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Amtrak Wars #3

Eisenmeister

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Steve Brickman, Pilot der Amtrak-Föderation, wird von der Ersten Familie beauftragt, ins Reich der geheimnisvollen Eisenmeister einzudringen und zwei mit übernatürlichen Kräften begabte Mutanten herauszuschmuggeln: Cadillac und die schöne Clearwater. Die Eisenmeister von Ne-Issan befahren mit ihren Raddampfern die großen Seen und Flüsse, treiben Handel mit Präriemutanten und werden von den ebenso tapferen wie grausamen Samurai regiert. In ihr Reich kommt man allerdings nur als Sklave – wenn man den Weg dorthin überlebt. Steve ist bei dieser Mission auf sich allein gestellt, doch er merkt bald, dass die Amtrak-Föderation auch in Ne-Issan ihre Leute hat – die aber oftmals ein gefährliches Doppelspiel treiben …

572 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

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Patrick Tilley

23 books54 followers

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5 stars
253 (26%)
4 stars
382 (39%)
3 stars
267 (27%)
2 stars
51 (5%)
1 star
16 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Profile Image for Shaun Moss.
Author 2 books10 followers
June 25, 2022
I completed the book so I must have enjoyed it enough, but this one isn't as good as its two predecessors. There's a lot of head hopping, too many characters and relationships, too many similar names, and overall it's just fairly complex, confusing, and difficult to keep track of what's going on. This book is also more violent than the previous two, and I don't enjoy excessive graphic violence in writing (or media generally). I'm tempted to abandon the series, as I have a lot of other books to read, but I've made a start on #4 and will see how it goes.
Profile Image for Adam Whitehead.
581 reviews138 followers
December 17, 2017
Steve Brickman, former Skyhawk pilot turned AMEXICO secret agent, is out of his depth. His mission to capture Mr. Snow, Cadillac and Clearwater, the three M'Call Mutes whose powers pose a direct threat to the Amtrak Federation's expansion, has been complicated by the fact that Cadillac and Clearwater have been sent as envoys to Ne-Issan, the homeland of the mysterious Iron Masters. With little choice, Brickman is forced to follow and soon learns that Cadillac is posing as a Tracker wingman, using the knowledge and information he stole from Brickman's own mind to construct an air force for the Iron Masters.

Meanwhile, in Ne-Issan the Shogun is concerned over the ambitions of the powerful Yama-Shita family, who already control the lucrative Great Lakes trading routes into the Mute heartlands and now seem to be organising themselves for an attempt to displace him from power by sponsoring the air force project. His top agent, Herald of the Inner Court Toshiro Hase-Gawa, is dispatched to sabotage the aircraft production facility by any means necessary, and soon finds an unlikely ally in the shape of Steve Brickman...

If Cloud Warrior was an exploration of the culture of the Mutes and First Family looked more closely at the inner workings and government of the Federation, Iron Master turns its attention to the society of Ne-Issan. For reasons that Tilley doesn't entirely explain, vast numbers of East Asian refugees from the War of a Thousand Suns somehow reached the former Eastern Seaboard of the United States and set up a feudal society based heavily on Shogunate-era Japan, running from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. The society they have built is undeniably well-drawn and fascinating, but it seems a bit odd that refugees from Asia would end up on the Atlantic coast of America and not, say, in the Washington-Oregon-California area.

Anyway, ignoring that geographic oddity, Iron Master is the best of the first three books in the series. Tilley's grasp of political intrigue and his appetite for plans-within-plans and multiple layers of deception reaches its full flower here, as Brickman pursues his agenda, Hase-Gawa pursues his, the Shogun's wily chancellor pursues yet another and AMEXICO do their bit to add to the confusion as well. It's a complex and at times confusing story, but Tilley's clear prose, relentless pace and gift for action sequences keeps events ticking along nicely. Characterisation is strong, with Brickman's evolution to a full-blown double agent continuing in an intriguing manner and Hase-Gawa making for an effective supporting character (his true motivations are held back for the last few pages of the book and make for a nice twist). Unfortunately, Clearwater, despite being one of the central figures in the series, remains a bit bland and distant as a character.

