to total logic for whom sorcery is the ultimate anathema. Emma Bannon is a Prime sorceress, dedicated to serving the Empire of Queen Victrix, the living embodiment of Britannia. Archibald Clare is a bored mentath who becomes a pawn in a plot to bring down the Empire.

The alternate reality, slightly steampunk, fantasy Victorian England was well realised on the whole. It certainly felt realistic enough, with just enough fantastical touches to make it feel like you are not quite where you think you are. One or two touches did annoy - the floating castle with it's odd library felt like Unseen University with a dash of Hogwarts, and the different spellings of most names sometimes only served to pull me out of the story.

The plot was convoluted, but not so much that you lost your way, and the use of alternate chapters for the two main characters meant that neither one dominated the action, though it did mean that the author had to make them jump through hoops at time to keep the action going.

The two main characters were serviceable enough but they never really sparked in the way such characters should. Indeed, I found the supporting cast much more interesting, and it was mostly for that reason that I continued to read. Indeed, I will read the next book in the series, but this isn't a story that will linger in the mind.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Iron Wyrm Affair is an original alternative-Victorian London that barrels along at a rapid pace, without choking on any of the overused steampunk gadget cliches. (No goggles! No dirigibles! Thank you!) Saintcrow's variant of Queen Victoria is in danger from powermongerers on all sides - among family, nobles, sorcerers, mentaths, and the surprising controllers of the ironworks (called Werks here). Like Bookyurt, I adored the mentaths, who are a glorious society-wide tribute to Sherlock Holmes - a whole caste of mega-geniuses that implode with boredom if their minds aren't employed. An unlikely duo of a powerful sorceress and an erratic mentath are called upon to investigate a rash of mentath murders, which quickly escalates into imminent danger to queen and country. Despite all kinds of rampaging disaster, the tone of the novel tilts light (a la Gail Carriger) rather than dark and dystopian. I was a little disappointed that the Holmesian tribute didn't extend to the details of clue-finding and mystery solving; the whodunits are solved in fairly quick order. However I enjoyed this novel for the worldbuilding and action, and for the consistent, intriguing voice of the two main characters. The hints of their backstories definitely left me wanting more. I can't wait to see what trouble these sleuths get into next.

[Angela]

8 April 2020: $0.99 on Kindle
17 March 2015: Still $2.99
22 December 2014: $2.99 on Kindle
7/10/2013: $1.99 on Kindle

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man alive, Emma was the WORST. She was terrible to both of the men in her acquaintance, and rude, and just really insufferable. I read a little over 100 pages of this book and she just didn't get better.

I could get through it pretty quick, short chapters help, but I just couldn't get over her being so abrasive. It didn't help any that her side characters were also not completely loveable. You gotta give somewhere people.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original Post at FANGS, WANDS and FAIRY DUST on 9/4/2012
THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR: Complex and Unpredictable


THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR
Lilith Saintcrow
Orbit; 1 edition (August 7, 2012)
Available as a Paperback of 320 pages
Also available as an E-Book
Kindle: 550 KB 324 pages
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
Print ARC obtained at BEA; No remuneration exchanged and all opinions herein are my own unless otherwise noted.

Sorcery. Seduction. Deduction.

Archibald Clare is a detective of truly uncanny abilities-a mentath, capable of feats of deduction and logic that border on the supernatural. He is also abruptly, uniquely, the only unregistered mentath left alive in Londoninium. Someone has murdered the others and, if not for the timely intervention of the Prime sorceress Emma Bannon, there would have been no one left to stop… whatever is coming.
Mentaths and sorcerers are dying-or worse, being seduced into betraying Queen and Country. Bannon and Clare must uncover treachery, conspiracy, and sorcery of the blackest hue. And in a Britannia where magic has turned the Industrial Revolution on its head, time is short. LilithSaintcrow.com


With richly detailed, entrancing writing Saintcrow introduces us to a world not quite our own and individuals who, I believe, she isn't making entirely human as we understand our species (at one point she discusses the way a mentaths brain works and that is what led me to this idea). The richness comes with a lot of language that is deducible to some degree because it sounds like, reads like, or has a common linguistic root as its analogue in our world. This world is intricately detailed, amazingly so, to the point were I feel the author probably knows the color of her characters' underclothes. Saintcrow dives between Bannon and Clare's point of view and into their mental monologue as well as their dialogue. At times I thought the characters could hear the thoughts of the other.

