Dead Iron (Age of Steam, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jun 22, 2011 AH rated it really liked it

Shelves: babr-reviews, steampunk, witches, own, were, zombies, first-in-series, zzread-oct-2011

That was different.

Matics, Witches, and Weres, oh my!

I like steampunk. I’m always fascinated by the creativity and usefulness of all those wacky steam powered contraptions and gadgets. I’m not too keen on Westerns. I usually don’t seek out that genre, unless there is a sexy cowboy involved. But I digress.

This is a hard book for me to review. I enjoyed it immensely once I got into it, but I recognize that it may not be for everyone. Dead Iron was different from the other books in its genre – no That was different.

Matics, Witches, and Weres, oh my!

I like steampunk. I’m always fascinated by the creativity and usefulness of all those wacky steam powered contraptions and gadgets. I’m not too keen on Westerns. I usually don’t seek out that genre, unless there is a sexy cowboy involved. But I digress.

This is a hard book for me to review. I enjoyed it immensely once I got into it, but I recognize that it may not be for everyone. Dead Iron was different from the other books in its genre – no corsets and no airships. At times it felt like I was watching an old Western movie or perhaps an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle – I kept seeing the bad guy as Snidely Whiplash. But there are also elements of magic, The Strange, a witch, and a werewolf – things I did not expect to see in this book.

There’s a lot going on in this book and I often wondered how the author would put everything together. The author manages to capture the Wild West feel and infuse it with magic and steam powered matics.

The characters fascinated me. I loved Cedar Hunt, the bounty hunter from out East. Cedar is cursed and becomes a werewolf at the full moon. The Madder brothers were quite mysterious. I’m still not sure what they are exactly, except that they want a favor from a few characters. The women in this book are strong, independent and unconventional. Mae Linson was a witch. Rose Small had dreams of becoming a deviser and creating contraptions of her own.

Shard Lefel was an oily character, pure evil. His quest to return home at any cost resulted in the recurring death of Mae’s husband Jeb. Not sure if Jeb was a zombie or what he was exactly, I just felt bad for the man. Shard’s matic creations were frightening creatures powered by steam and other scary things. Shard’s henchman was just as frightening.

This is the first book in Devon Monk’s The Age of Steam series. The next book Tin Swift is scheduled for publication in July 2012. I’m looking forward to reading it when it comes out.

Review posted at Badass Book Reviews .
...more

12 likes · Like · see review

May 15, 2017 Moondance rated it liked it

Shelves: almost-didn-t-finish, werewolf, witches, odd, first-in-series, oregon, sos-bingo-2017, devon-monk, steampunk, strange

Cedar Hunt is a werewolf living in small town of Hallelujah during the age of steam. He is a hunter rather than a deviser and a newcomer that is not welcomed by the townspeople. He steps in to help hunt for a missing boy. Cedar carries a huge amount of guilt in that he thinks he is responsible for his brother's death. A trio of Welsh miners offer to trade him his brother's watch for a striker and a favor. He readily agrees if they have information about the possibility of his brother being alive ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2011 Dawn (Kat N Hat) rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, werewolf

The first half of the book was slow to hold my attention. It was an interesting world being set up. It wasn't until the last half when you could see the final battle coming together that I couldn't put it down. The final battle saved the book. ...more

Like · see review