Iron Master (****) is a strong and compulsive read and is a solid continuation of the series. Again, it is no longer in print but second-hand copies are available in the UK and USA.
Profile Image for Chris Greensmith.
941 reviews11 followers
September 7, 2021
"Toshiro had awaited this moment, but he still flinched as the Consul-General punched a six-inch-deep outline of his body into the ground and split open like an over-ripe melon."
Profile Image for Wombat.
687 reviews4 followers
March 2, 2019
OK, maybe 1.5 stars...

This is FULL of rather offensive and non-sensical things.

Anyway.. basically this is the story of Steve Brickman making his way into the lands of the Iron Masters to rescue his two mute allies (Cadillac and Clearwater). There are lots of shenanigans along the way, mainly about how Steve manages to infiltrate the Iron Master society with the help of various people he meets on the way (and his federation backers)... Cadillac has set up a project to make planes for the Iron Masters, but needs help finding a way to power the ultralights when the Iron Masters have a phobia of electricity....

I dont think this could be written today, and the whole Iron Master culture just felt strangely out of place. It was Samurai culture (aka James Clavell's Shogun in post-apoc america...) but with strange names, and convoluted cut throat politics that didn't make a lot of sense.

Basically the Iron Masters just didn't make sense for me, basically feeling like a complete anachronism that had no reasoning/backup for its existence...

That being said - the first half of the book was just a shuffling of pieces to get everything in place, and then the second half was actually an interesting story of Steve trying to gain the trust of an alcoholic Cadillac... Then trying to convince him to come back home.

If I felt this was going to stick around in the Iron Master lands, I think I'd stop reading now. But it looks like we've left them and are headed back to the Amtrak/Plainsfolk conflict which gives me something to hope for,
Profile Image for The Honest Book Reviewer.
1,579 reviews38 followers
May 21, 2023
I did enjoy this book for different reasons that the first two in the series. First off, it's not as exciting as the first two, and the pace does slow when Tilley stops to explain the culture of the Iron Masters, who control a large area of what was once the United States. The area they control is called Ne-Issan, and the towns etc in Ne-Issan are loosely named after the names the existed before the cataclysmic war that destroyed the earth. But, the last few chapters are exciting, so it's not all slow paced. And when the excitement hits, it does so with a bang!

So, we have a slower paced book for book three of the series, but that in itself is not a bad thing. The slow pace gives Tilley space in the narrative to bring about more political intrigue, because the Iron Master culture opens up the possibilities more than the culture of the Mutes or the Federation. The Iron Masters culture is based of feudal Japan, and we have a young Shogun who may soon need to face a rebellion orchestrated by some of his closest allies. These members of the ruling elite have strong trading power with the Mutes, and it seems they may have also been trading secretly with the Federation. Then there is a Herald of the Inner Court, Toshira, who seems to have his own agenda and is walking a tightrope to keep many people onside, including the Shogun and Steve Brickman, who agrees to help Toshira with a plan to sabotage the aircraft being built by the possible enemies of the Shogun. See what I mean? There are so many different layers in this story. It provides an interesting backdrop to the ongoing saga of Steve Brickman, Cadillac, and Clearwater, and our three heroes must navigate this strange land and culture to free themselves from what they learn will be eventual death. Because we do learn that the Iron Masters don't let strangers leave their lands.

But adding to this mix, AMEXICO, which is the secret spy force of the Federation, tilts their hat more and more, showing a lot more of their reach and capability. Steve Brickman, now a member of AMEXICO, has been given orders to bring Clearwater and Cadillac back to the Federation, but will he? Brickman is a loose card in everybody's plans in the book, and indeed in the series so far, and I found it so intriguing to see how this story played out, in which direction Brickman would go. Patrick Tilley does a great job in keeping the reader guessing about Brickman, and it's not until the very end of this book that we're sure of the outcome.

And then there's the cliffhanger of sorts, the small reveal that is so much more, and it makes we want to know what's coming next. Because that small reveal just made me realise there are plans afoot that seem to be a long time in the making, and the heroes of this saga have not idea what they're heading into.
Profile Image for Andrew.
2,539 reviews
May 13, 2017
And so the saga continues. The story now moves out of the hidden underground strong hold of the First Family and back to the surface where we start to see the world of the Mutie explored.

We are introduced to the idea of the Iron Masters, other groups who have not only survived on the surface but have thrived and grown powerful in their own right.

