Iron Cast, by Destiny Soria

I picked Iron Cast up from the New shelf at the library, and it turned out to be a great debut from a novelist I will follow eagerly. The gorgeous cover drew me in, and the setting matches: 1919 Boston, the Cast Iron nightclub. It's right before Prohibition, but there's still something illegal going on at the Cast Iron: hemopaths are performing.

I love the 1920's—flappers, speak-easies, jazz, independent women, gangsters and shady backroom deals. Add magic and you've got a smoky, intoxicating backdrop for a tale of two girls from the opposite sides of town with a friendship strong enough to take on the world.

The magic was intriguing—hemopaths have an "affliction of the blood" that makes iron painful to them but gives them various magical talents, like manipulating emotions, creating illusions, changing their appearance. I loved how the magic was associated with an art: musicians use their music to make people feel emotions; wordsmiths use poetry to create illusions, actors can change their appearance.

The plot was twisty with betrayals and the looming menace of the Haversham Asylum (what exactly are they doing to hemopaths in the basement???). All sorts of divisions—class, money, race, background—are mined for all the tension and mistrust they create. But holding fast at the centre of it all is the friendship between Ava and Corinne. Rich, white, high society Corinne and poor, black, immigrant Ava have an unshakeable loyalty and trust between them that was a pleasure to watch. So many fist-pumping moments where one girl comes through for the other, who never doubted she would.

I also loved the two romantic relationships, which were realistic and respectful (I mean both the characters' treatment of each other and the author's treatment of the characters: they were all real people who weren't being crammed into a plot device), but I was very happy that the key relationships were the friendships. As this goodreads reviewer cleverly points out, Iron Cast is all about trust, and it was explored in so many different ways through all the different characters.

So many happy things about this book! I don't know much about '20s food, so I'll compare it to jazz—not the boring kind, but the swinging, be bop kind you can dance to. Sing Sing Sing (here it is with awesome dancing from that fantastic movie Swing Kids):

Thick as Thieves, by Megan Whalen Turner

So ... what did everyone think??!!

I was not going to drop everything and read this in one sitting, I really wasn't. But we've been waiting for so long; it was too tempting! I had to at least look at the first page, to see where the story starts. And once I started, it's not like I could stop.

It was worth the wait. I was not disappointed.

I don't really want to do a non-spoilery review: if you've read the other books, you're going to read this one no matter what I say, and if you haven't, (why haven't you? I'm sure I've told you several times that you absolutely must read these books!), then you need to start with The Thief, not this book. (I mean, you could certainly start with this book; it doesn't require knowledge of the other books. But it's significantly enhanced by knowledge of the other books, and, like each book in the series, it rather spoils the surprises in the previous ones. So don't start with this book.)

I do want to have spoilery discussions with people once you read it, so I'm going to put a big photo in the middle of this post and then say spoilery things after, and we'll call the comments on this post a WARNING SPOILERS zone.

Okay, here are just a few non-spoilery things I can say:

It felt short to me—hard to tell because I got it on Kindle, but I'm sure it wasn't as long as the last two. It didn't need to be longer—it told exactly the story it needed to tell—but I would have loved if it were! It has a relatively simple plot (don't worry, there are twists!); I would say it's more character-driven. Which, since I loved both the characters, was awesome.

I loved the relationship—let's just go ahead and call it a bromance—between the main characters. I loved the way mythology was woven through the story. I loved the encounters with Eugenides.

Aaaaannd I think that's all I'm going to say. Just go read it, and then join me after the photos to squee about our favourite moments.

A scene they might have seen along their travels, maybe?

Perhaps they went to a theatre like this one:

HERE ON IN THERE BE SPOILERS!

So, Kamut. (This isn't exactly spoilery, since the description says he's the MC.) I didn't think I was going to love him as much as I did. He was pretty obnoxious in Queen, so I was prepared for more obsequious arrogance‚ and I got it, but, hey, after that opening scene how could you not sympathize with the guy? I thought MWT did an awesome job of making it totally believable that he would be complicit in his own slavery and actually have a hard time even wanting to be free. I loved his journey to believing in himself and his parallel journey toward trusting others. (Hilarious that the person he ends up having to trust is Eugenides, but I guess that's the central irony of the whole series, isn't it?)

This is more spoilery, though I was certainly hoping we'd see him again: yay Costis! I knew it was him almost right away (I mean, when we first met him I was hopeful, then I was pretty sure, and by the time they were on the boat I was positive.) I loved seeing him from an external pov, as the competent, resourceful soldier we know he is. I loved that he's clever but still guileless, and he genuinely wants to help Kamut. He knows stealing him is a political move, but he really believes Kamut will be better off in Attolia. But that's just because he knows Eugenides. I love his attempts to explain his king to Kamut—when Kamut finally meets Attolis, he thinks Costis was being deliberately misleading by making his king out to be a fool, but I don't think he was. It's just really hard to explain Gen to anyone, especially to someone naturally suspicious. Central irony again: in order to truly know Gen's motivations, you have to be honest and trusting.

I enjoyed the stories of Immakuk and Ennikar (very much based on Gilgamesh and Enkidu). At first I was worried about the poetry slowing the story down, but I quite liked the rhythm of it. And I loved the way the characters were both real, showing up in the story at key moments, and a great metaphor for Kamut/Costis.

I confess I did not see the big twist coming, though it's classic Eugenides. And I would love to have a short story about the discovery of the Mede fleet! 

(Should I have known who Ansel is? I would love to see the scene where Eugenides convinces him to steal the statue!) Oh, and the young Erondites—not a brother, surely? A cousin?

Now I have to reread Queen and pay more attention to Kamut (I don't think there are any hints in there of Gen as the sandal polisher?? It would be pretty forsightful of MWT if there are!)

Thoughts? Reactions?? Now we have another how many years to wait again!

Awesome bookstore!

I had to share some photos of the largest outdoor bookstore in the world(?) (or maybe North America?) anyway, its in Ojai, California, and it's the most amazing bookstore I've ever been in.

Bart's Books is a used bookstore with a fantastic collection. The SFF section was particularly impressive. (In case you were wondering, I came away with  Mendoza in Hollywood, by Kage Baker (if anyone has read this series, do you think it's okay for me to start with book 3? They didn't have Garden of Iden), Cuckoo's Egg, by C.J. Cherryh (also book 3 of a series, as it turns out), and A Thousand Words for Stranger, by Julie Czerneda. I didn't have time to get past the C's! (Nor would I have had space in my luggage.))