The Iron Sword

The Fae War Chronicles #1

by Jocelyn A. Fox

Tess O’Connor has never fought in a duel, ridden a Fae steed descended from a dragon, or touched taebramh, the magical substance that gives mortals dreams. She has never faced down a garrelnost or traveled the hidden mysterious pathways between the mortal world and the realm of the Fae. She has never felt a magnetic attraction to a perilously handsome Sidhe knight with eyes as deep and impenetrable as the ocean. Tess O’Connor stopped believing in fairy tales as a child when her father died…but all that changes when she discovers that her best friend Molly is half-Fae—and has been summoned to the Unseelie Court by Queen Mab herself. The Queen of Night and Winter sends Finnead, one of her trinity of Named Knights, to escort Molly to Court, willingly or unwillingly. Mab believes that Molly is the fulfillment of a prophesy, the half-Fae child foretold to become the bearer of the Iron Sword, a legendary weapon that could mean the difference between victory and defeat for the Fae in their struggle against an ancient evil. While Tess quickly learns she is no match for the shadow spreading through the Fae world, she refuses to let her best friend face it alone; and as the first mortal in Queen Mab’s court in over five hundred years, she must use all her quick wit and tenacity to keep herself and Molly alive in the beautiful, dangerous Fae world as they hurtle toward the war that could destroy it…

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Fae, Fiction, Magic, Ebooks, Amazon

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Step into worlds of dark magic, warrior queens, and dangerous bargains. Jocelyn A. Fox writes the kind of epic fantasy she always wanted to read—fast-paced adventures with fierce heroines, a touch of romance, and plenty of monsters to slay. Author of The Fae War Chronicles and the Athena Ellison series, Jocelyn believes every reader deserves to lose themselves in a story that feels like stepping through a portal. Come join the fight—you just might discover your new favorite world.

Reviews

[Charlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts out in the Texas hill country.Two girls Molly and Tess,best friends and college buddies.For a little background,they met in a hand-to-hand fighting class.
It's some kind of college break and Molly,who lives there,invited Tess.
This is the opening of the book,and then the Gate to the fae world is found.Once there the world building is pretty amazing.And the creation of characters was un-founded.
It was a book where a young person finds an amazing artifact and must save the world,we've all read those.

But this is the first in a trilogy,and I think it's a good one.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (7/15/2020)! 🎁

[Bill Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Iron Sword

A tale without of the old fashioned elements of fantasy. A new Mix to be sure, but then again who said Texas could not be the launch point into the world of the fae.

[Vero]

DNF after 10% This was a freebie and I downloaded it to try it out like a sample.
 
And I didn't like it. I thought at first that the unique setting with the heroine not being the "speshul" one, but her best friend would be refreshing and new.
Actually it was annoying. The heroine came across as a needy tag-on. Her BFF came across as strange and cold. Her family as creepy.
 
And our heroine has no problems to believe in fairies. She just accepts this because BFF. Really? If my sister, my husband, my best friend, my mother or ANYBODY ELSE came to me telling me that there are fairies and they have been summoned by the dark queen of the Unseelie court, I would have MAJOR problems to believe that. Not so our heroine.
 
I found the writing disjointed and confusing and the setting didn't work for me, so I will stop reading.
 
I am sure that for other reader's this works, and it's very possible that the novel and the series improve a lot.
 
I am just not into it enough to go on reading.

[Victoria (nocturnalintimacy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story, but clunky writing left me cold.

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I did better with this book than I did with The Iron King.

Twenty one-year-old chemistry major Tess O'Connor (who comes off more like a sixteen-year-old) has absolutely no problem accepting that her best friend, Molly Jackson, is half fae. With nary a thought about consequences nor the family she leaves behind, Tess insists on accompanying Molly to the court of Queen Mab as there's trouble afoot in fairyland. Once there our heroine forgets all about finishing college and takes up training to become a warrior. Since this is the first book in what I'm sure will be a trilogy there's lots of world building and back stories to cover.

I do have a couple quibbles. The whole reason Tess travels to the other side is to protect her best friend/blood sister Molly. Yet after the first couple of chapters Molly basically disappears completely from the book. By the time she returns at the very end of the story she's been remade into almost a brand new character.

Also, Tess is being set up to fall in love with Fae Knight Finnead. But like Molly, Finnead is absent for a large chunk of the book. Makes it hard to form a connection with his character and root for their love story.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

++spoilers++

The story is about a girl who goes into the fae realm to support her best friend who is half fae. When they arrive there her friend is whisked off to learn all she needs to know to fulfill the prophesy that the few believes is about her. During that time our MC trains in firefighting etc and makes friends w everyone. The backstory is that there is an evil fae trying to take over the Seelie and Unseelie kingdoms and a prophesied half mortal would bring the means to stop him. She just has to find the iron sword. While Molly the half mortal trains, our MC goes off to help the knights fight on the battleground.
While the descriptions were beautifully written, they were just too dang much. 1 moment would be described with so much flourish that it would take up and entire page (4-6 paragraphs). This was great for some things like the landscapes but was just too much for the much littler and unimportant things that could be easily described in a sentence or two. Ultimately, I started skipping paragraphs to fill pages just to get past a single easily described moment in the book. This was why took so many of the stars from my rating because it was so constant. There were often some discrepancies as well that caught my ire as that I'm surprised were not caught by the author.
So if you absolutely love drawn out descriptions of things (and well written they are, to be sure) then you'll like this. There's no sex or anything steamy and no cussing.