Due to the nature of the relationship between two of the characters and the referenced behavior of another I don't know if this is YA or Crossover or Adult, but the depth of the writing, the complexity of the plot and exchanges between the characters and the linguistic element I think place it solidly into the realm of adult literature. There's nothing sexually exxplicit but it is quite violent and quite graphically bloody.

The writing is somewhat "metaphysical" even when describing action; it's hard to describe but was most obvious to me in a scene between Emma and a large mechanized creature. Without revealing plot this is an example:

A low, thick burping chuckle rode the rush of hot stinking air out of the Werks. The voice was terrible; a dry-scaled monstrous thing approximating human words over the groaning of metal and crackling of flame, the sibilants laden with toxic dust.
page 107, THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR



I don't think the characters are any pre-packaged type. There are elements of several well-known characters in each, but they aren't types; I just use the cultural icons to desribe them. Archibald Clare's (the Mentath) character is quite Holmesian with a touch of Henry Higgins dialectology. Emma is something of a cross between Laura Croft, Emma Peel, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple with the sorcery skills and ability of Samantha Stevens. But she is more than a compilation of these other fictive characters, she is very well brought out and humanized. Emma's bodyguard of sorts, is also quite unique and a bit like James Bond without the harem of willing females.

The plot is very Holmesian, thwarting assasinations, not thwarting others, saving the commonwealth, wot, wot? Nothing is for certain and predictability is almost nonexistent. However, the one thing that bothered me was the story's obliqueness; it's sideways entry into the main story and all those subsequent. It felt less than accessible. Perhaps it is meant to be that way, but I felt I had missed something important and I backtracked several times to find what I thought I missed; I did not always find it. It was like skipping prerequisites for a graduate-level course. This book demands your attention because of its complexity of plot, world building and the cultural differences.

There were some aspects of the world building I loved, like the embodiment of the spirit of the British monarch. That, more than anything made me believe Saintcrow herself to be British (she's not).
Genre is sort of steampunk with lots of aetheric references, but more Victorian technomantic urban fantasy.
I think will be an exciting series. I think it would suit a diverse cross section of readers. There is an excerpt available at Orbit to check out.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steampunk, dragons, conspiracies galore! If there is one author I can depend on for amazingly well crafted world building, it would be Ms. Saintcrow. She impresses me again with this Steampunk work.

The words she uses here require quite a bit of contextual learning. I felt my brain chugging along trying to relate new terms and figure out their meanings. The complexity she adds with three different forces trying to overthrow the Empire is quite ambitious. Two of them were very clear and well built. One of them I thought was a bit weaker and felt a bit glossed over. Still, Ms. Saintcrow brought it all together.

The addition of Steampunk kicks it up a notch. Ms. Saintcrow does an excellent job of integrating Steampunk through out the entire book. The machines, way of life, is completely immersed in Steam and Sorcery. It's fabulous. The blending of magic with Steampunk is mind blowing. The three types of magic are just touched upon. I want to learn more about it. We learn about those in the dark discipline. Prima Emma's power is astounding. When she lets loose her power, it's invigorating. Her death hunt is gloriously. Death obeys her.

These characters are fascinating for me. It's like a Sherlock Holmes with Dr. Watson. Except, the traits of Sherlock and Watson are mixed and divided across Emma and Clare in an unexpected manner. I really liked both characters. Emma is so reserved. Clare's ability to figure out a puzzle is exciting. Love it. This steampunk story is recommended for those who love conspiracies and mysteries.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked it, extremely detailed world building, great characters & action. Liked the spin on Victorian England with Magic & Mentaths. :)

Nice mix of death, politics & with moments of snark/sarcasm for humorous moments (where appropriate).

Looking forward to the next book!

[OjoAusana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. It wasn't slow paced exactly but for something that really shouldnt have been boring.... It was incredibly hard to keep reading. I REALLY wanted to like this book even tho im not too into steampunk but this book just really didnt do it for me. :/

[Kathy Davie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First in the Bannon and Clare steampunk series set in early Victorian England in Londinium and revolving around Emma Bannon, a Prima sorcerer, and Dr. Archibald Clare, a mentath.

My Take
It’s Emma Peel and John Steed, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond all mixed together in The Iron Wyrm Affair, and it reminded me why I have enjoyed some of Saintcrow’s stories in the past. Yes, this one had its issues---I was annoyed with the lack of background on a variety of things which left me floundering, yet it also left just enough questions that I want to know more about how Bannon and Clare will work together in future.

