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The Rage of Kings #1
The Iron Wolves
Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves held back mud-orc hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and led a brutal charge that saw the sorcerer Morkagoth slain. This ended the War of Zakora, and made the Iron Wolves heroes.
Now, a new terror stalks the realm. In hushed whispers, it is claimed the Horse Lady, Orlana the Changer, has escaped from the Chaos Halls and is building an army, twisting horses, lions and bears into terrible, bloody hunters, summoning mud-orcs from then slime and heading north to Vagandrak where, it said, the noble King Yoon has gone insane...
After hearing a prophecy from a blind seer, aged General Dalgoran searches to reunite the heroes of old for what he believes will be the final battle. But as mud-orcs and twisted beasts tear through the land, Dalgoran discovers the Iron Wolves are no longer heroes of legend... Narnok is a violent whoremaster, Kiki a honey-leaf drug peddler, and Prince Zastarte a drinker, a gambler, amoral and decadent: now he likes to hear people scream as they burn...
United in hate, the Iron Wolves travel to the Pass of Splintered Bones; and as half a million mud-orcs gather, General Dalgoran realises his grave error. Together, the Iron Wolves hold a terrible secret which has tortured them for three decades. Now, they only wish to be human again...
Now, a new terror stalks the realm. In hushed whispers, it is claimed the Horse Lady, Orlana the Changer, has escaped from the Chaos Halls and is building an army, twisting horses, lions and bears into terrible, bloody hunters, summoning mud-orcs from then slime and heading north to Vagandrak where, it said, the noble King Yoon has gone insane...
After hearing a prophecy from a blind seer, aged General Dalgoran searches to reunite the heroes of old for what he believes will be the final battle. But as mud-orcs and twisted beasts tear through the land, Dalgoran discovers the Iron Wolves are no longer heroes of legend... Narnok is a violent whoremaster, Kiki a honey-leaf drug peddler, and Prince Zastarte a drinker, a gambler, amoral and decadent: now he likes to hear people scream as they burn...
United in hate, the Iron Wolves travel to the Pass of Splintered Bones; and as half a million mud-orcs gather, General Dalgoran realises his grave error. Together, the Iron Wolves hold a terrible secret which has tortured them for three decades. Now, they only wish to be human again...
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
30 people are currently reading
1542 people want to read
About the author
Andy Remic
50 books182 followersAndy Remic lives in Lincoln, UK, although his heart and viking soul belong to the Scottish mountains. Married with two children, Andy has a variety of esoteric and sometimes contrasting loves, including sword fighting, climbing, mountain biking, kick-boxing, Ducati motorcycles and retro-gaming. He recently wrote the computer version of his novel Biohell for the 48K Spectrum, in which many people are still stuck. He writes in both SF and fantasy fields, and is sometimes accused of literature. Current novels include: Spiral, Quake, Warhead, War Machine, Biohell, Hardcore and the upcoming Cloneworld, Theme Planet and TOX for Solaris Books, and the Kell’s Legend trilogy, Kell’s Legend, Soul Stealers and Vampire Warlords for Angry Robot Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
September 3, 2015
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews
The Iron Wolves is the latest “grimdark” fantasy to hit the shelves. These novels are advertised as being bloodier, grittier and, supposedly, more “realistic” than the epic fantasy of the past with characters that are either morally ambivalent or just plain sadistic. While that sounds either exciting or disturbing based upon your viewpoint, these tropes of grimdark are not necessarily good or bad by themselves; the ability of the writer to take these elements and weave them into a coherent, gripping tale is still what matters the most, as it always has with any novel. That is why for every excellent examples of stunning grimdark fantasy penned by authors such as Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence there is a grimdark that splashes blood across the pages yet is an abject failure. As for The Iron Wolves, it is not a masterpiece of the genre, but is far from its worst representative.
The story itself focuses on the surviving members of the Iron Wolves. Twenty years or so ago, the Kingdom of Vagandrak was invaded by Morkagoth, an evil sorcerer, and his army of monstrous mud-orcs. The only thing that saved the land was the Iron Wolves, who held back the man-eating hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones and somehow banished Morkagoth from the world.