Again limiting myself to not giving away spoilers it is tricky to comment about this books as you are slowly starting to see the story threads appear and become not only more apparent but also more important - after all the close of this book represents the half way point.

I will though talk about one of the themes in this book which a number of other books have used was the idea that it will not be the Western cultures which will necessarily "inherit" the earth but in fact the Eastern ones. Like Chung Kuo this book suggests that their culture rather than be absorbed in to our own will in fact be far more resilient than our own however in what form we will have to wait and see (think of the visuals to Blade Runner for example)

I will admit that reading this series again after all these years is great fun as I find references and phrases I had forgotten over time. I shall have to see when I can fit in reading the next instalment in.
Profile Image for Ann E Hoover.
50 reviews
March 5, 2018
Pretty good continuation of series.

I like how various groups of people and places are variations of names today e.g. one group is named the Toh-toya and a place is Bu-furo. I would recommend this to anyone as it is not technical as a lot of science fiction books can be.
Profile Image for Kirk P.
19 reviews
July 29, 2021
Hmm...a distinctive expansion on the first 2 books in the series. An engaging read with some plot elements that really needed fleshing out more as it leaves unanswered questions (like WHY the Japanese settled in North America). Worth continuing with if you're keen on the series.
Profile Image for Wyktor Paul.
449 reviews3 followers
September 18, 2018
Another exciting episode in the Amtrak Wars saga.
Brilliant writing, believable characters, and a story that certainly grabs you by the short hairs and doesn't let go.
112 reviews
October 6, 2018
Lots of typos, inconsistent place names, and more than a little racist.
Profile Image for Charmy.
180 reviews3 followers
Read
October 25, 2023
Still as good as the first time I read it. Most books aren't. Different time different tastes.
Profile Image for Lily Sharp.
96 reviews8 followers
March 15, 2019

Steve Brickman, former Skyhawk pilot turned AMEXICO secret agent, sneaks into Ne-Issan to rescue lost friends, while trying to keep important Federation technology from the hands of his enemies.

What I liked
✅ plenty of magic, gore and action in the final half
✅ great character moments, especially as Brickman tries to gain the alcoholic Cadillac's trust
✅ plenty of political intrigue

What I didn't like
✖ paper-cutout, stereotypical portrayals of Japanese people and culture
✖ slow-paced first half
✖ while there was plenty of worldbuilding, it was copied from Japanese culture and often conveyed in lengthy chunks

To consider
➖ this is a product of when it was written; western attitudes and understanding of Japanese culture of the 80s are part of this book

Rating

3/5 🌟

Genre: Sci-fi

Verdict: Recommended
Profile Image for Mark.
164 reviews1 follower
May 2, 2025
I was intrigued to see how the Iron Masters society (based on feudal Japan) would fit into the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Amtrak world.
Well, it sort of doesn’t.

It feels like the people of this new nation have uncovered a few Kurosawa movies and based their society scene-for-scene on it.
We have full-on Samurais on horseback, rising-sun bandanas, racial supremacy and ritual suicide.
This all feels a bit lame and silly – but that is the nature of the beast.

I personally don’t like this genre. I find the names confusing, the inter politics boring and the strict adherence to customs tedious.
The Dominion Lords were pretty much indistinguishable from one another and all would gleefully kill you and your entire family for using the butter knife to cut your fish.
So I was disappointed from the start that there wasn’t more imagination going into this new nation.

Then we have the magic.
Up until now “Mute Magic” has been quite ambiguous. Is it psychic based, is it some left-over technology that still works, are the “straight mutes” synthetic?
No, it is just magic.
Clearwater has got a handle on it and is now a Swiss army knife of contrivance.
What do you need?
A mind read, an official hypnotised, a platoon of solders wiped out, perhaps a +3 Staff of Quickness?
Well Clearwater is your girl as she can do it all now.

If Clearwater isn’t around or feeling a bit sleepy, don’t worry as we have Brickman and his supply of modern munitions on-tap, curtesy of the First Family.
The technology of the First Family has always been a little mysterious and disjointed, possibly due to a computer glitch or perhaps as a way to control the populace?
But here we get a glimpse at the true power of the Amtrak Federation, and it is vast.

Now we have the equivalent of the modern U.S Military backed up by the cast of Hogwarts pitted against a bunch of sword-swinging dudes on horseback who routinely murder their own men.

