Allegories are fiddly things, to be useful the reader has to be able to decipher them, but to be narratively interesting they can't be too obvious. Equally an allegory can get so broad to be meaningless - I understand that the X-Men may be a substitute for all discriminated people but if you are - say - Jean Grey and can pass and have awesome superpowers too I am not sure how much that really resonates with the black communities of the American South. The City Of Iron And Dust presses its allegory accelerator to the floor in Chapter One and keeps it there happily through the book, but gets away with it mainly because of its breathless snapshot of a night. Oh, and this is a fantasy with no humans in it.

So we are in the City Of Iron (the Dust in question is a drug), which is ruled by Goblins. The city is full of other fae (a word that usually makes me run for the hills), Dryads, and Dyads, and Pixies and various mixes of them, and indeed Goblins, but any non-gob is is exploited and very much an underclass. There isn't really any magic any more, and the technological level is cars and fixed telephones - it felt quite sixties or seventies or even noir to me. And it rolls like a slice of life underworld crime novel, there is a power struggle between the ruling Houses, the rebellious heir of House Red is targeted for assassination and lost in the streets of the city with only her half pixie half sister bodyguard. At the same time a political demonstration turns into a riot and into a potential revolution and a big bag of the drug Dust (which can stimulate latent magic in fae) is bouncing around like a big old McGuffin. There were a few too many strands for my liking to start off with, and Oakes is not shy about picking up and dropping (and/or killing) viewpoint characters at will. But it does all come together and the combination of crime, politics, art and coming of age did end up working for me.

Its not perfect, the jokey chapter headings felt unnecessary, and I am not sure if the last plot reveal really worked for me. But i think the book plays a relatively straight bat with its allegory, the coming of age character Jag moves from idealistic and naive to idealistic and aware of her position in the systemic discrimination. Equally the revolutionary's own naivety and propensity to split felt well observed. It does use its fantasy but not really setting to dodge and elide real world questions which would complicate it, and whilst I don't think it quite reached the levels of The Goblin Emperor in worldbuilding political savvy, it does replace it with the chaos of a roots up revolution which I hadn't seen done before. So a little rough and ready in places, but it worked where it mattered and I would be interested to see more from this author (and whilst this felt appropriately self contained, maybe this world).

☆☆☆☆ /5

Ce roman était tout simplement époustouflant ! L’auteur m’a complètement emportée dans son récit sombre et épic.
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Iron City est une prison, un labyrinthe, un fléau industriel. C'est le résultat d'une guerre qui a vu les Gobelins broyer les Fae sous leurs talons de bottes collectifs. Et ce soir, c'est aussi une ville qui bouillonne de vie. Ce soir, un jeune fae essaie de faire fortune via des affaires de drogue ; une princesse gobelin cherche un chemin entre ses propres rêves et les attentes des autres ; son garde du corps décide qui tuer en premier ; un artiste cherche sa propre voix ; un vieux soldat commence une nouvelle révolution ; un jeune rebelle trouve de nouvelles façons de se battre ; et une vieille femme rêve de reprendre son pouvoir sur eux tous. Ce soir, toutes leurs histoires se confondent, enroulées autour d'un seul sac de Poussière -la seule drogue qui peut encore alimenter la magie des Faes- et leur destin changera Iron City pour toujours.
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Encore une fois, on reste dans un schéma plutôt classique du roman choral dans le genre de la fantasy. Et encore une fois, j’ai adoré. Lorsque les histoires regorgent de beaucoup de personnages, qui ont un fort potentiel d’évolution, ce sont dans les romans choraux qu’ils s’épanouissent et le lecteur avec.
En alternant les points de vue, on découvre vraiment des personnages haut en couleur. Entre la grand-mère qui a soif de pouvoir, la princesse gobelin qui se cherche, le jeune fae un peu naïf qui essaye de se faire de l’argent et bien d’autres… Je dois dire qu’ils m’ont fait ressentir la sensation d’un vent de fraîcheur et j’ai bien aimé apprendre à les connaître. Ils sont tous différents, n’ont pas le même passé, ni le même futur et pour leur destin à chacun est lié. Chacun de leurs gestes, de leurs actions, de leurs paroles vont influencer la vie à Iron City. L’effet n’est pas forcément immédiat mais en tout cas, rien n’est perdu. Tout a des conséquences.
L’auteur nous plonge dans un univers plutôt sombre entre guerre et oppression. Malgré cela, l’auteur allège son histoire en évoquant l’espoir, l’optimisme d’un monde meilleur. Je dois dire que j’ai beaucoup souri durant ma lecture, mais j’ai également senti mon cœur se déchirer lors des moments plus difficiles. Aussi, j’ai énormément aimé le fait qu’il y avait beaucoup de diversité au niveau des espèces. J’étais quelques fois perdus mais j’ai découvert des êtres différents autant dans leur race que dans leur personnalité.
D’ailleurs, en plus d’avoir apprécié le fond de ce texte, j’ai apprécié la forme aussi ! Je dois dire que les titres de chapitres m’ont parfois fait rire et l’auteur sait user de son humour. En tout cas, je recommande cette lecture pour ceux qui aiment la dark-fantasy et qui lisent en anglais !

