BLOOD AND IRON is one of those big, sprawling books with seventeen million different things going on at more or less the same time. At the crux of the story, though, we have the Prometheus Club, who have stood against Faerie for several hundred years and aim to bring that old conflict to a head.

I really, really, really wish I could tell you I loved it. Really. I appreciate it. I've enjoyed thinking back over it, now that it's done. But at day's end, it didn't quite work for me.

Let's highlight some of the good stuff, though. I thought Bear did a wonderful job of exploring each party's motivations. This isn't a simple good-versus-evil story; neither the Faeries or the Prometheans stand fully in one camp or the other. Bear presents them in such a way that the reader can see the good and the bad on both sides. It's their choices that define these characters, more than anything else. How do they choose to wield the power they hold? What do they do with the cards they've been dealt?

I also appreciated the way she dealt with Faerie itself. She blends Irish stuff, Arthurian stuff, old magic, new magic, ballads... the whole shebang. This book has folklore up the wazoo. (And it's heavy on the creepy. These're some dark faeries, folks). Bear requires that the reader make lightning-fast connections between particular elements of mythology, and she sets them up very nicely indeed.

So we've got depth, complexity, folklore... I should've been all over this. But, as is so often the case, it boils down to one thing: character. I didn't engage with any of these characters, and so I couldn't fully engage with their story.

Bear uses strict third person, so if the characters wouldn't think about it or discuss it, we don't hear about it. We have to learn as we go along, and this requires many intuitive leaps. We need to recognize the connections between each of these people; at the same time, we need to make connections between the story we're reading and something that happened long before it began. Sometimes, this connection is rooted in the mythology; other times, it ties in with the characters' pasts. I was usually able to make the mythological connections right off the bat, but the character-based ones? I had to work my arse off for them, and most of them still didn't quite click for me. The characters felt more like a vehicle for the story than like people in their own right.

I did appreciate the book on an intellectual level, and I've had a reasonably good time thinking back over it now that I've finished it, but my failure to connect with any of the characters made it tough for me to really enjoy it. I'll certainly give the series another go, but I think I'll wait awhile before I do so.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

Matthew is a magician in New York City, a member of the Prometheans, who works to protect humans from the Fae that would steal them into their world as changelings. Elaine is a human bound to the Faerie world by the Mebd, one of the Queens of Faerie, and by her loyalty to her son, Ian. She is also the Seeker, one who prowls shadows looking for Fae children. A collision of their worlds seems inevitable, but as players are drawn into events beyond their control the morality of either side becomes ambiguous.

This urban fantasy is a bit different from my normal fare -- darker, more sensual than the fantasy I usually choose to read. I kept going because I wanted to see what would happen to Elaine and the other characters, if their fates were truly predetermined or if they could choose a different outcome. Bear throws readers into her alternate universe and leaves them to discover along with her characters (a knowledge of Arthurian legend and the ballad of Tam Lin would be especially helpful). I'm interested in seeing where the series heads from here. ( )

Interesting concept. Not the best prose ( )

The sequel is much better and ties off a lot of the threads started in this book. I loved the characters but I got a bit lost and frustrated by the end. I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more had this book and Whiskey and Water been combined. Still, read it and then immediately hunt down the sequel. ( )

I really wanted to like this book more. I am a fan of the author, though I have only read her SF books before this one.

I can't put my finger on the problems exactly, though this is what seemed to me to be issues:

The book started out jumping around with several different characters and viewpoints. You never really got a good handle and who they were or what was going on. At the same time it was wordy. So it was easy to put down, and hard to pick back up.

It didn't help that the characters seemed shaky at the start. Matthew was bland and shallow, Jane was a purposeful enigma, Seeker/Elaine was tough and too closed up. Kieth was not believable as a werewolf - just too wishy washy. Mebd was another enigma. Only Whiskey the Kelpie was done well from the start.

The idea of a war between humans and the fae was interesting, but from the cover of the book, I expected it to be an urban fantasy. But it only had a few scenes in the real world. The rest is in faerie.

Then Bear seemed to have thrown in everything, even the kitchen sink: Dragons, werewolves, unicorns, Merlins, and the Dragon Prince, walking willows, Heaven, Hell, The Real World

The idea of the Dragon Prince and the Merlin didn't seem to be really developed. I could never figure out what made the Merlin different from both human and fae. What was the point of the Dragon Prince. The idea that both humans and fae are the creation of the dragon, yet the book acknowledges heaven and you know who (JC).

It seemed to be very wordy and it took a long time for it to grab me. For a brief period it did, but then it petered out again. finally I was just glad it was over.

There were actions that weren't explained and didn't make sense. Why did the Mebd unbraid her hair - setting all those who were bound, free ? Then she never told anyone, except Elaine, and she re-braided it that night, so everyone was bound again. Why did the Mebd decide to die, and how did the throne kill her after she sat on it all those years ? Why did she want to kill Elaine and those bound to her when she died ?

Who chained the dragon, and how did they get that huge link through the spine ?

The ending was sad, if predictable.

I really liked Whiskey the Kelpie, and he got better and better as the story developed.

All in all it was good, but it left more questions and it just wasn't as good as I expected. I am not sure I will read the next book in the series or not. ( )