The specifics on which I floundered were the role of sorcerers in this version of England, what Tideturn is...it’s all so vague and stilted. I’m a wee bit frustrated by how the relationship will evolve unless there is somehow a ménage à trois evolving in the future, considering Emma’s feelings about Mikal and Clare’s feelings about Emma. And there was a hint of Emma feeling an admiration for Clare.

The two main characters are both warm and cold in their passion, huh? I know, how you can you be both? Well, they are warmly passionate in what they feel on the inside, but on the outside they express themselves rather coldly---I can just hear Peel and Steed within their voices in this blend of Victorian manners and style of speech, magic, and public swearing. From a lady no less! The other characters? You can’t miss them as Saintcrow does introduce the cast of the series. They’re quite colorful, and I do like them.

If the drink was poisoned, why did it take so long to not have an effect?

The conflict Emma feels about Mikal seems false; Saintcrow certainly draws it out, teasing us about why she’s worried about him, but it’s clumsy. When we do get to the truth, it really feels as if the conflict was simply for the melodrama of it. Emma seems to feel an attraction to Mikal, but it’s so vague that I’m left unsure. Clare’s disdain for those around him is clear, but his attraction?? is that the word I want here? to Bannon is, um, confusing, confused? Is he “attracted” as a romantic partner or simply because she’s intelligent? What would have led Clare to think Shields or sorceresses were stupid?

I dunno. It seems as though Saintcrow is working so hard to create an upper classish sort of speech and maintain a Victorian decorum in her characters so she can take it apart to show us how out of the mainstream Bannon is while providing us with the too-intellectual Clare, that the carrying out of the plot is hurt, neglected. Whenever crime scenes or other characters are discussed, I feel cut adrift in language.

The setting is quite well done with its clockwork horses and the soot---Saintcrow giveth us atmosphere and characters and taketh away understanding.

I do grasp the concept of Britannia, but it could have been better served with a more explicit definition. But then it is part and parcel of the whole story: confused and implicit in its suggestions. I suspect that part of my problem is that Saintcrow has respelled names, sayings, events in history, job titles, and locations in this, and I keep having to stop and think about how it fits, giving me too much that I have to think about.

Using Clare and Bannon to describe this steampunk Victorian England is very well done. Good examples of showing and not telling.

There are names thrown about that simply confuse the issue. Possibly done for this reason or to add atmosphere, but I do wish Saintcrow had provided more than these musings by Clare about Lovelace, Babbage, and Somerville. When Roderick Smythe is thrown in, I wondered if he was the Smythe referred to earlier---authors, please give us readers a break and give your characters sufficiently different names!—or a brother or ??? Then there is Emma’s reactions and thoughts about Thrent, Jourdain, Harry, and Namal. Mikal’s judgment of them is unsettling.

I wonder what the point was of raising all those dead...

The Story
Danger’s afoot in early Victorian England and only one woman seems able to see it, to thwart it with the aid of her assistants: the logical Clare and the stalwart Mikal.

Investigations and adventurous action throughout Londinium, throughout Britain! as we encounter beasties and corruption of all sorts.

The Characters
Emma Bannon, a.k.a., the Raven, is a Prima sorceress with a Discipline in the Black. Mikal is a Shield under threat due to his actions at Crawford’s. Severine Noyon is an indentured servant, her housekeeper. Catherine and Isobel are her lady’s maids; Wilbur works in the stables; and, Finch is the butler.

Dr. Archibald Clare, author, bachelor, and recently-unregistered genius-level mentath, is the Sherlock to his magickal Watson. Mrs. Ginn is his long-suffering landlady. Other registered mentaths include Tomlinson, Masters the Elder (I can’t figure out if he’s Peter’s father or not related, if there’s a Masters the Younger??) and Peter Smythe on Rockway, and Cecil J. Throckmorton.

Sigmund Baerbarth is a Bavarian inventor friend of Clare’s with a cast iron stomach. McAllister is his longsuffering landlady who takes good care of him while Chompton is his sometimes assistant.

Signor Ludovico Valentinelli is a Neapolitan assassin whom Bannon hires.

Queen Alexandrina Victrix, the vessel for Britannia, has recently married Consort Alberich, and also recently, thrown off her mother, the Duchess of Kent’s influence. Lord Grayson, Cedric, is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and an old schoolmate of Clare’s.

Miles Crawford, Duke of Embraith, Sorcerer Prime, is a sorcerer who went rogue and tortured Emma. Other sorcerers include Emma’s former lover, Llewellyn Gwynnfud, Lord Sellwyth, who is in Bedlam; Hugh Devon is a Master Sorcerer portrayed as incompetent, maybe; Konstantin Serfimovitch Gippius is a Russian sorcerer; and, Dorian Childe is a gay, intelligent Prime and a friend of Emma’s; Paul is his latest fling; and, Lewis is his Shield, for the moment. Eli is another Shield.

