Book of Iron

Lotus Kingdoms #0.4

by Elizabeth Bear

Subterranean Press is proud to announce Book of Iron, the standalone prequel to Elizabeth Bear’s acclaimed novella, "Bone and Jewel Creatures".

Bijou the Artificer is a Wizard of Messaline, the City of Jackals. She and her partner—and rival—Kaulas the Necromancer, along with the martial Prince Salih, comprise the Bey's elite band of trouble-solving
adventurers.

But Messaline is built on the ruins of a still more ancient City of Jackals. So when two foreign Wizards and a bard from the mysterious western isles cross the desert in pursuit of a sorcerer intent on plundering the deadly artifacts of lost Erem, Bijou and her companions must join their hunt.

The quest will take them through strange passages, beneath the killing light of alien suns, with the price of failure the destruction of every land

Genres: Fantasy, Novella, Fiction, Adventure, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Steampunk

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2013

About the author

What Goodreads really needs is a "currently WRITING" option for its default bookshelves...

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bijou opened her mouth for the obvious comment. Everyone is alone. We come into this world alone, and so do we leave it. Then she realized it was a lie--a facile, comforting lie disguised as bitter cynicism. Did the bitterness make it seem like medicine and truth, when in fact it was a lie? Because no one was alone. Every action, every choice--it vibrated like a fly's wings in a spiderbweb. It shook the lives of everyone else in the vicinity, and the resulting vibrations shook other lives, and so on until the whole world was a-tremble with the shock waves of that one single choice. The world, Bijou suddenly saw, was nothing but a web of these interactions. Everything qualified everything else."

A prequel to another novella, Bone and Jewel Creatures, Book of Iron stands alone, but gives a satisfying history to a significant time period in Bijou's life when she and her lover Kaulas the Necromancer provided friendship and sorcerous support to Prince Salih. One morning, the Prince receives three mysterious foreigners headed to the city of Ancient Erem. The last time the Prince and his friends were in Erem they were lucky to escape, naturally the three heroes want to accompany the adventurers though " Ancient Erem is cursed. Abandoned by the gods."

I happen to love Bear's writing in these novellas; reminiscent of Valente and Jemisin, it might perhaps feel a tad effusive, but more so in Book of Iron. Personally, I think it the perfect tone for high fantasy. There's a lot of emotion packed into the adventure tale, and the language works for that as well:

"I'm sorry about your mother's death,' she said, hearing the words as alien. They each had meaning, surely--I and am and sorry, about and your and mother. And death. Each one had a definition, a usage... It was the sentiment. Mothers. So much need. So much love. So much opportunity for misery."

A quick adventure read with complex emotional overtones. Eminently re-readable, so I'm glad I added it to my library.

[Elizabeth Bear]

Rereading my own stuff, because you forget things in six years, and then you go back to the characters...

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a prequel to Bone and Jewel Creatures, but it works perfect as a stand-alone novella. I liked it a little less than the former, maybe because I didn't really get what the Book of Iron was and how it worked; nevertheless, I found the reading very enjoyable, especially the characters's originality, the creation process and the psychological features.

"Bijou opened her mouth for the obvious comment: "Everyone is alone. We come into this world alone, and so do we leave it." Then she realized it was a lie--a facile, comforting lie disguised as bitter cynicism. Did the bitterness make it seem like medicine and truth, when in fact it was a lie? Because no one was alone. Every action, every choice--it vibrated like a fly's wings in a spiderbweb. It shook the lives of everyone else in the vicinity, and the resulting vibrations shook other lives, and so on until the whole world was a-tremble with the shock waves of that one single choice. The world, Bijou suddenly saw, was nothing but a web of these interactions. Everything qualified everything else."

[Amrita Goswami · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Beautifully written and engaging. I wish it had been longer.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I described this to myself, about halfway through, as "like Jirel of Joiry by way of Roger Zelazny". If your taste in fiction is similar to mine, you probably know what that means and are excited already.