The surviving Wolves became heroes. Their names revered by all the people. Epic tales of their heroic stand sung around the land. And off into the glorious sunset our heroes rode with their duly earned rewards of gold, titles of nobility, and a life of well-earned peace, far away from the world of violence that they had been forced to endure.
But things are never quite that simple in the real world. A man and woman’s life does not end when the story says “And they lived happily ever after.” No, the brutal truth is that one chapter of life might have closed, but another is just beginning.
And after the applause from their victory subsided, the Iron Wolves discovered they were still the same messed up people inside. In fact, they were worse; their deficiencies magnified by the scars from the brutal conflict they barely survived. Their new personas of nobility and riches just a pathetic lie. Inside, each of them was a broken and cursed excuse for a human.
Soon, the Wolves fall into depravity. One seeking solace in drugs. Another finding contentment in the brutality of the fighting pit. Others turning to torturing and killing innocents.
Now, however, these fallen heroes are man’s only salvation. Something worse than banished Morkagoth having arisen. A sadistic creature who has reawakened the man eating mud-orcs and is determined to annihilate the race of men.
To make matters worse, the throne of Vagandrak is occupied by a madman. A mighty warrior who was once widely loved but who has succumbed to insanity, bowing down to his most decadent vices, refusing to acknowledge any danger to his realm while callously murdering anyone who dares to speaks out against his unwise practices. Thus, one old warrior, General Dalgoran, determines to reunite his legendary Iron Wolves, to rid them of their vices, and lead them once more in valiant defense of the realm against the vile mud-orcs and their master.
And so the epic tale begins!
Without question, Andy Remic weaves an intriguing, gore packed grimdark fantasy. It’s full of action, keeps the fighting coming nearly every page, and does not skimp on the blood. The characters are unique, flawed, and some are beyond disgusting and best described as sadistic. Not only that but Mr. Remic has seen fit to let these men, women and monsters play out their bloodstained games in an interesting world, populated by intriguing peoples, and filled with wonderful tidbits of lore that hint at even greater mysteries awaiting revelations. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Remic took some of the standard tropes of grimdark a bit too far. Allow me to explain.
All stories have to have polar opposites to play against one another. Every reader needs someone/something to empathize with and cheer for. Whether the “hero” is someone like the honorable Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings or the psychopathic Jorg Ancrath in The Broken Throne doesn’t matter. There just needs to be someone whom the reader wants to see overcome obstacles and triumph. Otherwise, there is no reason to sit down and read page after page of a novel where you hate everyone and everything.
In this novel, Mr. Remic’s “good guys” are the Iron Wolves: a group of drug addicts, pit fighters, serial torturers, and serial killers. Naturally, each of the Wolves has their justifications for their inhumane behavior, but unfortunately, no matter all Mr. Remic’s storytelling skill, none of the reasons put forward by the Wolves is good enough to remove the taint from their worthless hides. I mean, even Jorg in Prince of Thorns had his mother and brother tortured and killed before his eyes to explain his psychotic break, but in The Iron Wolves, the “good guys” throw out shallow excuses for their sadistic nature with things like “I kill those in love because love never lasts – except in death” or “I torture and kill rich people’s children because they live off the poor” or other less compelling explanations. Honestly, there is not a decent person in this whole bunch except General Dalgoran, who spends a great deal of time agreeing with my assessment of his Wolves and telling them what absolutely worthless specimens of humanity they all are.
To attempt to correct this issue, Mr. Remic took the only option open to him; he created the most sadistic, monstrous villain that he could concoct: Orlana the Changer. This strange, inhuman villainess is naturally a sexually alluring female, sadistic in both her outlook on life and her appetites. To call her cold, cruel, and cunning is not to adequately describe her, for she is quite frankly evil embodied in human form. One minute, she will be coldly “splicing” men and animals together, birthing out of their immeasurable agony monsters consumed with a blood lust for human flesh; the next she will be satiating her sexual appetite on a man slave, literally eating him alive as she spread her taint within him; and when she is famished, Orlana will casually impale a woman from anus to mouth before roasting her over a slow fire and forcing her latest man slave to partake of the cooked flesh of his former wife. Honestly, Orlana the Changers evil is so ghastly, so horrid that compared to her a reader has to prefer the drug dealing, pit fighting, child torturing, and serial killing of the Iron Wolves, right?
