[G2N]≡ Download Free Touch of Iron The Living Blade Book 1 eBook Timandra Whitecastle

Touch of Iron The Living Blade Book 1 eBook Timandra Whitecastle

Download As PDF : Touch of Iron The Living Blade Book 1 eBook Timandra Whitecastle

Touch of Iron The Living Blade Book 1 eBook Timandra Whitecastle

Timandra Whitecastle pulls no punches. Touch of Iron shocked the sh*t out of me. Shocking violence, shocking situations, shocking grossness (that's a word), shocking sexual situations, and shockingly good. The story gets going and it really just doesn't quit.

The structure and character arcs remind me of Abercrombie's The First Law and, maybe moreso, The Shattered Sea trilogies, as does the head-on description of violence, gore and gritty life with a sword. It also feels a little like Anthony Ryan's Blood Song. This is no Lord Grimdark or Ryan ripoff, though, but a unique work all it's own.

The variety and authenticity of characters is what fascinates me most, I think. And Telen Diaz. Damn. A warrior monk of sorts, a half-wight with a dark and secret past, he's got to be one of the most memorable characters in fantasy for me now. Kind of Sigrud from Robert J. Bennett's City of Stairs (The Divine Cities series) crossed with Dimitri Belikov from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy (yes I read those shut up).

There aren't enough women writing grimdark fantasy, but I'm really glad Whitecastle is among them. Look out you Anna Smiths ;)

Shockingly brutal and beautiful, wonderful grimdark fantasy. Read this. Yes.


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Touch of Iron The Living Blade Book 1 eBook Timandra Whitecastle Reviews

This has all the ideas and characters and surprises of a truly exceptional story. But something about the writing leaves it just short of great; it just doesn't quite flow as well as it should. It's like the author assumes we already know the characters and don't need to be introduced to them. But still, it's an engaging read, and I will read the next one to see both how the story continues and because I hope maybe it will be great.
Much as the description from the author says, an epic fantasy with a strong female lead. More impressive, the strong lead is not obtained through dimming down the characters around her out or at the expense of the male characters. Well balanced and action driven, it will keep you turning pages and waiting for the next one.
I can't wait to see what comes next for Noraya Smith
First off, full disclosure, I may be slightly in love with this author. I listen to a podcast on which she plays a really cool character ("Crit Faced" -- a fun, actual-play DnD podcast) and that is how I found out about the novel. The book is much darker than the podcast (which is fine, just be prepared), although the protagonists in the novel do have some echos of her podcast character (or vice-versa).

I bought the book gladly and read it voraciously in one sitting (ok, it was Saturday and it was more of a "lounging" than a "sitting"). That's the mark of a great book, right? You can't put it down. Also, I am almost certainly going to read more from this author as soon as I can. So, why am I only giving this book 3 stars?

I felt like I had to drop a star because of the fairly frequent use of rape as a plot driver. Don't get me wrong, the book is not about rape, nor is the rape depicted in gruesome detail; however, it does enter the narrative on multiple occasions and is often fatal (usually to the victim, though occasionally to the rapist). Also, yes, this is a grim-and-gritty medieval setting with a female protagonist and rape is part of grim-and-gritty, medieval life -- but there are other grim parts of such a life (disease, infection, stillbirth, beatings, witchhunts, slavery, torture, etc.) which make few if any appearances (in fact, the protagonist makes a cross-province hike with a deep arrow wound and marginal-at-best medical supplies but doesn't seem to have to worry about infection, blood-poisoning, et al. grimness). I feel like rape is a very heavy plot device and, although certainly legitimate to use, got used too much here when other gritty threats were ignored, even though they might have driven the plot just as well. Still, if you would not drop a star for this, then it is even a better book for you and you really should read it.

The other issue I had was the role of fate in the story. It is not presented as "destiny" or "the force" or any similar trope (thankfully). Instead, it functions more like we would expect fate to operate in such a harsh environment, killing more or less indiscriminately and throwing hardships at everyone (also great for the storyline). But the protagonist and her close allies seem nearly impervious to this misfortune (there are a few nasty scars and knockouts, but not enough loss of life and limb). Again, I like these characters and didn't wish them harm, but, honestly, when you bring a knife to a spear fight you should not be expecting to walk away unscathed. The protagonist is a very naturally talented fighter (again, pretty darn cool) but she can get out of lots of jeopardy by just slashing a foe with her knife. That is cool too, but (natural talent or not) an experienced soldier with decent armor and a longsword or a spear is not just going to let people walk through his guard and fatally stab him with a knife. And, even if he did do that, well... the guy next to him would surely learn the lesson and decide not to let the same thing happen to him. Put another way, when I first saw Star Wars, a New Hope, I was very worried that those scary guys in white armor were going to gun down poor Luke in his robe, but, watching it now I realize those guys (trained imperial infantry!) must have had the worst aim and armor in the galaxy since they all miss dozens of shots, and each one of them drops dead from a single hit anywhere. As the body count mounted in this novel, I began to feel a bit that way too. They were exciting fights, but after about half way through the book, they stopped feeling perilous because it seemed that there was nothing (physical threat, puzzling strategy, or powerful magics) that the protagonist and her friends could not win through in a flash. Being compared to Star Wars is certainly not a bad thing. This novel has a lot of that same rollicking hero-sprinting-through-countless-dangers sensation, so, if plenty of that is no problem for you then you would like the book even more.

I liked the novel, and I really like the author, and I'll be buying and reading more of her works. A little too much sexual violence and a little too much deus ex machina were the only things that held me back from giving it all five stars.
Honestly, I fell in love with this book. It’s well written, packed with action and trust me, there is never a dull moment. Timandra Whicastle’s writing style is exquisite, vocabulary-rich, cliché-free; vivid and realistic descriptions are the author’s strong point.
The storyline is captivating, one unpredicted twist after another, it keeps you wondering what’s next. In a book with so main characters out of the box, a bold female lead outstands. Nora is a strong fearless girl (in an Arya stark way of awesomeness) while Owen is a boy who’s not that much into weapons as he is into books.
When I started reading ‘Touch of Iron’ I couldn’t predict the turn the storyline would take. I didn’t expect the characters to evolve and change so dramatically after finding themselves bogged down in an ominous and menacing situation. What started as a Young Adult fantasy story ended as a dark, epic and edgy story, with unexpected twists and unpredictable premise, written masterfully, flawlessly.
Very impressive for a first-time author and I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
Timandra Whitecastle pulls no punches. Touch of Iron shocked the sh*t out of me. Shocking violence, shocking situations, shocking grossness (that's a word), shocking sexual situations, and shockingly good. The story gets going and it really just doesn't quit.

The structure and character arcs remind me of Abercrombie's The First Law and, maybe moreso, The Shattered Sea trilogies, as does the head-on description of violence, gore and gritty life with a sword. It also feels a little like Anthony Ryan's Blood Song. This is no Lord Grimdark or Ryan ripoff, though, but a unique work all it's own.

The variety and authenticity of characters is what fascinates me most, I think. And Telen Diaz. Damn. A warrior monk of sorts, a half-wight with a dark and secret past, he's got to be one of the most memorable characters in fantasy for me now. Kind of Sigrud from Robert J. Bennett's City of Stairs (The Divine Cities series) crossed with Dimitri Belikov from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy (yes I read those shut up).

There aren't enough women writing grimdark fantasy, but I'm really glad Whitecastle is among them. Look out you Anna Smiths ;)

Shockingly brutal and beautiful, wonderful grimdark fantasy. Read this. Yes.