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ENGLISH REVIEW:

This book was simply breathtaking! I really loved this dark and epic story!
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The Iron City is a prison, a maze, an industrial blight. It is the result of a war that saw the Goblins grind the Fae beneath their collective boot heels. And tonight, it is also a city that churns with life. Tonight, a young fae is trying to make his fortune one drug deal at a time; a goblin princess is searching for a path between her own dreams and others' expectations; her bodyguard is deciding who to kill first; an artist is hunting for his own voice; an old soldier is starting a new revolution; a young rebel is finding fresh ways to fight; and an old woman is dreaming of reclaiming her power over them all. Tonight, all their stories are twisting together, wrapped up around a single bag of Dust--the only drug that can still fuel Fae magic--and its fate and theirs will change the Iron City forever.
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Once again, we remain in a rather classic scheme of choral book in the genre of fantasy. And once again, I loved it. When the stories are filled with many characters, who have a great potential for evolution, it.s in choral books that they flourish and the reader along with them.
By alternating points of view, we really discover colorful characters. Between the grandmother who thirsts for power, the goblin princess who seeks herself, the young, and naive fae who tries to make money and many others… I must say that they made me feel the feeling of a breeze of freshness and I enjoyed getting to know them. They are all different, they don’t have the same past or the same future but their fates are linked. Each of their gestures, their actions, their words will influence life in Iron City. The effect isn’t necessarily immediate, but in any case, nothing is lost. Everything has consequences.
The author plunges us into a rather dark universe between war and oppression. Despite this, the author lightens his story by evoking hope, optimism for a better world. I have to say that I smiled a lot during my reading, but I also felt my heart tear during the more difficult times. Moreover, I really liked the fact that there was a lot of diversity at the species level. I was lost a few times but I discovered different people as much in their race as in their personality.
Besides, in addition to appreciating the content of this text, I liked the form too! I must say that the chapter titles have sometimes made me laugh and the author knows how to use his humor. In any case, I recommend this reading for those who like dark-fantasy!

A gritty and unique fantasy novel featuring Fae and goblins. Fae and goblins live together in the Iron City where Fae are subjugated by goblins. Fae are forced to work in various jobs, including mining, where they are slowly being poisoned by iron in which they developed fatal cancers. The story follows various characters as they participate or are caught up in a rebel.

I loved the plot as it was the perfect blend of action, gore, violence and suspense. I was never sure what was going to happen as no character was safe from death. The ending was a surprise, I was hoping for a happily ever after but instead I’m giving a realistic ending where everything doesn’t get their Knight in shining armor or their dream castle.

The characters were great with a wide range of characters, species, and personalities. No character is truly good or bad and instead their choices are motivated by their desires and past. I really hate stereotypical bad guys in which they do bad things because their bad guys, so I was glad that wasn’t present here. There was a wide range of Fae species, so to casual fantasy readers they may get confused. I ended up Googling the various types of Fae as I was curious but this isn’t necessary to the story.

The world building was good but I wish a tad bit more history on the types of Fae and the war was added. A great prequel novel would be about the initial war between the Fae and goblins that occurred centuries ago.

