Release Date: 11/01/11
Length : 13 Hours 23 Minutes
Genre: Steampunk
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Trigger Warning : Illusions to child trafficking
Meljean Brook opens the door to an alternate universe that is as much about gadgets, airships and curiosities as it is about freedom, adventure and revenge.
For centuries England was controlled by the Horde, an advanced civilization who used nanoagents and a tower to control the emotions and lives of the English people.
Ten years ago a ruthless pirate, Rhys Trahearn (pronounced johan by the audiobook narrator) destroyed the tower, saved England and was canonized as The Iron Duke. Even in this time of peace not all is well in England, especially when a dead man is dropped on The Iron Duke’s doorstep.
Inspector Mina Wentworth is on the case. Zombies, daring rescues and general swashbuckling follow as Mina and Rhys search for answers.
First the good. I thought the world Meljean built was amazing. In the first 20 pages you know where you are and what the conceit is. The rest of the story fills in little details here and there as needed and you just want to know more. She creates a world that is both horrifying and wondrous with its possibilities.
The bad. . . the romance. And to be honest the titular Iron Duke.
Inspector Mina Wentworth is half-Horde and half English, she has to fight prejudice and hatred to do her job, a job she is pretty good at. So, when she arrives to help Rhys he’s all like . . . I WANT YOU NOW. . . and she all like “Um. . .no. ” and that’s about all there is for a large part of the book.
Rhys meets Mina twice (in the midst of her investigation) and he instantly decides that he wants to take care of and have kids with her. He just wants her. He seems genuinely confused when Mina keeps turning him down. She has a job that requires a lot of focus and that’s her priority. I think she’s supposed to come off as closed off, but to me she just seemed focused.
This is his reaction when he just wants to kiss her ;
To interject there is an earlier elevator scene where she “grabs his cods” in order to get him to leave her alone. Is he REALLY the hero ?
He very quickly wants to buy her affections and she says no explaining that :
“I don’t have a man. . . but you have nothing to offer me, sir. I answer to no one. I must make due only for myself. Can you offer better than absolute freedom?:
See, she wants freedom not you chaining her down.
I reread and maybe I missed it but after Rhys has blackmailed/not blackmailed her into going on a voyage with him, she starts falling for him and I have no idea why. As the reader, I think I was supposed to want them to be together but I just couldn’t.
There is a scene where Rhys misunderstands Mina turning away from him during a physical encounter. He ‘accidentally” forces himself on her then apologies for his confusion.
and then
You see the Horde forced it’s people into mating “Frenzies” something that seems to have scarred Mina, not that Rhys cares. This is later “justified” because Rhys was trafficked as a child, and he explains he would never intentionally rape someone, I just didn’t buy this justification.
There few more scenes that go along these lines. I mean is this what people call forced seduction? Is this like an older romance trope?
The thing is Mina and Rhys are interesting on their own. They have a lot to deal with in this new world. Rhys with his fame and iconisim; Mina dealing with her mixed blood and family’s needs. I wanted more of their background as characters not love interest. Like what day to day life is like for Mina as a half-Horde and something interesting is revealed about Rhys anatomy (no it’s not what you think) that I wanted to explore.
This book has some unfortunate implications because the Horde conquerors are most likely Asian, as the Horde seems to be a reference to Great Khan of the Golden Horde. I think that it is problematic to make hero or savior of the story white and the evil oppressive characters a traditionally marginalized group.
I hope the other books will show a different side to The Horde and maybe we will get to dig into more of their history.
Faye Adele does the audio, she’s a new narrator to me and I liked the reserved melancholy voice she used for Mina. Her performances weren’t booming or particularly varied.
I give this book high marks and would rec it because of the world-building and characters. But the confusing plot and romance is what made this a two-star book for me.
