Thank you to Net Galley and Bold Strokes Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.



I have not read the first book in this series 'Iron Phoenix' but I feel as though the author gave me enough background from the first book not to be lost in reading the second book.

The world we are brought into is not Earth. There is no electricity, cars, TV's or cell phones. It seems as though their world is reminiscent of the 1800's here on Earth. At times I felt I was inside the world of a Jane Fletcher novel from either her Celaeno Series or Lyremouth Chronicles which is high praise. If I had to run out of my home because of a fire and could pick only a few novels to take with me Jane Fletcher's would be among them.

Nadya Gabori makes quite the tortured protagonist in the city of Storm’s Quarry. A new masked figure has arrived in Storm’s Quarry, the Shadow Dragon, one who can conjure blades of light. One night they are both out at the same place and time and they begin to fight each other. Not long into the fight Nadya feels like she knows the other female and she does. I don't want to give away anything but both characters are important to the story and they team up together to defend the city against outside forces. This was a really fun book for me and I definitely recommend. I give it 4 stars.

I read this as a stand-alone book but if I am honest I would advise you to read the first book first. I did not realise straight away that this was a second in a series but it kept refering to the Iron Phoenix. So I looked and found it. It is now on my to read list.

However, saying that I found that I did not have to read the first book in order to enjoy this one. And, this one was good, actually really good. I love these stories because they let me imagine all sorts of things but especially life out there amongst the stars. Yeah I hear you, and no I'm not nuts.

The story revolves around the Iron Phoenix who we met in book one. Now she is trying to atone for her actions. She meets up with an old childhood friend who also has powers. The Iron Phoenix is learning to control her powers and while doing so saves her city. Kind of like a super hero.

It is really well written. The author has a fluid writing style that grips you from the beginning. I enjoyed this book very much and I would definitely recommend it. Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1965135536



https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/ROAR719706SMU/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Better than book one! I enjoyed book one, The Iron Phoenix, but this book was even more up my fantasy loving alley. It is hard to talk much about this story, as it could a spoiler for people who have not read book one yet. So I will keep this review on the short side. This is a fantasy series, and the books must be read in order to really enjoy and understand the characters and plot.

The story picks up with Nadya really trying to hone her skills, and to make sure she can control her powers by not hurting anyone. She is still dealing with the fallout of some friends and family knowing she is the Iron Phoenix, while others still have no clue. When another person with powers, similar to hers, enters the city, Nadya must decide if she can trust this person of if they are an enemy. With disease and evil lurking in her city, Nadya must determine if The Iron Phoenix is what the city really needs to survive.

While this series has a dark tone, this book was not quite as gritty as book one. For me it seemed like the perfect balance of grit and hope. I felt like Nadya grew up so much from book 1. Her immaturity in the first book, drove me nuts as times. And while she still doubted herself, she started to turn into the kick ass heroine I was hoping for.

Also in book 1, another part I wasn't crazy about was the love triangle of sorts. I was not happy with the person that held Nadya's heart. I was hoping Harwell would introduce another potential love interest. So while this book is technically a love quad-angle, I was so happy for a new character and what that could mean in this book. Thank you Harwell!

As I said before, I can't say much without being too spoiler-ish. I will say I really enjoyed this read, and was very happy how the book ended. It ended in a way for the possibility of big new adventures. Harwell, please write a book 3. Fantasy fans that don't mind some grit, please read these books so Harwell can write a book 3:)

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.

A decently written, if not always capturing, tale. I found the young adult focus to initially be off putting, but the depictions of the world maintained my commitment through the earliest chapters, with Nadya possessing a great deal of heroine potential that remains undeveloped. Perhaps I was expecting too much of the protagonist, but her indecision (while understandable considering the depth of her fear of her gifts being discovered) proved maddening at points and detracted from the rapid fire advancement of the plot that I wanted. Honestly, I would have relished the character more were she at an adult level of maturity, but that was not the purpose of the work. The author, though, has obvious talent for writing of this form.

This is a well written and intriguing book. It's the second in a series that picks up where the first left off (The Iron Phoenix).
Great strong characters that will pull you into their world. Without giving anything away, I would suggest you read book one first but don't pass on this one. Both will keep your attention from the beginning to the end. I highly recommend.