Another random thing I liked was the chapter titles. They were satirically dark. Some of my favorite were “Three Assholes Walk Into a Bar”, or “The View From Rock Bottom”.

Overall this was a great dark fantasy novel. Normally I’m not a fan of dark fantasy (too much gore) but I enjoyed this novel as I loved the premise of the story. I would strongly recommend this novel to dark fantasy fans.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

The Iron City is a prison, a maze, an industrial blight. It is the result of a war that saw the goblins grind the fae beneath their collective boot heels. And tonight, it is also a city that churns with life. Tonight, a young fae is trying to make his fortune one drug deal at a time; a goblin princess is searching for a path between her own dreams and others’ expectations; her bodyguard is deciding who to kill first; an artist is hunting for his own voice; an old soldier is starting a new revolution; a young rebel is finding fresh ways to fight; and an old goblin is dreaming of reclaiming her power over them all. Tonight, all their stories are twisting together, wrapped up around a single bag of Dust—the only drug that can still fuel fae magic—and its fate and theirs will change the Iron City forever.

A fantasy book with a goblin as the main character???
This is going to be the first. I really want to like the story but it just feel flat to me. So a 3 stars!

Thank you so much to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to be clear with the fact that I wanted to love this book. An urban fantasy with entirely non-human characters? An uprising where fae are the oppressed and trying to overthrow their goblin oppressors? The whole concept sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, this did not work for me, and I can't say exactly why. I'm not sure if it truly counts as a DNF, as I read up until 60% and then skimmed the rest and read the last chapter in its entirety, so take that as you will.

I think the writing style was so different and unique that it was intriguing. It was written in 3rd person present tense from multiple POVs, and was really quite beautiful and descriptive. That probably will work for many people and not at all for some others, so do with that what you will. Also, the entire story takes place over the course of one night. I was expecting....well, a lot more than that, and I think where I got lost was that it was hard to do truly believable character development when split between more than five characters over a span of roughly 12 hours, give or take.

The concept was so interesting to me and I don't doubt many will enjoy this immensely, but it didn't really work for me and I ended up giving it 3 stars.

My Thoughts

I would like to thank Titan Books and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is terrific! It really lived up to its pitch as a fast-paced, dark fantasy novel. City of Iron and Dust is a post-war-apocalyptic tale that reflects our current society. Packed with dark humor, gritty action scenes, socio-political maneuvering, and enthralling characters, it tells a story of hope in a bleak, dispiriting world.

Plotwise, it was refreshing and engaging. It was my first time reading a fantasy novel wherein Goblins triumphed over Faes. The prologue gave us a short yet detailed background leading to the current setting. Now, the Iron city was governed by five great Goblin Houses. To fully control the faes, they built iron and steel walls to stop the Faes from escaping and also from using their magic. Just like a domino, one event set off to a chain of other events that lead to chaos and destruction throughout the Iron City. Some of them where intentional while others were deeply coincidence. The intensity of the story just kept on building up until it reached mind-boggling twists and turns. Moreover, there was a lot of class and political intrigue in this novel which I really love. The multiple POV narrative was a great choice for this novel because readers could see and witness the characters' motivations and adversities, as well as it gave us a clearer picture of what was happening in the different parts of the city.

City of Iron and Dust tackled a lot of important and sensitive topics such as classism, racism, and drug use. On the other hand, the characters were very intriguing. They each had their own interest and concerns, but as the story unfolded some of them changed while others remained the same. The setting was also a mixed of real things and fantasy elements. I guessed it leaned towards urban fantasy, and it worked really well.

Overall, City of Iron and Dust by J. P. Oakes is such an entertaining novel. I really liked how this whole novel happened only in one night. I highly recommend this one.

4.5 stars!

cw: blood, gore, death, drugs

There is something about approaching a debut novel by an author that is very awe-inspiring to me. It may sound incredibly hokey, but I feel like it is akin to unwrapping a writer for the very first time, and seeing what their wonder and peculiarities are, and, by the time I make it partially through the book, see how this fledgling will fare.