Perhaps some of you will feel exactly that way. I, for one, found Orlana the Changer’s evil so over-the-top, so otherworldly and so unrealistic that it did not really matter to me. Sure, it disturbed me, made me skim a bit to skip over the next wife kabob, but overall, I quickly became numb to the next horror she unleashed upon humanity. However, the very realistic and sadistic nature of the books “grimdark heroes” were difficult for me to swallow, and I felt morally dirty for even routing for them, like I was somehow accepting their crimes against their fellow men, women, and children.
With all that being said, I cannot deny that The Iron Wolves was a real page turner. Mr. Remic is a wonderful writer, and here he has delivered a grimdark lovers fantasy: no-holds-barred violence, sex, and death in page after page of blood-soaked action. There is so much of the later that many a time I reached for a towel to wipe the blood splatter from my own face. So if you are overdue for a grimdark gore-fest, then pick this one up. Just make sure you have a strong stomach and are not eating shish kabobs when you read this one.
I received this book from Angry Robot and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Iron Wolves is the latest “grimdark” fantasy to hit the shelves. These novels are advertised as being bloodier, grittier and, supposedly, more “realistic” than the epic fantasy of the past with characters that are either morally ambivalent or just plain sadistic. While that sounds either exciting or disturbing based upon your viewpoint, these tropes of grimdark are not necessarily good or bad by themselves; the ability of the writer to take these elements and weave them into a coherent, gripping tale is still what matters the most, as it always has with any novel. That is why for every excellent examples of stunning grimdark fantasy penned by authors such as Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence there is a grimdark that splashes blood across the pages yet is an abject failure. As for The Iron Wolves, it is not a masterpiece of the genre, but is far from its worst representative.
The story itself focuses on the surviving members of the Iron Wolves. Twenty years or so ago, the Kingdom of Vagandrak was invaded by Morkagoth, an evil sorcerer, and his army of monstrous mud-orcs. The only thing that saved the land was the Iron Wolves, who held back the man-eating hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones and somehow banished Morkagoth from the world.
The surviving Wolves became heroes. Their names revered by all the people. Epic tales of their heroic stand sung around the land. And off into the glorious sunset our heroes rode with their duly earned rewards of gold, titles of nobility, and a life of well-earned peace, far away from the world of violence that they had been forced to endure.
But things are never quite that simple in the real world. A man and woman’s life does not end when the story says “And they lived happily ever after.” No, the brutal truth is that one chapter of life might have closed, but another is just beginning.
And after the applause from their victory subsided, the Iron Wolves discovered they were still the same messed up people inside. In fact, they were worse; their deficiencies magnified by the scars from the brutal conflict they barely survived. Their new personas of nobility and riches just a pathetic lie. Inside, each of them was a broken and cursed excuse for a human.
Soon, the Wolves fall into depravity. One seeking solace in drugs. Another finding contentment in the brutality of the fighting pit. Others turning to torturing and killing innocents.
Now, however, these fallen heroes are man’s only salvation. Something worse than banished Morkagoth having arisen. A sadistic creature who has reawakened the man eating mud-orcs and is determined to annihilate the race of men.
To make matters worse, the throne of Vagandrak is occupied by a madman. A mighty warrior who was once widely loved but who has succumbed to insanity, bowing down to his most decadent vices, refusing to acknowledge any danger to his realm while callously murdering anyone who dares to speaks out against his unwise practices. Thus, one old warrior, General Dalgoran, determines to reunite his legendary Iron Wolves, to rid them of their vices, and lead them once more in valiant defense of the realm against the vile mud-orcs and their master.
And so the epic tale begins!