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

This book is a mix of a superhero prose book and a high fantasy book. A hero and villain cloud the night – wrapped up in one person – the Iron Phoenix. To some ‘he’ (as it is assumed it is a he) is a villain who did some bad things like <spoiler>slaughtered many</spoiler>, to others he is . . . well that but also the one who saved the city (<spoiler>and had had someone else controlling their body when those deaths occurred</spoiler>). All set in a non-earth world, a sort of ‘high fantasy’ world, though I’d need to actually look up ‘high fantasy’ to see if that could be used here (it’s not ‘epic fantasy’ – no one goes on an epic quest or journey).

This is the second book in this series. It follows directly upon the conclusion of the prior book – which makes writing a review somewhat difficult. Most things I could say would be spoiler-y for the prior book before I get to being almost spoiler-y for this book here. Hmms.

What I can say: This book has two points of view, though one, the main character in the prior book (Nadya Gabori – citizen of Storm’s Quarry, member of the Nomori (the nomads who, a generation ago, had entered and joined the Erevans of Storm’s Quarry in their city), and secretly a nivasi (a name given to those Nomori who display signs of ‘power’ and the like)) , has a lot more of the ‘page time’ than the other main character. The other main character is Shay, and she’s returning home to Storm’s Quarry after being away for about 10 years. Not because she desires to do so but because her forgemaster is going to Storm’s Quarry (she’s an apprentice).

The city of Storm’s Quarry was dealt several ‘set-backs’ in the last book that require ‘help’ now. Help comes in the form of food, water purification ‘stuff’, and workers from the Kingdom of Wintercress (well, the workers come from there and elsewhere). And, along with the caravans of help comes soldiers. You know, to guard the caravans, not for anything suspicious like (or maybe there is, eh?).

So that’s the main plot point of this book – a city attempting to rebuild, and a nearby kingdom ‘helping’, treaties attempted to be made between Wintercress & Storm’s Quarry; a young woman (Nadya) trying to gain control over herself, and deal with 1) estrangement from all but her father; 2) a certain ‘love triangle’ that continues from the prior book. And another young woman (Shay) attempting to deal with coming back to her homeland, a place she never thought she’d see again.

This is an interesting well written book. Quite enjoyable. One flaw though – it’s possible it’s something I missed and therefore not a flaw, but possible it isn’t something I missed. Around the 81% mark a bunch of things unfold that perplex me. Things like ‘x and y’ (x and y being unnamed characters) going off and attempting to ‘do something’ and x keeps thinking about how she might have to betray y, and hopes she doesn’t (without revealing what this ‘betrayal’ might be). Then it does get revealed, what this big betrayal might be. And . . . it completely confuses me. It’s a very important pivot point in the book – much unfolds from it and . . . I feel like I might have accidentally skipped a chapter or three, because it doesn’t make sense to me what occurred. <spoiler>in an effort to ‘safe the city’, two people head off to a neighboring ‘keep’ to find ‘the compound’ (the cure). They wish to get enough of it so that . . well, I can’t say. But it’s important that a bunch of it is found. There’s a backup plan. It involves a side character. And here’s where I’m perplexed. Why would this side-character, q, not help? I don’t mean they asked and were refused, I mean there’s an assumption that only one character, y, can get that person to help, and that character wants nothing to do with q. Everything unfolds from this pivot point. But . . . a) why would q not help?; b) if q is selfish or something, then they would help because helping helps themselves; c) my this is confusing my wording. Hehe. The plot runs from A to d. D is a very important point. Lots of character development because of plot point D. To get to d requires an excuse or reason to get there. The problem I’m having is that to get to D, we have to have C, and D really makes sense based on C, but C makes no sense (see, this is vague and confusing. Bah. <spoiler>a back up to getting ‘lots’ of the ‘compound’ medicine is to get someone who has the ‘power’ to ‘read stuff’ and know what the components are to read it. I have no idea why that someone, a citizen of Storm’s Quarry, and therefore ‘suffering’ with everyone else, would refuse to help. Nor why a specific character and only that character can approach ‘psychic reader of objects’ person. That’s the plot point I’m struggling with (it’s not even trying to figure out how any of this is a ‘betrayal’, it’s . . . why character y is the only character who can contact this ‘powerful’ person.</spoiler></spoiler>

Well. I liked the book. It was good. Enjoyable. Barring that issue with that one plot point, at least.

Rating: 4.45

Publication Date: April 18 2017

February 28 2017