To follow further into this horrible metaphor, when I approached Mr. Oakes’ “nest” of City of Iron and Dust, he shot out of the nest, circled me a few times and then promptly took a few dive-bombs at me in the first handful of pages.

Our intrepid journey begins with a prologue explaining how the world was all magic, happiness, and light amongst the fae folk until the goblins came streaming down from the North headed up by the terrible Mab. Using her horrible magic, Mab destroyed the fae forest cities, and, in their place, the goblins created great cities of iron, steel, and glass: subjugating the fae until they withered under the oppression.

For the years after, the goblins ruled, and the fae became the downtrodden grist for the mill. Five great Goblin Houses arose, and with each, a tower. The current-day portion of the story, however, kicks off with a mysterious penthouse/charnel house and an even more mysterious package of white powder.

From the prologue we begin to see how this story is going to unfold. Like all good adventures, this story kicks off in a bar. A working-class fae dive, to be exact. Three goblins enter the picture. These goblins should not be in this bar, let alone the entire neighborhood, but the ringleader, Jag, heir to House Red Cap, is trying to make a point to her half-goblin/half-sister, Sil, who also happens to be Jag’s bodyguard. Also accompanying is Bazzack, but he is hardly important.

Also in this bar are two other very important characters to this story, Knull and Edwyll, though neither knows the other is there (this becomes important later).

This all sets the scene, and when that scene blows up (and it blows up spectacularly), this wave of destruction fans out throughout the Iron City and fae society. Some of it is related, some of it pure coincidence. Either way, the story gets very spicy very quickly. Let’s just say that fae insurrection, a whole lot of magical drug, and even more Goblin House posturing and politicking makes for an incredibly interesting read.

What I love most about City of Iron and Dust is all of the big things it hits on that are so familiar in my years of consuming popular culture, literature and film. The entire setup — as well as most of the story — just reeks of a massive Shadowrun campaign (someone should seriously write one). I was also often reminded of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards, certain aspects of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, a dash of Manchurian Candidate, and you just can’t avoid the giant Akira’s Tetsuo moment near the end.

What held me in the story was the structure of how it was written, and the visceral meat of the political and class intrigue. The reader really does get to see all facets of this highly oppressive society, and where there is a lot of unexplained “mixing” and counter-ideologies that seem to sprout from no logical place. There is compassion where the nature of that character would not dictate it, and there is cruelty that seems to sprout from all the wrong reasons.

One thing I really loved about this novel, which, oddly, has annoyed me with others, is Mr. Oakes’ style of heading up each section with the name of the character from whom the point of view is presented. In many scenes, this allowed me to consider the change in perspective when several of the characters might be experiencing the same scene, and maybe even be in the same room.

The other thing I rather enjoyed is the pacing. City of Iron and Dust is very fast-paced, but it does not feel rushed. Mr. Oakes takes the time to fully develop each interaction, and, as such, the reader is able to develop a very well-defined view of what might be going on in the many scenes of total chaos. The incredibly puzzle-piece fit of the dialogue also helps immensely with this.

Don’t even get me started on the conflict choreography and styling. It’s an utter masterpiece.

City of Iron and Dust has so many themes that would appeal to a hugely wide variety of potential readers. If you like high magic/fantasy, that box is checked. If you like political intrigue, that box is also checked. If you like crime, drug, or class war stories, all of those boxes are checked. Finally, if you like stories of perseverance and truly believing in what you fight for (good or bad), that box has a big ol’ check.

Kudos to Mr. Oakes for putting this one out there. I really hope this is a world that we get to revisit in the future. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

I don't know if there's a genre called "fantasy noir" but this is the definition that comes to my mind.
We are used to book that features Fae as powerful and dangerous being. This book is different as the Fae were defeated by the Goblins and live in a world where they have no power in both magical and social way.
There's plenty going on and the story is told by different POVs of different social status. They can be poor fae or powerful goblins. Each of them wants to change something or a better life.
The world building is very original and well developed, it's a bleak world that somehow reminds of our own world.
The characters are well developed and my favorite are Sil and Granny Spregg, an outcast and an aged goblin with a sharp sense of humour.
This is a gritty, fast paced and enthralling novel, I hope there will be more in this world as I loved this one.
The author is a talented storyteller and the choral plot is never confusing and keeps you turning pages.
An excellent debut that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

"It's all a lie. It wants us to believe it's a city of iron, but it's a city of dust. It's lies and illusion, and paper-thin magic."