Things I loved:
- The protagonist makes magical creatures out of bones and jewelry.
- Going to a different part of the world changes how many suns and moons are in the sky.
- Although there's a good old sword-and-sorcery adventure quest, the book is really about the protagonist, a dark-skinned wizard from more-or-less Africa, finding a friend in a wizard from more-or-less Britain. (The cover whitewashes the protagonist, unfortunately.)
- Subtle, gentle hints of Arthurian legend that aren't overplayed.
- The author knows how to use language with a smooth facility that's, sadly, all too rare, and when she uses a vocabulary word, it means what she thinks it means.
- Although the characters clearly aren't unambiguously heroic (some are necromancers), they're also not antiheroes, and it isn't grimdark. Although the thoughts, emotions and relationships are complex and not the usual for-dummies versions, it's hopeful rather than nihilistic. I can see why Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch are together; this could almost be a Scott Lynch book in all those ways, though it's more fantastical.

This is a prequel to a series, and though the books are short (at least, this and the next one are), there's plenty in this one at least. I'll be reading the next.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at FanLit:

The novella Book of Iron is Elizabeth Bear’s prequel to her novella Bone and Jewel Creatures about Bijou the artificer. Bijou creates beautiful jeweled creatures by animating bones. I haven’t read Bone and Jewel Creatures but Terry and Stefan loved it, and the publisher promises that Book of Iron can stand alone, so there was no way I was passing on my review copy to Terry without reading it first.

Bijou works for her friend Salih, the second prince of Messaline. Another wizard, a necromancer named Kaulas, rounds out the trio of friends and adventurers and, at least for the moment, is Bijou’s lover. When another group of wizard adventurers comes to Messaline on a quest, Bijou, Prince Salih and Kaulas insist on accompanying them, partly for the excitement and partly to ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[David Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent fantasy novella standing as prequel to Bones and Jewel Creatures and formally in the universe of the Eternal Sky. It's a nice balance between the world of magic and the need for people to decide what they mean and understand by the notion of friendship.

http://opionator.wordpress.com/2013/0...

[Peter Tillman]

No Kindle, not at libraries. Bah. What to do? Hope for a reasonably-priced used copy, I guess. Maybe she'll do an ebook??

LONG review here: https://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2013/... TL:DR. I liked Bone and Jewel Creatures a lot:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... 4.4 stars!

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

So in Bone and Jewel Creatures we met the 96 year old Artificer Bijou and her feral ward, and saw the conflict between Bijou and Kaulas the Necromancer, which clearly had some history behind it.

This book (another short novel published by Subterranean Press) takes us back oh, 60? 70? years to see some of the history behind their relationship and eventual estrangement.

It also, more to the point, gives us another 100 pages or so of cracking good adventure in the lost city of Erem (remember Erem?) in the world of the Eternal Sky. At times it almost reminded me of The Mummy, mostly in the feel of the world -- there are automobiles and trains and firearms, but they all seem fairly new.

If you've already read Bone & Jewel Creatures (and enjoyed it), then you should probably read this to see how it all began. If you haven't read Bone & Jewel Creatures, well, this would also work perfectly well as a standalone. Either way, read this book; you can't lose ...

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novella Book of Iron is Elizabeth Bear’s prequel to her novella Bone and Jewel Creatures about Bijou the artificer. Bijou creates beautiful jeweled creatures by animating bones. I haven’t read Bone and Jewel Creatures but Terry and Stefan loved it, and the publisher promises that Book of Iron can stand alone, so there was no way I was passing on my review copy to Terry without reading it first.

Bijou works for her friend Salih, the second prince of Messaline. Another wizard, a necromancer named Kaulas, rounds out the trio of friends and adventurers and, at least for the moment, is Bijou’s lover. When another group of wizard adventurers comes to Messaline on a quest, Bijou, Prince Salih and Kaulas insist on accompanying them, partly for the excitement and partly to protect... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Joe Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word, AWESOMESAUCE.
In two words, SUPER AWESOMESAUCE.

In a few more words, I am digging the hell out of this world-setting and group of characters. So, Bear, when is Maledysaunte getting her own book? I hafta admit some curiosity about the tech level; I don't remember it being quite this high in Bone and Jewel Creatures, which takes place considerably later than this, and I'd really like to know when this set of books is occurring in relation to the Steles of the Sky books, but all of that is nerdish quibbling. Buy it. Read it. You will not be sorry.