This series is bowing under the weight of its own world-building.
So many things from the first two books seem quite pointless now.

This wasn’t all bad.
There were bits to enjoy in the world of the Iron Masters and it is a change of pace.
But it just got too silly and convoluted without being interesting.
There was too much walking around and spying and plotting against characters I didn’t care about and often mixed up.
Although the Iron Master’s literally are the worst, the other actors in this story are pretty awful too. I didn’t feel a big payoff when a bad guy got their just-deserts and it was obvious there was always going to be another twist.

In a lot of ways you are better off just reading a book about Samurai then you don’t have to content with all the uneven magic and technology.

This will put at least a hump in my continuation of the series and maybe even a full stop.
Profile Image for Wayne.
269 reviews1 follower
August 10, 2016
Possibly my least favourite of the series so far, it still has the same pace, good twists, and new discoveries, but I found myself slowing down more often to try and get my head round the new setting.
Unlike the others, this is more ambitious in its surroundings with multiple characters of different standings, and many alternate settings. There are shoguns, chamberlains, ronin, heralds, consul generals, and everything below and between. Unless you take your time it's easy to lose track of who is who, what their aim is, what their relationship is, and it wasn't until the final quarter that I actually felt like I was getting to grips with it.
It's also frustrating that the first quarter of the book goes into too much detail regarding why we're here and how we got here. If people can't be bothered to read the first 2 books, don't pander to them by retelling the whole back story.
The Japanese are portrayed in a very stereotypical way, it could be that the author was actually going for that, or that this was written in the 80s and they didn't know any better. In either case, it's sometimes a bit uncomfortable.
Profile Image for Brian Turner.
707 reviews12 followers
March 18, 2022
Steve Brickman's journey carries him to the land of the rising sun - the Eastern seaboard of the USA in this case. After the war, various boat people landed there and set up a feudal Japanese style society, with a Shogun, Samurai and the other non Japanese races given menial tasks.

Slightly longer than the previous books, this has a lot of setting up to get people in place, but introduces a whole new cast of characters and place names (which are the American place names given what the author must have thought was a "Japanese"/Oriental sound).
There's a list of the place names at the front along with which areas they are relating to (such as Aron-giren being Long Island etc) to help you get an understanding of them.

There's a lot going on as Steve has to try and Cadillac and Clearwater away from the Iron Masters' while not upsetting his Federation masters too much.
153 reviews1 follower
June 26, 2016
Well you really couldn't write this book in our age of political correctness. The japanese in this are portrayed as parody? I'm not sure, either way it's definitely racist and stereotypical to the max. But then again, this was written in the 80's so it's appropriate for the times I suppose. Brickman carries on with his mission and it's somewhat annoying that he can be so dense as to peoples motives around him, although it is mentioned that he has been conditioned several times. This book is more of an adventure and espionage tale in medieval japan which really shouldn't work, but does. The conclusion is tied up neatly and with plenty of explosions and gore. Look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Lauren.
855 reviews5 followers
March 13, 2018
So far in the series, this is my least favorite, and, to be honest, it has a lot to do with the extensive use of racist epithets for people of Asian descent used by people from the Federation. Every time I saw one of those words, I cringed and that definitely colored my opinion of the rest of the book, which was honestly very exciting and far more complex than the first two books. The story is really starting to pick up.
Profile Image for Marcus Johnston.
Author 16 books38 followers
February 6, 2016
I love how Patrick takes a throw-away concept (there's some samurai running New England) and develops into a living breathing thing. Great story, great political intrigue, amazing characters... a bit dated (by today's standards, it's borderline racist, but not by '80's Britain) but still a worthwhile read!
Profile Image for Adam Denny.
13 reviews1 follower
June 13, 2013
Having only recently finished reading James Clavell's novel Shogun, I loved Tilley's interpretation of it, onto the East Coast of a Post Apocalyptic North America. Only, you really need to have read the first two books in the series, for it to make any sense.
Profile Image for Kurt.
192 reviews3 followers
April 24, 2023
It turns out the real post-apocalyptic samurai were the friends you made along the way...

...I might not go back and re-read this one, it's probably pretty racist. This guy was already old when he wrote these and that was a different time
413 reviews2 followers
December 1, 2016
best of the series, complex storytelling and plot twists
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews

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