Audiobook Review: Reign of Iron by Angus Watson

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Reign of Iron by Angus Watson

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 3 of Iron Age

Publisher: Hachette Audio (9/29/15)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrator: Sean Barrett | Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins

Reign of Iron was a great end to a great trilogy. But it still felt like it was missing something.

If you’ve read the last book, you probably know what I’m talking about. After the shocking events that took place at the end of Clash of Iron, I was curious to see how the characters will pick up the pieces and carry on. Hopefully towards a triumphant ending, but with Angus Watson you just never know. As he has already shown us with the previous two books, anything can happen in this series. All we can do is brace ourselves and hold on tight.

This third book wastes no time at all, picking up right where we left off. Quite some time passes in the intro, however, as the tribes of Britain finally wake up to the reality of the invading Roman forces of General Caesar on their doorstep, ready to claim the land for themselves. They rally around Lowa, the warrior queen of Maidun.

But Lowa herself has quite a lot of her mind. Her campaign and her own morale was dealt a serious blow at the end of book two. Over the next year, a lot of significant events take place. Lowa gives birth to her son, the child awakening feelings in her she never knew existed. Sadly, she also loses touch with Spring, the young druid distancing herself to deal with her private grief. All the while, Caesar’s troops are amassing, and the Roman general now has druids and magic of his own. Things look pretty bad for Lowa, but she will do whatever it takes to save her people. For the future and freedom of Britain, every warrior is determined to fight to their last breath.

Thematically, Reign of Iron probably feels closer to Clash of Iron than it does to the first book, Age of Iron. The Romans aren’t just a threat now; they are real. They’ve even unleashed the war elephants, for Jupiter’s sake! We’re in the midst of war, the fighting is in full swing, and the book is as brutal and bloody as ever. The caveat I brought up in my reviews of the first two books also applies here: if you’re squeamish about violence, cruelty, torture, death and all that unpleasantness and pain, it’s best to avoid this series or approach it with discretion. Watson’s Iron Age is a cruel and dark world.

Also, once again the emphasis has shifted on the characters. For me, Age of Iron was Dug’s story. Clash of Iron was more like Lowa’s. Reign of Iron is a novel that focuses on everyone, but I also can’t help but feel that Spring finally got her own book. She really got to shine in this one, and I loved her escapades across enemy lines.

That said, we see a lot of growth in all the characters. The feelings left behind from the last book are still there, which can’t be helped, but the characters’ spirit and resolve at least helped lift me out of that gaping chasm of sorrow. Both Spring and Lowa have their own ways to bolster Britain’s armies, which kept things interesting and sometimes humorous. Motherhood has also changed Lowa, and the mixed feelings she has for her baby becomes a new factor in her war planning.

Not everyone is such a joy to read about, though. Over on the Roman side, you have Ragnall the former druid and *cough* traitor *cough* who can’t seem to peel his lips off Julius Caesar’s backside long enough to see what really is going on in the world around him. We also have the druid Felix, whose flashback chapters don’t change my opinions on him that he is an insane and evil child-murdering sadist. The fact that he’s after Spring makes him even more hated. And Caesar is…well, Caesar is just Caesar. The man had many eccentricities, and let’s just say Angus Watson made sure to capture them all here.

So yep, it’s definitely the women who win big in this book.

Now that the series is over, I just have to say how impressed I am with the way the author tied everything together. Very little is known about life in Iron Age Britain and Mr. Watson made it clear from the start he was going to have a bit of fun with filling in the history, but he would be doing so by drawing from the huge amount of research he did for these books. But even though the premise is rooted in history, he never failed to place characters and story first. And the result is a huge success.

Finally, this is also the first time I reviewed the audio version of a book in this series, and I’m happy to report that listening was just as enjoyable as reading. English actor and narrator Sean Barrett is perfect! I love his accent and his inflections. Also, funny sometimes how we as audiobook listeners immediately associate a narrator’s voice to a character’s. Barrett’s voice is exactly how I would have imagine Dug to sound like, making me wish now to experience Iron Age again from the beginning, but in audio this time around. They really couldn’t have chosen a better actor to read this series.

All in all, I can’t recommend this trilogy enough. I had my doubts this book could deliver, after the second book and what was one of the most shocking endings I’ve ever read. That’s not something a series can easily bounce back from, and in truth I doubt it’s even possible to fully recover. And yet, Reign of Iron pressed on and finished off marvelously. I wait on pins and needles, arrows and swords to see what Angus Watson might do next. Here’s hoping he’ll keep writing great stories.

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More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Age of Iron (Book 1) | Review of Clash of Iron (Book 2)