Without question, Andy Remic weaves an intriguing, gore packed grimdark fantasy. It’s full of action, keeps the fighting coming nearly every page, and does not skimp on the blood. The characters are unique, flawed, and some are beyond disgusting and best described as sadistic. Not only that but Mr. Remic has seen fit to let these men, women and monsters play out their bloodstained games in an interesting world, populated by intriguing peoples, and filled with wonderful tidbits of lore that hint at even greater mysteries awaiting revelations. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Remic took some of the standard tropes of grimdark a bit too far. Allow me to explain.
All stories have to have polar opposites to play against one another. Every reader needs someone/something to empathize with and cheer for. Whether the “hero” is someone like the honorable Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings or the psychopathic Jorg Ancrath in The Broken Throne doesn’t matter. There just needs to be someone whom the reader wants to see overcome obstacles and triumph. Otherwise, there is no reason to sit down and read page after page of a novel where you hate everyone and everything.
In this novel, Mr. Remic’s “good guys” are the Iron Wolves: a group of drug addicts, pit fighters, serial torturers, and serial killers. Naturally, each of the Wolves has their justifications for their inhumane behavior, but unfortunately, no matter all Mr. Remic’s storytelling skill, none of the reasons put forward by the Wolves is good enough to remove the taint from their worthless hides. I mean, even Jorg in Prince of Thorns had his mother and brother tortured and killed before his eyes to explain his psychotic break, but in The Iron Wolves, the “good guys” throw out shallow excuses for their sadistic nature with things like “I kill those in love because love never lasts – except in death” or “I torture and kill rich people’s children because they live off the poor” or other less compelling explanations. Honestly, there is not a decent person in this whole bunch except General Dalgoran, who spends a great deal of time agreeing with my assessment of his Wolves and telling them what absolutely worthless specimens of humanity they all are.
To attempt to correct this issue, Mr. Remic took the only option open to him; he created the most sadistic, monstrous villain that he could concoct: Orlana the Changer. This strange, inhuman villainess is naturally a sexually alluring female, sadistic in both her outlook on life and her appetites. To call her cold, cruel, and cunning is not to adequately describe her, for she is quite frankly evil embodied in human form. One minute, she will be coldly “splicing” men and animals together, birthing out of their immeasurable agony monsters consumed with a blood lust for human flesh; the next she will be satiating her sexual appetite on a man slave, literally eating him alive as she spread her taint within him; and when she is famished, Orlana will casually impale a woman from anus to mouth before roasting her over a slow fire and forcing her latest man slave to partake of the cooked flesh of his former wife. Honestly, Orlana the Changers evil is so ghastly, so horrid that compared to her a reader has to prefer the drug dealing, pit fighting, child torturing, and serial killing of the Iron Wolves, right?
Perhaps some of you will feel exactly that way. I, for one, found Orlana the Changer’s evil so over-the-top, so otherworldly and so unrealistic that it did not really matter to me. Sure, it disturbed me, made me skim a bit to skip over the next wife kabob, but overall, I quickly became numb to the next horror she unleashed upon humanity. However, the very realistic and sadistic nature of the books “grimdark heroes” were difficult for me to swallow, and I felt morally dirty for even routing for them, like I was somehow accepting their crimes against their fellow men, women, and children.
With all that being said, I cannot deny that The Iron Wolves was a real page turner. Mr. Remic is a wonderful writer, and here he has delivered a grimdark lovers fantasy: no-holds-barred violence, sex, and death in page after page of blood-soaked action. There is so much of the later that many a time I reached for a towel to wipe the blood splatter from my own face. So if you are overdue for a grimdark gore-fest, then pick this one up. Just make sure you have a strong stomach and are not eating shish kabobs when you read this one.
I received this book from Angry Robot and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 15, 2014
3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...
I have not had the pleasure of reading Andy Remic's Clockwork Vampire Chronicles yet, but hearing about how those books have earned the author the nickname "Tarantino of epic fantasy" has gotten me mighty curious. Being compared to the great QT is high praise indeed! How then could I possibly say no to The Iron Wolves?