Knull - a drug dealer trying to buy his way out of the fae districts
Jag - a goblin noblewoman with a naive view of the lower classes her father oppresses
Sil - Jag's half-sister and bodyguard, turned into a machine by her father
Edwynn - a hopeful artist who insists on a brighter future for the fae of the Iron City
Skart - a veteran of the war organizing the fae for a new revolution
Bee - a young revolutionary driven by hope for the future
Granny Spregg - a deposed ruler of one of the goblin houses trying to wrest back her power

Somehow Oakes was able to create a diverse band of characters that made me laugh, cry, and wonder at the necessity and futility of revolution. I usually complain whenever authors include multiple POV's, but Oakes does a fantastic job using a wide variety of characters to show readers the different aspects of revolution and status quo, oppressor and oppressed. There is no definite good versus evil, but rather we are thrown into a complex web of schemes and war that reveal just how difficult and morally gray taking down an oppressive rule can be. There are naive, hopeful, and excited characters alongside corrupt, disillusioned, and desperate ones. Some stress the importance of unity in the fight to undermine the upper class, while throughout the novel we see the inevitable fracturing of the fragile common goal. Yet somehow, among all this, Oakes was able to maintain an air of hope for the future. This was an incredible fast read (I could not put it down once I started) which presented a multi-faceted view of class struggle and racial oppression in a fantasy setting.

City of Iron and Dust is a contemporary but dark, gritty and razor-sharp Fae-inspired fantasy debut from JP Oakes. Set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, the age-old war between the Fae, those who are descended from fairies, and their goblin oppressors has finally come to an end and now the sprawling Iron City stands as a memorial and constant reminder of goblin victory and Fae defeat. Having lost, the Fae are essentially imprisoned within the walled city under the rule of five distinct goblin houses who have subjugated the Fae and bear down from the ivory towers that stand in the centre of the city. The entrapment of the Fae within the city heights was a deliberate move and the goblins had constructed the city atop of their forests so that the Fae are separated from nature and the earth they harness their magic and power from, but they are also surrounded by a substance that is toxic to them. It's almost like a gulag/prison camp as the Fae are forced to toil away carrying out heavy manual labour in noisy, dangerous and backbreaking industrial settings; it very much feels as though they have been enslaved. Not only that, but many work down the mines which lowers their life expectancy, can often precipitate cancer and can lead to addiction to the illegal drug known as "Dust".

Dust is a substance that allows the Fae a fleeting glimpse of what their lives used to be and has the power to restore lost magic, if only for a moment. There have been uprisings and rebellions before across the Iron City, but they have been largely stamped out before they could gather momentum, however, tonight is the night when the Fae will fight for freedom and to liberate themselves from their rulers' grip. Among those desperate to get their hands on Dust are a variety of quirky characters from around the vast city and they might just find that their actions will change the Iron City forever. This is a compelling fantasy novel with action galore and a plot that moves at a rapid pace. It's a refreshing take on the post-apocalyptic story, ripe with betrayal, sacrifice, clever twists and excellent worldbuilding. It's a tale with simmering tension and underlying unease from the very start, and there are surprising sections of witty humour throughout and periods of reflection traverse the whole narrative. The fight scenes are executed well and provide more than enough blood to keep you wondering exactly what will happen next. A fascinating and engaging cast of thoroughly distinctive characters is the icing on the cake for what turned out to be a gripping and engrossing standalone fantasy.

Happy Pub day to City of Iron and Dust!

This was an intriguing read for several reason!
1. It’s Fae set in the modern world.
2. It’s a world where Fae do not triumph over everyone else; but goblin does.
3. Incredibly interesting to imaging goblins and Fae living like a normal human in the world that is similar like the one we live in!
4. Incredible badassery from some of the women characters (que Granny Spregg fighting the dude sent to assassinate her!)