[Antonis · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 / 5

This is not like my usual reviews where I analyze most aspects of a book. Instead, I just want to give my strictly personal view and opinion. So...
Tastes are subjective, likes and dislikes are different among people. Some like coffee, some not. Some like their coffee sweet, some bitter and so on. There are a lot of people who find something special in Bear's writing and books, that fall in love with them, her stories and her characters. I am not one of them, in fact this was the second chance I gave one of her works and it ended up being a second yellow card which (for soccer fans) leads to a red card - an automatic ejection.
Why is that you might say? Well, for starters, you might want to read my previous review of Range of Ghosts , a much hyper and "loved" book of hers that unfortunately didn't sit so well with me. But I wanted to give her another chance, something just a bit different. So I read Book of Iron, a novella in a fantasy world unrelated to her previous works (I think). And sadly, most of my gripes and problems I had with Range of Ghosts remain:
- Plot-wise, it starts very promising with hints of great world-building but there's not much substance to be found.
- Bear is an author who somehow manages to make even tense scenes and confrontations come out dull and feel unimportant. I simply can't explain this, but it's what it feels like. There's build-up and tension and then it just fizzles to nothing. You're left wondering, "oh that was that then?"
- Her characters are as one-dimensional as they come. Maybe the narrator or main character will get some extra exposition but the rest are all named place-holders. I could not care for any one of them.
- Some parts were simply mind-numbing and needless. Such an example are the last 10 pages or final chapter which gave absolutely nothing to the story. Maybe there's some meaning as part of a longer story but I didn't make any sense of it.

Still, the story and writing are not bad on their own - it's just that I can't ever seem to find any meaning or point in reading Bear's works. I can recommend this only if one wants to take a taste of Bear's works but I can't guarantee that you will enjoy it. As for me, I think that's probably the last Elizabeth Bear I read.

2.5 / 5

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book this is a prequel to, Bone and Jewel Creatures, is one that I read some time ago and it left an impression on me, so reading this seemed like an obvious choice when I stumbled into discovery of it. It is an interesting and enjoyable book, but unfortunately overshadowed by what I do and don't remember about its sequel.

The main part of BaJC that impressed me was how the feral child central to the story was presented; since this story is set well before the later one, that element is entirely absent (and part of what surprised me to learn of this book's existence). Although the later book has a distinctive setting, I don't recall any hint of the weird physics present in this one, like the way that different places seemingly part of the same world or reality might have different numbers of suns or moons; it is an interesting aspect, but one that defies my usual assumptions about world building and that I was unprepared for, so a bit jarring at first, though now I'm curious about the other series by this author apparently sharing the same setting. Finally, I recognized the name Bijou (a word coming from French and meaning jewelry) and her distinctive artificer magic (highlighted in the title of the later book), but dimly remembered that she was in conflict with a necromancer (since her own creations are built in part from bone, that contrast stuck in my mind); I get the impression that much of this book, and in particular the rather long denouement, is about laying the groundwork for the later conflict, but having only a dim and half-formed recollection of the later shape of things, I couldn't appreciate this story on its own.

To the best that I can distance my impressions from the later book, this is an enjoyable book in its own right. Clearly fantasy, but different from the usual tropes, set in a desert realm reminiscent of a solidly independent Egypt in the early 1900s, complete with motor cars, aeroplanes, and firearms. Though it is mostly a fast-paced adventure, there are hints of interesting world-building in the nature of magic and the politics and natures of other realms mentioned but not visited. This is also the one downside, a feeling like there is so much more to know about the world, and so little time and space to learn it.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to bridge the small gap between finishing the Eternal Sky series and picking up Stone Mad at the Speculative Boston event--which, unfortunately, I could not do, because the entire print run is sold out, which is a pretty rad reason--by reading Elizabeth Bear's Book of Iron, a novella from Subterranean Press that appears to be the prequel to another novella that I haven't read, and which seems to take place in the Eternal Sky universe several centuries (?) later.

Book of Iron is a fun little 1920's-inflected adventure into the poisonous ruins of Old Erem. The adventurers in this case are a trio of wizards from the desert kingdom of Messaline, the country that Erem is located within (it's clear that it's not really part of it, both from its sky and because nobody goes there), and another trio of wizards from a rainy island country called Avalon where all the people are white and that is definitely not based off England. The traveling trio of wizards are following a precisionist--a very rare and powerful type of wizard with what is basically order magic--who has snuck into ancient Erem to find a magic anvil that will let her acquire the Book of Iron, a powerful artifact that is currently living inside one of the three wizards chasing the precisionist. Does this sound like a trap? Obviously. To keep thing interesting, the precisionist is one of the other traveling wizards' mom. (The third traveling wizard is dead but reanimated; they're a weird group.)