Instructors & more at the Collegia
Prima Grinaud is the high magistrix of the younger classes. Lord Huston is the Collegia’s unloved Headmaster.

Charles Knigsbury is an assassin, a flash boy (which, no, we don’t learn much about). Mehitabel the Black, a.k.a., the Black Mistress, runs the Black Wark, a manufactory of a neighborhood. Dodgerboy is an Altered flash boy and seems to be Mehitabel’s right hand, er, boy. Carthamus is an Altered bridgekeeper. Dr. Vance is someone Clare crossed paths with, whether for ill or good, who knows.

A mentath is all about logic, no emotion, and they are desperate for input. Without the mental exercise, they can die. A Shield seems to be a highly trained human who guards sorcerers/esses and acts as an anchor.

Sorcerers are magic users within one of three Disciplines: White encourages healing, Grey seeks balance, or Black which is of Endor, death. There are four different levels: sorcerer, master sorcerer, Adept, and Prime. No matter what Bannon says, witches are considered lower than sorcerers, common, and they focus on tiny niches within the magic world.

Gryphons help protect Britannia, but do love to eat sorcery-seasoned meat. Dragons, the Timeless, Wyrms, want to take Britannia back. Vortigern, the Third Wyrm, the colourless dragon, and the forefather of all the Timeless children is one of the Great Wyrms upon whose back Britannia rests. Tideturn seems to be dawn and dusk and refills the power levels of magic users, I think. Khloros is the pale horse Emma raises from their parts.

The Cover
The cover make me think of The Avengers with a Victorian flair. It’s Emma Peel, I mean, Emma Bannon on the left in deep burgundy with magic swirling around her hands and John Steed, um, I mean, Clare with cane in hand. Both staring intently at us.

The title is to the point, for it is The Iron Wyrm Affair and threatens all of Britannia.

[Lauren - SERIESous Books]

DNF'd at 13% (start of Chapter 6)

I've had this in my TBR for years and I was really excited to read this. An homage to Sherlock Holmes with an urban fantasy twist (possibly steampunk?) sounds like something I would love.

Unfortunately, I had a really hard time following what was happening here. Other reviews mention the difficulty reading it but I found everything flowed nicely--it just didn't tell you anything important. You know when your eyes follow the words but nothing absorbed? I even started over a second time in the middle of the day to make sure I wasn't missing anything. It didn't help at all.

The world building leaves something to be desired. I detest stories that assume I know everything already instead of telling me. I have no idea what a mentath is or why they have to be registered. The only thing that made sense was the role of the Shield.

So I guess you could say I DNF'd this because I was more than a little lost and I wasn't partituclarly drawn to either character either.

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: TBP
Actual Rating: DNF

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been far too long since I last read anything by Lilith Saintcrow, and this series has been on my TBR for ages.
Equal parts magic and mystery abound in a richly imagined alternate Victorian London in this fastpaced, entertaining steampunk read. I only have one complaint: Please, please, find a native speaker to look over your use of a foreign language if you want to use it in your work. Can't speak for the Italian bits, but the attempts at German are riddled with mistakes.

[David H. Millar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mix of urban fantasy and steampunk is highly entertaining. I enjoyed the storyline and style. Recommended.

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally reviewed on A Reader of Fictions.

Dudes, I was SO excited about this. I mean, look at that cover! Steampunk awesomeness surely awaits within, right? Well, sort of, depending on what you're looking for, but not so much for me. I, sadly, spent most of the book bored, though occasionally hopeful after a promising bit. All of that promise didn't ever turn into anything more concrete.

Let's start with the pleasant aspects, shall we? Saintcrow's steampunk world building is intense. She has created an alternate universe that just brims with detail and is one large step over from the Victorian world we knew. Names have been tweaked slightly: London is Londinium, The Thames is The Themis, etc. Mechanical creatures abound to satisfy steampunk fans. With the increased popularity of steampunk, a couple clockwork creatures are enough to earn the label now, but this one really merits it.

Bannon & Clare show a lot of promise as a lead duo. Emma Bannon is the kind of powerful woman that thrives in steampunk, one of the reasons I love the genre; women always seem to be more powerful and better in a crisis in steampunk novels. Emma has insane amounts of power, one of the highest order of sorcerers, a Prime. She gets to use her magic a lot, but, honestly, her magic was a bit odd to me.