I thought that the book had a brilliant start. The first few pages blew me away. As the book carries on, we were taken into the world of a myriad of characters. Initially, the sheer number of characters can be confusing but after a while, you tend to see each angle of each different characters in a different way and when you finally reach the climax where all characters come together, it simply is quite a thing.

There are also sensitive topics at play in this book: namely the consumption of Dust (that sounded similar to the effects of drugs) as well as hatred amongst races.
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“Sometimes, though, she knows, you don’t win a fight because you’re stronger, or faster, or because you’re more skilled. Sometimes you just win because you’re willing to do things that your opponent isn’t. Sometimes you win because your will to live is stronger.”
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I would give this a 3.8/5.

Thanks to @netgalley, @titanbooks and @jp_oakes for the advanced copy of the e-book. All thoughts and musings, as always, are my own.

I’ve read a lot of fantasy novels this year, but none have given me a goblin protagonist.

This really surprised me, in a good way. I felt a little overwhelmed at first; there are multiple protagonists throughout and their introductions threw me a little. It felt like there was a lot going on, but, I guess things are a little busy in the moments leading up to and during a rebellion!

I really enjoyed how distinct each character was. I loved Granny Spregg - who knew we could have a bad-ass goblin granny in the mix?! Jag was actually my least favourite character but that’s ok because they were all really strong!

The bonds and conflicts between siblings seems to play a large part in this book and I thought this was explored really well!

Also, I need to take a minute to appreciate the concept of ‘dust’ as a drug like substance and what it does - and how well Oakes brings this experience off the page - just wow!!

Small things I wasn’t too keen on:
Characters holding breaths they didn’t know they were holding
I needed a bit more of a pay off at the end for certain characters (no spoilers here!)

All in all I feel this was a solid 4 star book! Excited to read more from J.P Oakes

I know that this is going to be a popular, well loved book, Unfortunately, I am not one of the people who loved it.. I went into this expecting a strong central protagonist to follow over one night of action and have to say that's not what I got. I got the story through several characters, some fae and some goblins but there isn't really a single character I cared about. I felt that they were very one-dimensional, cliché kinds of characters. I found that they were just too flat with no depth to them.

I loved the overall concept of the story. I like the idea of the fae being subjugated and oppressed, by goblins, and entrapped in a city made of iron, cut off from their magic. They are made to work in mines, kept in poverty, and any rebellions dealt with brutally. The effect of the mines is cancer, short life spans (human short), and for many, an addiction to Dust, a drug that allows them to briefly touch nature again. The world itself is cool and the ideas behind it are excellent, but the characters and writing style weren't for me.

I felt that the pacing of the book was kind of slow at times. There were times where I almost decided to give up on reading.

So often in fiction we see revolutions being led by a strong central figure, some lone hero who's risen up to become a beacon around which everyone else can rally behind in their fight against an oppressive regime. These tend to be the main characters for dystopian fiction, and it's something that I kind of expected from City of Iron and Dust; but I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was I wrong, but that the book delivered something completely different.

City of Iron and Dust takes place in the Iron City, a vast, maze-like place where the Fae, various races descended from fairy folk, have been forced to live following their defeat in a war against Goblins. Due to their connection with nature, and the fact that they can draw magic from it, the Goblins have constructed the city so that the Fae are trapped away from the outside world, surrounded by Iron, a substance that's deadly to them.

Forced to work in huge factories, refineries, and other gruelling areas of production, the Fae have been ground under the heels of their Gobln masters, treated as second class citizens to be looked down upon. Despite so many of the Fae having never known any other life, some still fight for the freedom and liberation of their people, and we join the city on the night that these feelings swell to a breaking point and violence breaks out across the Iron City.

Instead of following the leader of this revolution, one lone hero who's banded everyone together, we follow several characters; most of whom are regular people. This is because J.P. Oakes has taken something of a more realistic approach to the story, because quite often in revolution it isn't about one person, and it's the combined efforts of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands. These people, sometimes only united in their desire for freedom, and with no formal bonds between their cells or groups, are the real force behind change; and that's who this book focuses on instead.

