The Iron Maiden

Bio of a Space Tyrant #6

by Piers Anthony

Piers Anthony is the acclaimed author of more than 100 novels and short story collections. His works include the Xanth series, the Mode series, Chthon and Total Recall.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy

408 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

Though he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.

Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.

Reviews

[Jeremiah Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ender's Shadow proved that you can write a book from the viewpoint of a different character and still have an incredible story. This book tried to disprove that...
I was really looking forward to finding out what Spirit did during all the times where "Spirit took care of things while Hope was away." Unfortunately, it was again summarized as nothing more than "Spirit took care of things while Hope was away." A couple of chapters were new content, but the vast majority of it was either a summary or complete retelling of the other books in the series.
I actually like the character of Spirit less after reading this.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read a Piers Anthony book in almost a decade, and The Iron Maiden had been on my radar since I discovered it via Goodreads several years ago. I, when younger, had been an avid fan of Piers Anthony's writing; I devoured it on a consistent basis as if I was emulating Cthulhu and his work was eternity, reality. At one point I had collected over 50 of his books when I came upon the "Bio Of A Space Tyrant" series. I set upon it with a vengeance, and even though I was not even 18 at the time when I read them, they added a new dimension to his work, that of overarching sci-fi, and I honestly thought it was his best work I'd read. Cut to the (mostly) present, when I heard he'd released a finale to what I'd believed was an already finished series, I couldn't help myself and ordered a copy immediately. A decade and more since I'd read the original work, my life had changed significantly; Working full time, love found, love misunderstood, love lost, money, responsibilities galore, and more stress than I'd ever imagined, I approached this new novel with a different mind set than the source material. I found myself transfixed, and couldn't set it down, finishing it in under three days, something I hadn't done since I had been a high school student. I discovered I remembered much of the original series, and what I hadn't came rushing back when reading about the events through the eyes of Spirit Hubris, sister of the Tyrant, titular character of the original series, and found that it was still magical. As an adult, I found I understood much of the political intrigue and subterfuge far more than I did as a teenager, as well as the sexual relationships and emotional depth appealed to me in different ways.

My love of reading sprung to life when, as a child, I read, "Vale of the Vole", from his Xanth series. I've read hundreds of books since then, and that love of reading has enchanted my life in ways I predict I'll still be discovering on my death bed. While I can easily admit my bias, I'll state here that this book, The Iron Maiden, was some of the best work I'd read from Piers Anthony, period. Fun, emotionally fulfilling, mature, honest, and easy to approach.

Thank you, Piers, for all the magic you've shared in my life.

[Shawna Troyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Piers Anthony's writing, but I was a little disappointed in this book. Since I read the previous 5 books, it was a lot of repetitive story line. Though as Piers Anthony pointed out: Hope and Spirit's lives were so entwined, much of her story *is* his story. It does, however, nicely bring closure to the series.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a waste of time. It is a retelling of books 1-5 from the perspective of the main character's sister and adds nothing to the story. It seems like the author was on the hook to write another book but had no original ideas left.

[Cliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't hate this book as I expected I would. This is not intended as a dig against Piers Anthony, though to be fair, I think it was my teenage self that was more appreciative of his writing. This follow-up to his original Bio of a Space Tyrant series actually turns out to be quite engaging, with some caveats.

Much like the writing of these books, I think it is best read after spending some time away from the original series. The originals tell the overall history of the life of Hope Hubris and they are fascinating in a particular fashion. This addendum retells the same history, but this time from the viewpoint of his sister Spirit. But we are given a bit of extra epilogue to this tale that occurs posthumously. As a result, the book works well as a reminder/recap of the original series, though there are definitely some elements that are left out.

Another big caveat is the timing of the series, Piers Anthony modeled his solar system after the geopolitical make-up of our world post-World War II and around the height of the Cold War. As such Jupiter (representing the USA) is the largest superpower followed closely by Saturn (representing the Communist blocs of the USSR). These parallels are used a bit too frequently, even to the point of there being a "Solar War II" where Titan (Japan) was defeated and transitioned into an industrialized, modern economic power. While this concept does manage to make conceptualizing this Solar System easier, it feels forced and a little unrealistic. I'd like to think our world has gotten a little less insular and more global in its outlook since these books were written.

The other two big issues are somewhat related. The first, if you are familiar with Piers Anthony and this series in particular, is that the characters are hypersexualized, which is very much consistent with his writing. So, there is a prurient interest to be found here for pubescent boys, the appeal may not be as strong to other audiences. The second part of this is that despite the occasionally deviant sexual desires that occur throughout the books, there is a surprisingly strong aversion to homosexuality. When you consider the things that they are willing to accept, the lack of homosexuality is extremely notable.

With those concerns in mind, however, I admit to rather enjoying this read.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a summation of the action in the first 5 books of the series from the viewpoint of Spirit. It adds just a little to the timeline of The Tyrant. The writing is not up to Piers standard and reads more like a Reader's Digest compilation than one of his books. I was disappointed.

[Aaron Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really enough new details to have bothered reading this book. So very much of it was directly from the prior five books. I did find some of Spirit's perspectives interesting, but not nearly enough to make this book worth reading.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was like a Cliff Notes for the Space Tyrant series with very little new input via Spirit (the main character). The author feels this is some of his best work but I feel it is some of his least creative.

[Randall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to seeing what Spirit was doing on all her excursions as she was essentially the backbone to her talking head brother. Piers Anthony didn't balance this at all as it spent more time rehashing Hope's life than it spent expanding on Spirits. Very disappointing read.

