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The Iron Duke (Iron Seas, #1)

Meljean Brook

Start date: August 1, 2011

Finish date: August 31, 2011

Discussion: Book of the Month

Why we're reading this: Steampunk voted BOM
Discussion Begins 1 August
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Book of the Month

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* BOM: Group Read History [2025]
By Steph , Serious series addict · 10 posts · 22 views

last updated Sep 27, 2025 10:28PM

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last updated Mar 15, 2012 06:15PM

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What Members Thought

Jan 23, 2011 Sandra rated it really liked it

Shelves: pnr-uf, own, historical, meljean-brook

I'd already read the prequel, so I was somewhat acquainted with the world building before I picked up this book. I really enjoyed it, but for some reason I did find it easy to put it down a couple of times, but at least I picked it up again. LOL.

This is steampunk flatout. Victorian politics & morals and automatons and airships. I quite liked, not loved both H/h, but it was a just a little too obvious, the thinking at cross purposes, right till the last page of the book.

I will be reading the nex ...more

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May 15, 2011 Sherri rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-in-series

The Iron Duke is an immensely entertaining read. The world building was fantastic an was by far my favorite aspect about the book. The Horde is this feared race that has oppressed England and infected portions of the population with nanobugs in order to control them by radio frequency. The Hoard is technologically advanced and they brought an amazing number of cool gizmos: airships, mechanical body parts and attachments, wind-up clockwork devices, etc. This world is absolutely amazing and I thor The Iron Duke is an immensely entertaining read. The world building was fantastic an was by far my favorite aspect about the book. The Horde is this feared race that has oppressed England and infected portions of the population with nanobugs in order to control them by radio frequency. The Hoard is technologically advanced and they brought an amazing number of cool gizmos: airships, mechanical body parts and attachments, wind-up clockwork devices, etc. This world is absolutely amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book which describes a lot of the environment.

The main female character Wilhelmina, or Mina to her friends and family, is a wonderful character. She is complicated, independent and humorous. She has a kind and caring nature that is often glimpsed behind the mask she wears in public. The supporting characters are interesting enough, but none captured my attention as much as Mina.

This leads to one of my issues with the book; the Iron duke himself, Rhys. I found his character confusing. At times he is an interesting and sensitive character but those moments are overshadowed by his arrogant and dominate behavior to “possess” and “control” everything, including Mina. At times I was uncomfortable with his actions towards Mina. I felt that the author didn’t give their relationship time to grow; instead I felt it was forced upon me and what drove Rhys’s actions were never explained.

Another issue I had with the book was the story development. The first half of the book is more urban fantasy, while the second have is more an explicit (erotic) romance. So the book felt disjointed and a bit confusing to me. The book is listed as a romance, but after reading what I would consider UF for a couple of hundred pages, I was a bit thrown and getting thrust into an erotic romance.

Overall this is a great book though. The world building, action scenes and (most of) the characters create an amazing world I would like to discover more of. I would have given this a 5 star rating if the Duke need to possess and dominate everything had been better explained and there were a bit less romance in it. ...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Yulia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, paranormal, fantasy, historical, urban-fantasy, zombies

I liked it. It had an adventure feeling to it, also historical and a fantasy world with machines while being able to put romance into all that and making it look natural.
It was worth reading, though my romance holic side maybe would've like more romance? (difficult to say when it's the right amount instead of not enough or too much that it's mushy and makes you wanna bang you head into the wall)
I liked Mina's character because she wasn't one of those delicate feminine ones that most romance book ...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Wan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: uf-pnr, wishlist, dangerous-hero, kick-ass-heroine, steampunk, mystery-suspense, dystopia, 5-stars

OMGosh! This book was AMAZING! It wasn't anything I have read before. This is my first book of Meljean Brook and I was surprise to see how young the author is -- but true talents is true talents, age or sex doesn’t matter. This is also the first of the “Steampunk” category, I’ve ever read. It doesn’t disappoint. I also love the cover. It sets the tone of the book perfectly (and that is not because of the super hot guy in the front – though I’m glad that only half of his face shown – I dislike ve OMGosh! This book was AMAZING! It wasn't anything I have read before. This is my first book of Meljean Brook and I was surprise to see how young the author is -- but true talents is true talents, age or sex doesn’t matter. This is also the first of the “Steampunk” category, I’ve ever read. It doesn’t disappoint. I also love the cover. It sets the tone of the book perfectly (and that is not because of the super hot guy in the front – though I’m glad that only half of his face shown – I dislike very much if I see the models’ faces on the cover. Readers do not need to see the models’ faces, we imagine our own.)

Actually, I’m still trying to take it all in….and wrapping my head around the Steampunk world. With the mechanicals, clockworks, gadgets to the airships yet still no electricity but steam power, this concept is all new, yet familiar to me, somehow. It was like Sci-fi dad and Historical mom gave birth to the baby Steampunk. Though, the nanoagents concept reminded me a bit of the Nanomites from the movie “G.I. Joe” but it doesn’t matter. I love it in this book better. The zombies, ah…the zombies were odd ideas but somehow it fit in the book. I totally bought it.

Characters were amazing. Rhys and Mina, hero and heroine, possess strength of their own but yet somehow fit perfectly together. I felt in love with both of them. I also love Scarsdale and Yasmeen, even Newberry. They were complex, strong yet vulnerable at the same time. They all definitely had their own charms. They compliment each other very well.

I love that all the elements of the book were just the right amount, in my opinion. There were enough building up of the characters, atmosphere, suspense….and of course their relationships, which leaded to the hot scenes. And they were HOT! I’m glad I read this book on the weekend because I couldn’t put it down. I would have call in sick to read the whole thing in one day for sure. – Now the hard part is that I have to wait for the second book. ...more

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