Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jun 27, 2018 Monadh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pnr, anti-hero, redemption, warlord, warlock, alphahole, magic

From conflicted villain to anti-hero

The inception of this book shows the power/influence of us readers: On April Fools Day 2015 Ilona Andrews put up a cover and blurb for a book called “Warrior’s Prize”, which purported to be the story of Hugh d’Ambray, antagonist and conflicted villain of the Kate Daniels series, and how he falls in love with a powerful witch.
You can find the post here: April Fools day post
Most readers, though not all, quickly realized that it was cruel hoax, but almost unanim From conflicted villain to anti-hero

The inception of this book shows the power/influence of us readers: On April Fools Day 2015 Ilona Andrews put up a cover and blurb for a book called “Warrior’s Prize”, which purported to be the story of Hugh d’Ambray, antagonist and conflicted villain of the Kate Daniels series, and how he falls in love with a powerful witch.
You can find the post here: April Fools day post
Most readers, though not all, quickly realized that it was cruel hoax, but almost unanimously they went we-don’t-care-it-was-meant-as-a-joke-we-want-Hugh’s-story. There were of course also dissenting voices as some readers felt that Hugh was way beyond redemption after all the horrible things we saw him do, not the least of it was torturing Kate. But I like to imagine that the difficulty of the task she’d inadvertently set herself only spurred the author(s) on. And the book was well worth the wait: I absolutely loved it.

Quite by chance I stumbled across another blog post of Ilona Andrews’, where she lays out the characteristics of the alphahole hero stereotype: Alphahole Trope
Hugh actually fits the definition to a t: he is arrogant, cruel, dark (not only in looks) and ruthless. He is quite aware that he is not a good guy, he has no emotional attachments beyond those to his troops and he feels undeserving of love. As with most anti-heroes some of this is the result of trauma in his past: abandonment by his parents, growing up dirt poor, and abandonment by his trainer (Voron) and another father figure (Roland). We get some of his background in the prologue, but the story proper starts with Hugh having been excised by Roland and having fallen into a drunken stupor. Until some of his former soldiers search him out to ask him for help as they are being systematically slaughtered by one of Roland’s flunkies. When he learns that one of his childhood friends has been killed, too, Hugh is finally roused. But since everything he was and had depended on Roland, Hugh has no money and no resources beyond his skills. After assembling as many of his former troops as he can manage, he sends out his advisors to find them employment and a base, which turns out quite difficult as his reputation is less than stellar mostly because of the atrocities he committed in Roland’s name. His advisors find Elara and her band of outcasts, who happen to be looking for some mercenaries. As their reputation isn’t untarnished either they can’t be too choosy. To cement the alliance their advisors feel they should marry, although it’s to be a marriage in name only…

An alphahole hero needs a special kind of heroine as a counterbalance. Serendipitously Andrews has gone with a heroine who is powerful in her own right and whose personality is also somewhat abrasive (a trait especially pronounced whenever she is in the company of Hugh). Not unexpectedly this leads to quite a lot of delightful friction and banter between the two. Elara certainly can hold her own and gets the better of Hugh more often than not.

In order for the (mostly female) readership and the heroine to relate to an anti-hero he of course also needs some redeeming qualities. And Hugh has them: he is kind to children and animals, there are various instances throughout the story were this becomes evident again and again. Also, one of the incidents from his past that at the time appeared especially inexcusable is retold from his perspective and throws a completely different light on him. Above all, he is also a caretaker who uses his healing magic to help others, often to complete exhaustion. And he is beset with remorse for some of the things he has done, now that he is free of the mental influence of Roland. Of course present kindness and remorse don’t negate all the terrible things he has done in the past and I am glad Andrews did not go overboard with painting him good. There is still a lot of darkness in him (although I never saw him as truly evil), but that makes him all the more appealing.

Of course the redemption plot would not be complete without the “big gesture” towards the end. And Hugh does not disappoint: he throws himself into it without hesitation although he clearly does not expect to survive. But naturally Elara refuses to abandon him!

So, enough gushing! Go out and grab the book! I am so glad this was only the first book in The Iron Covenant trilogy. ...more

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Aug 16, 2020 Rachel-RN rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2020

I was leery of this because this is Hugh's story-arc and he is a hated character from the KD stories. He has been a villain. Cast out by Roland and adrift slowing drinking himself to death, he snaps out of it and realizes his needs to find a home for himself and his Iron Dogs. Elara and her family/followers need protection.
Hugh was redeemed somewhat. He does have regrets regarding (some) of his past behavior and actions. Elara is a good match for him, she gives it right back. Their strengths and ...more

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Jun 30, 2018 Mashara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mad-max-battle-warriors-of-the-book

I won't say I'm surprised this book is a successful effort, because if anybody could do it, I trusted the Andrews to be the ones to pull it off.
To get a villain from a previous series and make him into a (sort of) hero, worthy of the love of any woman is a difficult task, or at least to make it in the way the Andrews have us accustomed to, where men are not toxic Alfa assholes, which is apparently extremely difficult to achieve if we must go by the fact that they seem to be some sort of unicorn I won't say I'm surprised this book is a successful effort, because if anybody could do it, I trusted the Andrews to be the ones to pull it off.
To get a villain from a previous series and make him into a (sort of) hero, worthy of the love of any woman is a difficult task, or at least to make it in the way the Andrews have us accustomed to, where men are not toxic Alfa assholes, which is apparently extremely difficult to achieve if we must go by the fact that they seem to be some sort of unicorn, which makes Bucky such a good analogy, besides trusted steed.
When I saw that not only did this April's fool joke had become a book but also a spin off series, I knew they knew they had a good thing in their hands, and I agree.
There are some key elements to this success. 1 is most definitely Elara. A very well rounded character that can take on Hugh (as an aside my phone just wrote High, which also happens in the book twice, I'm guessing it's probably already fixed in the ebook version) and have some to spare. She is very much her own person, a leader before Hugh was ever in the picture and a woman with carnal desires which does not mean at all she has fallen in love but that she has eyes and appreciation of male beauty. This, this is feminism. We have desires too.Learn to deal with it.
2 is Hugh. By which I mean, they didn't exactly retconned him (although the Hugh version of Ascanio's torture is a bit eyeroll-y) but built on what was already known about Roland to give him a sort of pass and then build on how do you do now that doubt and guilt and acknowledgement is in your hands? And the answer is not very good. Hugh is wrecked to the point of suicidal and his responsibility to his Dogs is the only thing keeping him going. The past is very much not forgiven, but his moment of redemption really comes when we chooses to stay in doubt instead of taking the easy way out. I might never particularly like this sort of narrative but I'll appreciate it when it's so well executed.
3. Other points about this book that are great are it's unwavering diversity, to the point of sign language and specifying when a character is white or Caucasian, and the understanding of what it means for these people to be good at their jobs. There are budget meetings and negotiations, moat building and dinners with potential clients.
There's also no unexpected sugary moments just because this people have slowly stopped despising each other, this is a violent and passionate book. Thread lightly. And enjoy. ...more

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