There's a variety of people who we follow across the course of the story, on both sides of the conflict. There's a low level drug dealer who finds himself in possession of a huge quantity of Dust, a drug that allows the Fae to access their latent magic abilities, who ends up being wanted by both sides of the conflict because of what he has. There's a young artist, who wants to use his skills and his vision to inspire those around him to rise up and fight for their freedom, for a better world through his art rather than any action he could take. We follow a member of a small group of revolutionaries who end up getting involved in the citywide fight, and we see how this small cell act in the face of full scale uprising.

We also follow some figures who aren't Fea, who are in difficult positions because of who they are. There's the daughter of one of the five main Goblin houses who rules the city, a woman who's set to inherit her father's vast wealth and power but doesn't want to be a evil overlord like him, and wants peace between the Goblins and Fae. We also get to follow her sister, a half Goblin half Fae who's been broken and beaten into being the perfect weapon, tasked only with protecting her sister at any costs. We also spend a lot of time with the former head of one of the other Goblin houses, an aged woman who not only hates that she's no longer in control of her house, but sets out to use the revolution as a means to gain control of all of them.

The book jumps between the various characters across the course of the story, and we get to discover that no one character, that neither side in this conflict, really knows everything. Everyone has their own plans and their own schemes, and whilst some of these are pretty sound, through our unique perspective as the reader we see that all of these plots are balancing on the edge of a knife; that so many of them are at risk of falling apart. The revolution depicted in this book is messy, it's chaotic, and everyone is scrabbling simply to survive the night, and a who does or doesn't seems to very much be down to luck.

It felt more real because of this, that there wasn't some big villain somewhere who'd plotted everything out, who'd anticipated all the variables and was pulling the strings the whole time. Instead, people were left on the back foot, were having to bluff their way through, and left reacting to what their enemies were doing a lot of the time. Despite it being a fantastical story, filled with inhuman people and magic, it made it feel more real that a lot of books like this.

The story also used its fantasy elements well. It's full of creatures like Goblins, Kobolds, Selkies, Gnomes, and other fantasy races, and it made good use of magic, but for the most part it was a very modern story. There were mobile phones, cars, and guns. It was less a fantasy story, and more a real world story that just happened to replace the humans with other races. This combination was something that felt odd at first, as I've rarely read stories where it's done, but it felt right for the kind of story that Oakes was trying to tell; and come the end it felt completely natural to see a Goblin firing a gun from the back of a tank.

There's a lot to City of Iron and Dust, a lot of characters with their own stories and motivations, lots of plots and themes that all weave in and out of each other to create this story that whilst covering only one night also encompasses several stories; all of which could have had its own book. It's a book that feels really dense, that packs the content in. It also makes many fantasy elements accessible for people who might never had tried the genre before, thanks to its hybrid nature. This is a book that managed to subvert my expectations a number of times, one that was never what I expected, and one that I'm sure will intrigue a lot of readers.

In City of Iron and Dust, goblins have conquered the fae, building cities of iron over their forests to block the fae’s access to magic, and subjugating them. Relations between the two peoples are tense, ready to explode at any moment. One night, everything comes to a boil.

I found the premise interesting, and I was intrigued by the idea that the entire book would take place during one night. The book began fast enough, with several characters introduced, doing what they always do or preparing to overthrow the current system. The seeds of chaos to come were well laid. Writing was competent and the little details of the world (ivy noodles and squirrel’s butter, anyone) fun.

But I couldn’t read past the first four chapters, and it took me three days to manage. I’m not entirely sure where it lost my interest. Partly it was the third person present tense it was written in that I always find very distancing. Partly it was because I didn’t like any of the characters. There were too many of them too, with short chapters that made it difficult to keep tabs on them.

These are my issues, however. The plot promised to be good, the author seems capable of carrying it through, and there’s no telling what the outcome will be—though if the first chapters are an indication, no one will escape unscathed (and they probably deserve it too). If you’re looking for a unique take in fantasy, this is definitely for you.

There’s something about it this books that I just did not enjoy. While I can see why others would love it, I personally struggled to get through this. It’s all within one night and multiple different perspectives. Something about the way it read nagged at me and made it difficult to focus on what I was reading. I finished the book and still couldn’t tell you exactly what happened.