This book has it all: bloody fight scenes and explosive battles, psychopathic villains and twisted, gritty anti-heroes. Oh, and mud-orcs. Mustn't forget the mud-orcs. Needless to say, I am happy to report that Andy Remic's title is well-deserved; we're talking no-holds-barred dark fantasy, of the faint-of-heart-need-not-apply variety. We're talking graphic violence, explicit sex scenes, and a truly astounding number of decapitations within these blood-soaked pages.
If this sounds like your kind of novel, then you're in for a real treat. Andy Remic has taken the classic "gather your party and go forth on a quest of epic proportions" objective, and so generously wrapped it all up for us in a nice grim package. To stop an invading army of horrors, the great general Dalgoram sets out across the land to reunite his band of veteran warriors for one last stand. Having been estranged for years, the members of the Iron Wolves have all either fallen on hard times or have turned to lives of deviance and corruption. But together again, they find they can transform their shared curse into something so much more.
By the way, my description of "twisted, gritty anti-heroes" was in no way an exaggeration. With perhaps the exception of the old man Dalgoran, I was hard pressed to name a single admirable soul in this group of vile, despicable Iron Wolves. But that's what I signed up for so I can't complain too much, especially since Remic delivers exactly what was promised. The only downside I could see to this is finding enough to set some of these characters apart, which gets a little difficult when almost all of them are defined by broken pasts, foul mouths and violent tendencies.
Also as I've noted before, at times a novel's "epicness" can be something of a double-edged sword, as it can do a number on pacing. This story stumbles a bit due to the sheer size of the cast and their multiple points of view, especially when a couple more Iron Wolves are still being added to the mix at about two-thirds of the way through the book. As maniacal as they are, I wish we'd gotten a chance to know Zastarte and Trista a bit better, though I think this will mean a much smoother ride for the next installment now that the scene has been set and all the introductions have been made.
Speaking of which, I'm excited about book two, and if you'd seen that ending, you would be too. I have to say I felt the final showdown scene was over way too quickly, though this probably had less to do with the pacing and more to do with how much I enjoyed the climax and conclusion. Andy Remic is in his element when it comes to writing big battles and fight scenes, and he graces this book with a lot of them. It would be easy but disingenuous to brush them all off as an excuse to provide gratuitous violence, because I actually found many of the scenes of war and fighting to flow and fit exceedingly well within the context of the story.
After all, this is The Iron Wolves, folks. A great choice for readers looking for a stronger, headier kick to their heroic fantasy, just remember to steel yourselves for the unlimited energy and madness this book will unleash upon your lives!
I have not had the pleasure of reading Andy Remic's Clockwork Vampire Chronicles yet, but hearing about how those books have earned the author the nickname "Tarantino of epic fantasy" has gotten me mighty curious. Being compared to the great QT is high praise indeed! How then could I possibly say no to The Iron Wolves?
This book has it all: bloody fight scenes and explosive battles, psychopathic villains and twisted, gritty anti-heroes. Oh, and mud-orcs. Mustn't forget the mud-orcs. Needless to say, I am happy to report that Andy Remic's title is well-deserved; we're talking no-holds-barred dark fantasy, of the faint-of-heart-need-not-apply variety. We're talking graphic violence, explicit sex scenes, and a truly astounding number of decapitations within these blood-soaked pages.
If this sounds like your kind of novel, then you're in for a real treat. Andy Remic has taken the classic "gather your party and go forth on a quest of epic proportions" objective, and so generously wrapped it all up for us in a nice grim package. To stop an invading army of horrors, the great general Dalgoram sets out across the land to reunite his band of veteran warriors for one last stand. Having been estranged for years, the members of the Iron Wolves have all either fallen on hard times or have turned to lives of deviance and corruption. But together again, they find they can transform their shared curse into something so much more.