[Matthew J McClain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a re-hash of the first 5 books. I swear most of it was copy/paste

[Shamus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for nostalgia sake.

I first read Bio of a Space Tyrant in middle school. I loved Piers Anthony and read much of his work. When The Iron Maiden was teased at the end of that series I was sorely disappointed that it did not exist at the time.

I don't know if I can say the wait was worth it. There are two big issues for me: the work itself and my growth in the last 25+ years.

The novel itself is typical Anthony in style, but lacking in the necessary substance. He glosses over most of the details of Spirit's life and work away from Hope. It's almost all "tell", very little "show" - except for the sex scenes.

And that's where my growth comes in. I'm not against sex scenes. Anthony's are nothing special, rather pedestrian, but not terrible. Not terrible except as he portrays the sex lives of children. I outgrew Piers Anthony years ago and read this book because I am a completist. I had forgotten how much he wrote about sex regarding children, and his views on the agency of children in their sex lives. It is, for lack of a better word, gross. I thought, when I was 12, that it was wonderful to read an author who granted that pubescent children have essentially the same sexual maturity as adults. Flash forward to my adulthood and it is disgusting. Except that it is a common theme throughout his works I would say he presented an argument that existed for narrative purpose; however, he litters his ouvre with pubescent sex, and lust for pubescent children.

If you are a fan of Piers Anthony, if you are a fan of the Space Tyrant series, you'll probably enjoy the book well enough. If you've outgrown Piers Anthony, skip this one.

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason I am giving this three stars is because it is slight better than the Xanth novels I have been reading lately, so it requires a better rating.
This book comes out 20 years after the Bio series and I am only reading it another 20 years later, not being aware or understanding as to why a sixth novel was even considered.
However, as soon I started reading this, we can think of this book as if it were an anthology of the entire 5 book series, except told from a different viewpoint with a few new novellas thrown in for good measure. When read this way, it is kind of nice to remiss in these books from my childhood and I was able to enjoy this very quick read as a result of simply shifting my viewpoint in how it should be read.
I did like the idea of stopping another monster war by giving the people a better reason to hope: universal expansion rather than interplanetary expansion. A good idea to end this series once and for all.

[Justin Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you've just read the first five in this series put this one on the shelf for a few years. At least. Reading it shortly after the first five is probably going to disappoint. It will come off as a lazy rehash, some even feels simply cut and pasted. I've given up after just 4 chapters of that and almost quit sooner but forced myself to give it a chance out of respect for the series. Maybe it gets better but I'll probably never finish it now. It needed some originality from the start to create interest and failed.

[John (Hey Y'all Listen Up) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book shines when the focus on Spirit alone. However, this is only a small portion of the book, and the rest reads like a plot summary of the earlier books. The tense is also weird and off-putting. If you don't mind spoilers, you could just read this book instead of the five previous ones for a sense of what the story is about.

[Craig Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

The promise was that would be a whole different take on events from the sister's point of view, but it seemed to me to merely be a fast-paced recap of the first 5 novels without anything significant added.

[Luke M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Returning to the past.

I enjoyed this story, and found a lot of answers I had been wondering about for years. I do feel there was a lot of rehashing, and a lot of condensed time that could have been expanded on better. I continue to enjoy the author and the worlds he creates.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

try not to let your kids find this one! good story, but a bit graphic

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ewww. Not a good finish to an excellent series.

[Jonas Cicenas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I totally respect Piers Anthony, but 93% of copy/paste made me sad :(

[Mike Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting end to the series...exciting, sexy and sometimes silly, but thoroughly entertaining.

[Ackuhnz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Added little to the story already told much better.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hope there would be more original story to it than there was. But it did fill in gaps and put a bow on the story, better than statesman did.

[Blind_guardian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final volume of the Bio of a Space Tyrant, the Iron Maiden is largely a recap of the first five books in the series, published some years later. The first five books are entirely from the protagonist and narrator, Hope Hubris' point of view; the Iron Maiden shifts the focus to Hope's sister and oldest companion, Spirit. There's not much in here that we didn't already know, except to confirm that Spirit's love for her brother was indeed more than familial, and the description of Hope's funeral and the colonization of Nemesis, a fictional brown dwarf star that serves as a companion to our sun.

Anthony has said that he believes Bio of a Space Tyrant to be some of his best writing, superior to Xanth, and I must agree. I only give it 3 stars because as I said, there isn't much we haven't seen here, and some passages are clearly straight excerpts from the first five novels. I wish he wrote more things like this, but as he himself has said, Xanth is where the money is, and that's the reason he continues to write.

[Lynn Mccorry · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have read the Bio of a Space Tyrant series then I would definitely recommend reading this book. Although a lot of it is a re-cap of the previous books it's still a great read. If you haven't read the series, I'd say give it a miss (or better still, go and read the series).

[Dallas Hockley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good complement to the "Bio is a Space Tyrant" series. Exploring more of Spirit's life in the orbit of her brother the Tyrant. It clarifies a few things and enriches the story and atmosphere of the legacy. With reading.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

flashback to jr. high.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young adult 10-15

[Carl Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome... waited forever! for this to come out...

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent way to wrap up the series. If you read the first five, now experience it form Spirit Hubris' perspective.

[Gary]

Better than Under a Velvet Cloak, but not by much. I loved the original Bio of a Space Tyrant series, but this 6th book tacked on much later has a completely different style to it.