Dead Iron

How it reads

Dead Iron is fantasy (weird western fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are survival, power and politics and justice. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It opens a series. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 337 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.