Our viewpoint character here is Bijou, an artificer, who basically reanimates skeletons and sometimes also dresses them up pretty with wire and jewels. She has a pet bone centipede thing made of a ferret skull, a spine, and a lot of cat ribs; it sounds adorable and I want one. Bijou is in a not particularly healthy relationship with one of the other wizards in her trio, a necromancer; she doesn't even like him, which is quite understandable since he's not especially likeable. The third member of their party is one of the younger princes of Messaline, who is good with weapons and likes cars, as you do when you are a prince who is also a professional adventurer. Bijou has a lot of thoughts about camaraderie and friendship and the like over the course of this story, in between reanimating horse skeletons for them to ride and trying not to get incinerated by the Erem suns.

In addition to being a pretty good story, the physical book is gorgeous--beautiful cover art with a lovely matte finish, nice thick creamy paper, all that good stuff. I can't drop $20 on a novella with any kind of regularity, but I definitely don't regret doing so for this one.

Originally posted at Suns and skeletons.

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

As lovely as the first book. I didn't expect the prequel to have so much depth of world/character above and beyond the previous one--that was such a pleasant surprise. I deeply enjoyed the characters, and I loved the new unique ideas that were introduced in this book. Like the previous one, I do feel I would have enjoyed it even more as a novel--there was enough there that it could have been expanded and I think would have done quite a bit to improve the pacing and character development. Not that those things suffered greatly, but it was a touch less developed than I would have preferred, and I would've absolutely read a novel. But I understand that sometimes that's not what the author wants to do. Lovely read nonetheless.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not feeling wordy lately.
A marvelous wizard adventure story, beautifully rendered, but not too heavy on unnecessary detail.
An inventive story, with a touching ending.
A rare book, well worth reading if you can find a copy.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining

A quick, frothy read with an interesting concept with its mixture of ancient wizardry and modern bits of technology. I enjoyed the story.

[Goetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice story!

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not agree with the reviewers on this book that compares this story to the Roaring Twenties. Aside from the mention of a roadster, this story is the farthest thing from an historical fiction of the 1920s. However, I did quite enjoy this novella because it builds upon the framework and world of her Eternal Sky series.

While the world is familiar, this story takes place many generations after Temur seeks the Khaganate, but the ruined, evil City of Erem is still as dangerous and foreboding a place as ever. Six adventurers seek to stop a wizard bent on summoning an ancient text of Erem known as the Book of Iron that could set the forces of chaos into motion while destroying the life of one party member. I liked the framework of the story and the characters, but did not like being dropped into the middle of an adventure where the characters had a history with each that was never fully explained. It felt like I was missing part of the point of the story, and from what I read about Bone and Jewel Creatures, that story doesn't fill in any missing information as it takes place 80 years after the Book of Iron.

Even though I have some gripes about this book, it never advertised itself as a complete epic novel, but rather as a short, standalone prequel to another novella. It is a completely different style of storytelling than a full novel, and often requires these leaps of imagination to settle into a story that has a past that is never fully revealed except in references the characters themselves make. With that in mind I am definitely going to read Bone and Jewel Creatures because they will add depth to my understanding of several of Bear's other series.

[Jeremy Preacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book of Iron is a tight little adventure story, but mostly it's a story about relationships. I can't remember the last time I read a story about the experience of finding someone you really, really want to be friends with and pursuing them with that same heady mix of anticipation and self-doubt. Especially not same-sex friendships - female friendships are given rather short shrift, most of the time. Add in the complication of a failing romantic relationship and a quest through a deadly landscape towards the mother of your friend-crush who is making poor choices, and the various physical perils are almost afterthoughts.