Clare, on the other hand, has mind-based power. He is a mentath, which I need to discuss in more detail, as it was my favorite bit of worldbuilding. Mentaths are, essentially, Vulcans: "Mentaths did not feel as others did; logic was the pleasure they moved towards, and irrationality or illogic the pain they retreated from. Emotions were to be subdued, harnessed, accounted for and set on the shelf of deduction." Without problems to solve, deductions to make, mentaths literally go insane. A life of mental stagnation kills them. As such, Clare quite enjoys even the worst bits of this adventure, because it gives him so much to ponder.

In the few scenes where Bannon and Clare are actually together, they have a nice back and forth. They respect one another's abilities, while also making their own little judgments. Their relationship thus far has also been free of any romance, and I hope it stays that way. There have been some hints on Clare's part that they might end up together, but I think that would weaken things. Plus, Mikal and Bannon have some great chemistry, when they're allowed time together.

The problem lies in the fact that, despite having these great characters, she doesn't make full use of them. Interaction is kept to a minimum. More dialogue and character development would have worked wonders. Unfortunately, Saintcrow cared much more about building up her steampunk world and so the reader is instead bombarded with description after description.

While I love me some complex writing and am used to world building set up from epic fantasy, I just could not deal with Saintcrow's style in this book. Her descriptive paragraphs constantly threw me out of the text. I couldn't ever get into the novel. I'm not sure if her descriptions were clunky or what. I kept finding myself skimming them inadvertently and fighting battles with my eyelids. So many descriptions and yet I still have so little mental picture of what happened. Also, I know German and some of the German in here is wrong.


This was my first experience with Lilith Saintcrow, so it's hard for me to say whether this is her typical style. I suspect this writing may work better for others, but did not resonate with me at all. The most important aspect of a book for me is characterization, so I could not enjoy this one, despite Saintcrow's world building efforts.

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, to be honest, this is the first book for which I have downloaded a sample to my Kindle, bought the full book, and then had an unsatisfying reading experience. Usually the samples are enough to filter out books I won't like. I don't often write bad reviews for books, but I'm going to make an exception for this one.

The Iron Wyrm Affair is set in a Victorian London-esque fantasy world. It chronicles how a sorceress called Emma Bannon and a "mentath" called Archibald Clare (basically Sherlock Holmes by another name) team up to thwart a trio of intertwined evil plots.

I bought this book because I enjoyed Phoenix Rising and The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, and I thought The Iron Wyrm Affair would be a similar sort of book. Unfortunately, whereas Phoenix Rising and The Janus Affair are true steampunk, The Iron Wyrm Affair is more 'slap some gears on it and call it steampunk'.

I had various other complaints about the book:

Lack of satisfaction
The Iron Wyrm Affair jumps back and forth between the two characters on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Saintcrow often ends chapters on cliffhangers. This in itself isn't a problem. But when she switches back to a character, instead of being greeted with the resolution to the cliffhanger, the reader instead finds that the character has already solved the problem, and the narrator proceeds to tell the reader what happened "off screen" in a short summary. In other words, a lot of the most interesting action happens while the reader isn't "looking". This makes for a most dissatisfying reading experience!

No understanding of logic
Which, let's face it, is a big problem when one of your characters is supposedly a walking computer / logician. When Archibald Clare is fighting another "mentath", his foe is described as "blasting him with pure logic". Um, what? When the worldbuilding specifically states that what a mentath can do is as far from magic as you can get? What does that even mean? The author seems to have been unable to come up with something for Clare to do, so she defaulted to a magic-like battle because that was what she was comfortable with. Clare's 'deductions' are also poorly realised.

Meaningless props and plot points
Rampaging mecha! Why? Er . . . because they're cool!

Offscreen baddies
As I mentioned earlier, there were, the reader is told, three evil plots to be thwarted by our heroes. But in only one of these was there a proper confrontation with the enemy. In one of the other plots, a secondary character takes out the bad guy OFF SCREEN and we don't even find out who was paying him or what the ultimate goal was. Hell, we never even SEE him! And the third plot we don't even have any evidence that it existed, other than that the characters told us it did, and there were bits of infodumping throughout the book to support their hypothesis. Again, not a satisfying conclusion.

Muddled storyline
The story gets so muddled and nonsensical towards the end that it honestly reads like a first draft. This story needs significant assistance from a structural editor, assistance which it apparently didn't receive.

All in all, I found little to redeem this book. I wouldn't recommend reading it. But it has made me think about what makes a good book, and where stories can go wrong, and I appreciate that lesson.