Irons in the Fire (Chronicles/Lescari Revolutn 1) [Paperback]

Juliet McKenna (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chronicles/Lescari Revolutn 1 | Publication Date: May 13, 2010

The start of a brand new epic fantasy series from well known author Juliet Mckenna. Full of rich characters and high adventure, this new trilogy marks the next stage in the career of this popular writer.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Juliet McKenna has been interested in fantasy stories since childhood, from Winnie the Pooh to The Iliad. An abiding fascination with other worlds and their peoples played its part in her subsequently reading Classics at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. After combining bookselling and motherhood for a couple of years, she now fits in her writing around her family and vice versa. She lives with her husband and children in West Oxfordshire, England. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Solaris (May 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906735824
• ISBN-13: 978-1906735821
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You say you want a revolution?, August 27, 2009

By 

Pharaoh (Erie, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Irons in the Fire (Chronicles/Lescari Revolutn 1) (Paperback)

It isn't easy being a citizen of Lescar. Money only flows one way: Into the duke's coffers. If you can't pay up you might find yourself housing a platoon of the duke's troops, or drafted into the army yourself, to fight alongside other poor sods conscripted for similar reasons. Some intrepid Lescaran exiles are sick of this status quo and set out to change it, but it's going to take a concentrated effort from a lot of different people... and some might not be up to it.

THE GOOD: Lescaran society only exists to serve the rich, and McKenna describes it well. Wars flare up and die down with appalling regularity, the poor work and die (or immigrate for the uncertain life of an exile), the dukes sit in their castles and plot against their neighboring dukes, and in the end nothing really changes, except perhaps the number of bodies in the graveyard. You might wonder why the people don't simply rebel, but as McKenna shows us, it's not that easy. For instance the farmers don't like being drafted into the army because they have to leave their crops (which are sometimes trampled by the same army), but if they refuse the risk their dukes wrath. And even the common folk aren't immune from the prejudices their dukes inflict on them, as Tathrin, a Carluse native, finds out when he travels the country. Both Tathrin and his fellow conspirators have very good (and different) reasons for wanting to overthrow the system, and when they occasionally butt heads it produces some interesting point/ counterpoint discussions. Like: doesn't waging war for the sake of peace just lead to more war? McKenna's world just seems more realistic and fleshed out then most, and I like her portrayal of mercenaries as a bloody and distasteful business that many people do simply because it's the only thing they're good at.

THE BAD: I'm not a big fan of infodumps, so the nine page "political almanac" at the beginning of the book kind of vexed me, though without it I would have been lost. Even with it it's not always easy to differentiate the dukes and the areas they claim to rule (Triolle being an exception, as the scenes with Litasse and Hamare are set in Duke Iruvain's own castle). There's too much time given over to traveling and logistics, to the detriment of anything more exciting, and the battle at the end feels anti-climactic due to McKenna not showing us the most important events ("By the way, a dozen nobles have been hung. By the way, the city has fallen"). With a cast so large and unwieldy some are bound to slip through the cracks, because the conspirators, while all of different backgrounds, tend to remain static and unchanging and thus are not as interesting as they first appear. I found the exceptions to this to be Tathrin (whose idealism comes under fire both figuratively and sometimes literally), and Failla (a duke's former whore who can't escape her past). They manage to shine regardless of who they have to share space with, and there's a potential for character growth there that drives their stories forward.

THE UGLY: Without giving anything away, some parts of this book made little sense. Is this the first time aetheric magic has been used in this way?

THE VERDICT: Irons in the Fire is slow and modest... in other words, it's the first book in a series. At times its workmanlike pace does it a disservice as it never really gets out of second gear. But the world-building is there, and the philosophical points deserve to be addressed, especially given the sense that the characters will soon have to choose what it more important: the revolution or their own goals. I imagine book two will go a ways towards upping the stakes and bloodying the luster of this "revolution".

4.0 out of 5 stars A little broken in magic but otherwise good, September 11, 2010

By 

David Wilkin (La Habra Heights, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Irons in the Fire (Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

I liked this book. There were some things that stood out. The cover was intriguing enough for me to flip it over and read the back material. I like politically motivated matter so this became a reason to acquire it.

I started to read it nearly after I bought it, and I have quite a backlog of other books to read. So that was intriguing. It begins with an analysis travelogue of the area of McKenna's world and this is almost irrelevant to the story you do read. You do need some background material, but our main characters do seem to cover all of it as we start reading the story.

What is wrong with this book is three things. Too many repetitions of which Duke does what to whom and why, all the politics of this divided realm kept straight by McKenna but I found that I did not need to do so to enjoy it. The sense of time is the next, where letters travel faster then people. Rumors reach the spymasters all across the world so quickly that they need not use letters. And that things that are completely secret are not when the spymaster needs to know a thing.

That part is just wrong. A secret known by two is something that can't be found out by your extraneous spy who should be focusing on bigger issues. I can imagine a spy telling their boss that they had enough time to pursue a little piece of information, or the spymasters (There are 2) that they have so much time in their day that they can get the littlest piece of information from who knows what source and it turns out to be pivotal.

The last is the Aetheric magic system, which is find except for one thing. They need to bring in extra practitioners so they can communicate, but then they have one connection where they don't. The first is just able to happen. If that is the case then they don't need anyone else and a whole subplot makes no sense. Which a whole subplot makes no sense. Never explained well, overused a great deal.

Aside from those issues this would be a better read. Even to being a reread, depending on how the series finishes up.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, October 17, 2010

By 

Shannon B Davis "Nepenthe" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Irons in the Fire (Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

Hard to believe this book was written by the author of Tales of Einarinn! Well, I guess all fantasy writers sometimes lose their touch - it even happened to Jacquelline Carey when she wrote that awful Paradise Lost style novel. Anyway, this book is just unreadable. The politics are complex, populated with unlikeable people. It's hard to follow, and skips around a lot - not ever leaving you enough time to get attached to anyone. It's a bit too gritty honestly.

I did like the disabled character - unusual for fantasy! And I was interested to see how that developed but the rest of the book was just intolerable. Part of it was my disappointment, because I liked her other series so much. Also, I hate to quit a book before I finished, but after getting 75% of the way through this, I realized that the many attempts I was taking to finish it meant it wasn't worth it.

I hate to write a review like this since I imagine authors don't like to see this sort of thing, but I feel a duty to other readers to let them know to avoid this book.