Reading Bone and Jewel creatures right next to this is an interesting experience. The novellas bracket a long and interesting life and set of relationships without actually including them. It's an interesting way to look at these people - first, how their relationships ended (...badly, in a couple of different ways) and then how they began (dramatically) leaving the entire middle open. I am curious to see if Bear ever tackles the middle head on, or continues to slink around it. Either way, it's likely to be interesting.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

...Book of Iron could easily have turned into a fairly straightforward adventure but Bear works in a lot of hints about the relationships between the characters that add a deeper layer to the text. There is mistrust in the story but also friendship, a sense of loneliness and regret but also hope and attraction. All of this is shrouded in just enough mystery to keep the reader trying to read between the lines. It's very cleverly written really. I'm fairly certain she is not done with Bijou yet, or at least she is leaving herself more than enough room to add to the story of this character. I guess I'm going to have to see about getting my hands on Bone and Jewel Creatures one of these days.

Full Random Comments review

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella is the standalone prequel to Bone and Jewel Creatures, which I read in September. My problems with that novella continued with this one. Interesting characters, hints at fascinating relationships and previous adventures, even a tie into the Eternal Sky trilogy (took me forever to get that one, I am kinda dumb)...but it wasn't long enough! I wanted a full book. I wanted lots and lots of Bijou's backstory. I wanted to understand how her love-hate relationship with that other dude even came about. But it just...ended. So, I was kinda "meh" about the whole thing.

If you really like Bear's writing, this is something to pick up. But I wouldn't start with either of these novellas if you haven't read anything else by her.

[Katarina Stenstedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book packed with colorful magic, exotic characters, and gorgeous sentences. Those parts are great. My complaint is that it's too short—once all these characters are on the stage, particularly our heroine Bijou, I want the story to stretch its legs. I want more to happen so that I can keep track of who's who (instead of having everyone crammed together rapid-fire), and so I can learn more about the characters and their interrelationships.

Also, it bothers me that Bijou is described as wearing a "suit," but the cover shows her in a slinky backless evening gown. What's up with that? Why can't she be intriguing and attractive and her whole colorful self in a *suit*, as described?

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

She had expected, perhaps, something like the suns of the veldt and the mountains - shining disks performing a stately courtship across the endless pale plane of the sky.

Isn't it tantalizing to realize that a new world is opening up to you, the reader? The slightly shivery anticipation of learning about recently discovered characters and their spheres of existence?

This work is lyrical, imaginative, puzzling. I had only read Bone and Jewel Creatures prior to this and look forward to Elizabeth Bear's other works.

It is enjoyable to encounter a world like this - entertaining, haunting, and thought-provoking.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novella in the Mongolesque fantasy setting. Remember how I said that Erem was *nasty* in this series? Some sorcerers go back to visit it.

Here's where I confess that I'm often unsure what Bear is doing in novellas. Sometimes. The Abby Irene stories have this problem for me. I mean, I know it's "Have some Abby Irene" but if I don't get into plot-following mode, I'm left at the end about where I started. This is one of those. But I liked the batch of disagreeable wizards, and I like Erem.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides details on topics raised in Bone and Jewel Creatures. How Wove and Bijou met, how Bijou and Kaulas drifted apart, etc. Not as much on Bijou's creations, though Ambrosias is part of her entourage already. At this point, Bijou, Kaulas and the prince are "adventurers", seeking out and trouncing magical bad guys with magic and automatic pistols. I liked the description of the friendship that begins between Bijou and Wove.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the 'Bijou the Artifactor' character. This is the second book of her world of Magic I've read and I hope Bear continues to find stories for the city of Messaline and her Magic users.

In addition, in this world is also the same concept that she puts in "Range of Ghosts" where each city has it's own sky; different number of moons, stars and color apparently caused by the gods of the area.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to make of the setting (a fantasy realm which combines magic and 1920s technology) but the story of a group of adventuring wizards trying to stop another wizard from manipulating an Ultimate McGuffin is solidly entertaining (though the mix of tech levels did continue to jar me)

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some awkward sentences and descriptions that made me cringe, which hugely undercut the reading experiences. As for the story itself, I liked the idea of it, just not the execution. So I don't think I'll be reading any more of Elizabeth Bear's works in the future. This is it.

[Silverin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me of the 'travel through desert' part of old RPG video games, with your party of 3 consisting of Bijou the Articifer, Prince Salih, and necromancer Kaulas, joined by a 2nd party asking for assistance in their quest to search for a would-be thief among the ruins of an ancient city.