I received a copy through Netgalley for review.

So this was a very interesting book.
Many POV's all coming together at the end or one moment.
All are important, all reaching, striving, fighting seemingly for an end goal. Who will get there first?
The writing is dense, descriptive and heavy. But the feeling it puts through, it's really hard to describe. Not everyone is going to like the way this is presented. But the world created is very different. It really sets this apart.

The City of Iron and Dust is a dark bleak place, fae at the bottom, surrounded by iron, working in it, living in it, suffering from the effects constantly. Cut off from their magic. Caged by iron.
Goblins, who own and run the city are immune. They suffer no ill effects. Living at the top.
Most fae cannot remember their magic, or were born well after the wall was erected. They know no contact to the earth.
Only Dust, a synthetic drug can give them a taste, a moment of what that magic was.

A block of undiluted Dust will change this city.
Who will win? Who will lose this battle? Who will escape the wall? Who will break their bonds?
You get all sides of this story, every major player has a role to play here. Even the ones who never thought they would have a role in anything. The world is about to change.

This book was exceptionally written; from dark humour and quick wit to emotional and moving scenes, to plot twists and charismatic characters, phenomenal fight scenes and political messages to dynamically written descriptions and imaginative story telling. Like, SO good.

Granny Spregg is, without a doubt, my absolute favourite character in this whole book. Her inner monologue, paired with the hilariously dark one liners and no-fucks-given attitude was so much fun to read.

Sil is such a badass and her fight scenes literally had me on the edge of my seat - for everything that’s been done to her and then that ending??? A work of art.

Yes, there are a fair few protagonists that we meet, and normally I’m not a massive fan of a book told from so many different points of view, but it was super fun to read and to watch each plot line progress to this one cataclysmic point.

Another thing that deserves a mention are the chapter titles, for example:
0. Let Me Tell You a Fairy Story (or, It’s Not Epic if it Doesn’t Have a Prologue
1. Three Assholes Walk Into A Bar
13. That’s Another Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into
16. And Then It All Goes to Shit
That is all.

I’ll also admit that the different species (?) names confused me a tad, and I would’ve liked more background info on each of the characters and more in depth world building but overall, I had a blast reading this and was enthralled from start to finish!

I went into this expecting a strong protagonist to follow and have to say that's not what I got. You see this book weaves about bringing together multiple points of view to tell a story of oppression and perhaps ultimately hope.
Having lost the war the Fae are imprisoned by the Goblins in a walled city which cuts off their connection to the Earth and magic. With poverty and shorter lives the Fae struggle on with just the slight chance of briefly remembering how it felt to wield magic if they take the illegal drug Dust. A small amount of Dust can have an immediate effect but what would happen if a whole block of it found its way into the city ?
Here we meet unlikely heroes and follow their journey. Expect to be surprised but also to feel disgust at their treatment. This story whilst slow in places was entertaining with characters that caught my imagination and also my sympathy. Not what I expected but I'm glad I read it.
This voluntary take is of an advanced copy and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

You're going to want to read this!
This was artful, smart, engrossing, moving, funny, and satisfying in every way. It's definitely one of the highlights of my year in reading. I kind of wish I could read it all over again. It really checked every box for me.

In building this alternate world (that somehow works to almost mirror the sociopolitical world we live in), Oakes takes on inclusion, race, corporate culture, slavery, art, politics, economics, gender and philosophy, BUT that's all by the way. It's the underpinning for a really great story, told through interesting characters that you end up really rooting for (I mean, sure, we've got the brawny Bee and the spoiled, idealistic princess etc but then we've also got Granny Spregg and her risible inner monologue).

There's fabulous tension with a story arc that really leaves you wondering who exactly is zooming whom, superb action that keeps the momentum going, and tremendous writing! I haven't seen a book written completely in present tense pulled off like this in quite a while.

I won't summarize the plot, but I will tell you that the book delivers on its premise and promise and to me, that's all the stars.
Cannot wait for more from this author.
Note: I received a free ARC of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I didn't mean to gush, but that's how it goes!