[artsycolt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this book when it was a digital freebie....I mean why not, right? The premise of the story interested me because the magical, immortal being wasn't the MC and there was no apparent love at first sight storyline. Complaints about the MC automatically believing in fairies and fae is kind of moot since this IS fantasy fiction and we are obviously reading it because WE would like to believe in fairies and fae lol. I really liked this book and purchased the second in the series before I was finished just so I wouldn't have to wait to continue with the story. As the story progresses Tess is more than she appeared to be and even though she has some fear of the new world she enters, she does not let fear rule her. I would recommend this book for an enjoyable read.

[Nancy Steinle gummel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The iron sword by Jocelyn A. Fox is one of the best fantasy's I've read in quite some time. When Tess insists in going with Molly to the unseelie court the drama hitches up another notch. When Molly's fae half is unbound she loses her memories. Doesn't even recognize Tess though they were like sisters. Tess has eyes on Fiannen, one of Queen Mab's named knights. They set off to rescue the border patrol attacked by the forces of an old evil threat.

[KelticKat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The battle has just begun

I had a bit of trouble with this story at first. It was a bit choppy and awkward. But after a while the rhythm evened out and the tale hit its stride and the ride was a great adventure.

We meet Molly and Tess, college roommates and friends - a bit like sisters really. I had a bit of trouble seeing what Tess saw in Molly. Molly was *itchy and cold - even before we find out about her being 1/2 fae.

Tess on the other hand was really no one special and even a bit of s klutz. It was easy to start liking her.

Well, low and behold we end up with not one but two special snowflakes. For me that didn’t deter me from enjoying the adventure as it played out.

Looking forward to my next trip and continuing the journey.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intelligent YA fantasy

The Iron Sword doesn’t break new ground for a YA fantasy, but it is still a really good story. There’s a strong heroine protagonist that struggles with life and death issues, all while learning to fight the enemies of her best friend Molly. There’s a romantic interest, but the story revolves more around Tess and how she maneuvers through political and relational challenges. The author’s military background shines through and adds depth to the battle scenes and the overall feel of the story. It’s a good YA fantasy, but I would recommend it for older teens. There’s some sexual innuendo, though no sex, a drunken scene and, like I said, life and death issues are addressed that might be upsetting for younger teens

[Susan Harrowa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent tale from the fae realm

If you enjoy stories of the fae and their brand of magic and legend, I highly recommend this story! It's a fantastic merging of power-both good and bad, magic, friendship, loyalty and a hint of romance. It has a couple of queens that sometimes make it hard to tell if they're on the side of good or bad. It has valiant heroes and a reluctant heroine. Not to mention, it also boasts an ancient sword of power. And to finish it off, it ends with and epic battle.
Loved it Ms. Fox!

[Amanimmm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay read I guess but I there were so many descriptions that exceeded its uses in my opionion.I hated the MC in lot's of situations and her rude replies. What grated on my nerves though is the word dryly ,she literarly can't reply without it being described as dryly( overused words is one of my pet peeve)
I was going to give up on it but I forced myself to finish it since I gave up 2 books before and I hate that !! anyway toward the end it wasn't so bad so maybe I'll pick up book two one day to see what happens next to some characters I liked !

[Ronda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and interesting beginning to a new-to-me series. It took a bit of getting used to, thinking if the Unseelie in a new light. There also seemed to be a bit of an identity crisis, in that the story sometimes felt like YA and other times like straight-up adult fantasy. Utimately, Tess and her small but growing group of friends pulled me in. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

[Cheyenne Bekue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't finished the books yet I'm still near the beginning, maybe I have to keep reading

But I'm super annoyed at how when Tess came to after the attack, and was united with Molly.. Nobody bothered mentioning what happened to the dog Kirby?????? Like wtf... He was attacked pretty badly no? Wth happened to him??
Somebody lmk please lol hate when books do shit like this

[Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Iron Sword (The Fae War Chronicles Book 1)

The adventure of Molly and Tess. Molly and Tess ate two college best friend. One will be the bear of the Iron Sword and one will be a new fea. Many nettles, many adventure awaiting the girls I n this old land of the fea. OK story.

[Kyra Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Iron Sword a Singular Adventure

I came upon this book by chance and didn't expect much. I have enjoyed other tales of the Fae , although it was some years ago. Tess ,Molly and the other characters pulled me right in. I will be reading the other books in this series.

[Lyssa F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

The story line was very good and moved quickly along. There were many monsters, trolls, magic swords, a wolf, fae , love interests. All worked well together. Worth reading.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action packed with a little romance

I loved the book.It is well written with it's characters clearly defined. I couldn't put the book down. I read it in 2 nights. I knew she was the true barer.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5? There is something really interesting here and also these moments where you are like..."ummm...seriously?" Or where time just jumps.

I will read onto book 2 to see how characters develop, because again, there is something interesting happening here.

[Norbert Castro Sr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magical, heart-racing tale of friendship, courage, and destiny. Tess O’Connor is thrust into the dangerous Fae court, where loyalty is tested and prophecy looms. But can she protect Molly, wield the truth of the Iron Sword, and survive Queen Mab’s designs?

[Sarah Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magical, heart-racing tale of friendship, courage, and destiny. Tess O’Connor is thrust into the dangerous Fae court, where loyalty is tested and prophecy looms. But can she protect Molly, wield the truth of the Iron Sword, and survive Queen Mab’s designs?

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

The characters were developed well, and I was drawn in to the book and had to finish it. Loved the writing style. Smooth and consistent.

[Melissa Ziegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story line ,fast paced action with well developed characters. The fantasy genre can be quite repetitive but I found this to be an interesting read with fresh ideas.

[Charmaine Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author really knows how to build a world, that sucks you in so much that you cant wait to read the next book.

[Denise Masters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and characters

[Volpot · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Good book. Interesting story that moves along quickly. Characters other than MC could be better developed.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable YA book, can'r wait to read the second book.

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it

[Britni Houser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, by far one of my favorites in recent memory. There are a few plot holes but the rest of the book more than makes up for it.