The Iron Hunt by Marjorie Liu
Book 1 of the Hunter Kiss series
Genre: urban fantasy, chick lit
About The Iron Hunt:
Silver smoke winds around my torso, peeling away from my ribs and back, stealing the dark mist covering my hands and lower extremeties... tattoos dissolving into demon flesh, coalescing into small dark bodies. My boys. The only friends I have in this world. Demons.
I am a demon hunter. I am a demon. I am Hunter Kiss.
By day, her tattoos are her armor. By night, they unwind from her body to take on forms of their own - demons of the flesh. This is the only family demon hunter Maxine Kiss has ever known. It's the only way to live, and the very way she'll die. For one day her demons will abandon her for her daughter to asure their own survival - leaving Maxine helpless against her enemies.
But such is the way of Earth's last protector - the only one standing between humanity and the demons breaking out from behind the prison veil. It is a life lacking in love, reveling in death, until one moment - and one man - changes everything...
Source: Info in the About The Iron Hunt was taken from the back cover of the book.
Short Novella PreQuel To Iron Hunt:
Companion Story - Iron Hunt
Verdict: Promising start.
Review:
I was reading this book at about the same time as
Dead Witch Walking (
DWW) by
Kim Harrison. I was reading
The Iron Hunt at home and
Dead Witch Walking in work. By the end of the week I had to think for a moment to figure out which character belonged to which world! The two books are quite similar :) This book is pacier than DWW though. DWW was a very slow starter. This one draws you right into Maxine's world. One thing I regretted doing at the start, was reading the prologue. That took a bit out of the reading enjoyment because the prologue throws the reader right into the middle of the fracas
before the world building so it was slightly confusing. So if you haven't read this book yet, don't read the prologue before reading the story. Read it at the end. The story telling quality while good is not quite a masterpiece, a 3.5 out of 5. There were parts where the author dragged the drama out in a drawn out overkill which was annoying. It was so overdrawn that it almost presented the main protagonist as "stupid" that she just couldn't "get it", bordering on irritating, instead of the intellegent and kick-ass chick that she is portrayed to be in the book!
The story itself while not original, I still find it quite good and enjoyable. Ms. Liu puts a nice spin to a well-used tale. I'd give it a 4 out of 5. However... the thing about the story is... if Maxine Kiss (heroine) is a
one-woman defender of the human race team, why is she travelling only around the US? this begs the question of
:
a.) Does that mean that the US has the highest concentration of demons, enough to warrant ignoring the rest of the world?
b.) The rest of the world is not considered human enough to be saved?
c.) It wasn't really a well thought-out plot, and here the snags are showing...
There are also
two main "central issues" or, "central dilemma" if you will, to the story. One, is Maxine's journey to self-discovery and burgeoning powers and, second, is the first "demon from the veil" encounter in Maxine's lifetime. The
second "central dilemma" was satisfactorily closed with the ending with a bang. While the
first "central issue" seems to be an ongoing process. The ending therefore closed the book but also left it hanging. This took the steam off the climax of the story. I would give the ending a 3.5 out of 5.
Overall, I think this is a promising start to what is looking like a worderful series! I enjoyed this book and would read another
Marjorie Liu work again. I'd give this book a 3.5 out of 5.
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of
5 cherries
I would like to thank Orbit for the review copy of The Iron Hunt received!
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