Book Review: Blood and Iron by Jon Sprunk

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Book of the Black Earth

Publisher: Pyr (March 11, 2014)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

When trying to make a good impression, the saying goes you should put your best foot forward as soon as possible, and that’s definitely true for books as well. The fact that Blood and Iron was a bit slow in doing so may have weakened it a little in my eyes, but it is by no means a bad book. Indeed there are a lot of strengths, ones that I think would have made this book even better if the narrative had seized full advantage of them and taken things all the way.

The book’s description begins with “Set in a richly-imagined world, this action-heavy fantasy epic and series opener is like a sword-and-sorcery Spartacus.” If that sounds like your thing, then I have great news for you, because that is exactly what Blood and Iron delivers. “Richly-imagined world” doesn’t even begin to do the setting justice; this is one incredible feat of world building Jon Sprunk has managed to achieve in his creation of an empire resplendent in its diversity of people and places.

The writing certainly does not skimp on the details. Every time a character enters a new environment, we are treated to an explosion of information about the surroundings, from the beautiful shoreline where the main protagonist Horace washes up after a shipwreck, to the decadent throne room of Queen Byleth’s palace where he ends up being a political prisoner of sorts. When it’s discovered that Horace possesses the latent abilities of a sorcerer, we are introduced to the beginnings of a complex world of magic as well.

Individually, the characters are also pretty interesting. Considered a “savage” by the slave-keeping, bloodthirsty culture of the Akeshians. Horace is our main character simply trying to stay alive in the intricate web of customs and politics in Byleth’s court. Byleth herself is someone I could not get a bead on for much of the novel. Depending on whose point of view you’re looking at, she’s either strong or powerless, a tyrant or a victim, manipulative or vulnerable, though perhaps that is why of all the characters I found her the most intriguing.

For the most part, however, it feels like the plot of this novel is too too narrowly focused on the machinations at court, when my overall sense is that it wants to be something more. I didn’t exactly get the feeling there was war and a greater conflict on a grand scale out there, which is what I think the narrative wants you to know but somehow doesn’t quite manage to convey. It’s almost like the bigger story is always just there lurking beneath the surface, and I kept waiting for it to break out but it never did, at least not until close to the very end.

Part of this has to do with what I thought were a couple of underutilized perspectives, namely those of Alyra, a slave who is really a spy in the queen’s court, and Jirom, the badass mercenary and gladiator extraordinaire. Scenes with the former working for her underground network or the latter fighting in his army’s battles, both of which would have expanded the story’s scope, were only inserted here and there between Horace and Byleth’s dealings with each other. All the while, there seemed to be a lot more nonessential rehashing of events between the protagonist and the queen that take place at the palace.

It took a while for it to click with me where this story wanted to go. As such, the novel has the feel of a long introduction, albeit a good one. Like I said, there’s a lot to like in here; it just takes a while for everything to consolidate, but the ending was without question stronger than the way it began. Now that we’ve got the ball rolling, I’m looking forward to seeing what the second book will bring.