By the way, my description of "twisted, gritty anti-heroes" was in no way an exaggeration. With perhaps the exception of the old man Dalgoran, I was hard pressed to name a single admirable soul in this group of vile, despicable Iron Wolves. But that's what I signed up for so I can't complain too much, especially since Remic delivers exactly what was promised. The only downside I could see to this is finding enough to set some of these characters apart, which gets a little difficult when almost all of them are defined by broken pasts, foul mouths and violent tendencies.
Also as I've noted before, at times a novel's "epicness" can be something of a double-edged sword, as it can do a number on pacing. This story stumbles a bit due to the sheer size of the cast and their multiple points of view, especially when a couple more Iron Wolves are still being added to the mix at about two-thirds of the way through the book. As maniacal as they are, I wish we'd gotten a chance to know Zastarte and Trista a bit better, though I think this will mean a much smoother ride for the next installment now that the scene has been set and all the introductions have been made.
Speaking of which, I'm excited about book two, and if you'd seen that ending, you would be too. I have to say I felt the final showdown scene was over way too quickly, though this probably had less to do with the pacing and more to do with how much I enjoyed the climax and conclusion. Andy Remic is in his element when it comes to writing big battles and fight scenes, and he graces this book with a lot of them. It would be easy but disingenuous to brush them all off as an excuse to provide gratuitous violence, because I actually found many of the scenes of war and fighting to flow and fit exceedingly well within the context of the story.
After all, this is The Iron Wolves, folks. A great choice for readers looking for a stronger, headier kick to their heroic fantasy, just remember to steel yourselves for the unlimited energy and madness this book will unleash upon your lives!
August 24, 2017
Brutal, bloody, gritty and tense; full of folk who share a love/hate relationship with one another and prove to be unlikely heroes, despite their violent misgivings. Grotesque beats and a vast enemy that seems unstoppable. This story is packed with all the above and many lengthy, flowing and breathless combat scenes that make you cringe and gawk in awe. And oh what an end: revaluations, twists and 'surely not?' as a finale.
December 2, 2013
Fantasy Review Barn
Note: Today’s post will be written by the old fantasy curmudgeon. Just ignore him while he rants, he should be asleep by noon anyway.
Eh, you kids today wouldn’t recognize good fantasy if it slapped you in the face. With your ‘secondary worlds’ and your ‘punks’ and whatnots. I tried to read a fantasy novel a week ago that took place entirely in one city. How the hell can it be a fantasy book without an epic quest? That is what I want to know. And don’t get me started on your ‘weird’ stuff, acting like teenagers with dog collars on while you read about slate moths and zombies and god knows what else. Probably playing that heavy metal music while you do so, if I had my guess.
Now take this Andy Remic character, there is a guy that respects what camebefore. He follows tradition and doesn’t think he is better than the rest of us, forging brand new paths that none of us want to go down thank you very much. Take that new book The Iron Wolves. Ancient evil raises an army and storms the unbreakable fortress that provides the human lands their last hope. An old general gathers together his old company and travels through haunted woods and past plague lands to stop her. There is DESTANY involved, because the wolves share a secret curse that makes them the best hope.
He recognized right away what was missing from most new fantasy, Orcs! Tolkien showed us that orcs are gold; frankly if I don’t see an orc I don’t want anything to do with it. Even that young punk Jordan had orcs, even if he felt he was better than Tolkien and gave them some silly trolloc name. Good fantasy should involve a fight of humans against an overwhelming orc hoard, preferably at an ancient fotress with absurdly high walls. Hmph, that Martin fellow got the wall right but forgot the orcs. That is why his stuff will never be popular. And that’s why I see big things ahead for Remic. He didn’t just give us Orcs, but MUD Orcs. Raised by sacrifice, led by even nastier mud orcs and a beautiful magic lady, this is a force I can respect.
Now every good fantasy should have a fellowship. Don’t go calling me old fashioned, I don’t expect all my heroes to be goodie two shoes. But they do need to be good to each other; that’s important to the story. These Iron Wolves now, they are the real deal. Brutish, nasty, but heroes all. We know they drove back the last orc invasion and are called upon to do it again. Watching them get together again is half the fun. Did the fellowship of the ring get together at the Shire? NO, they have to meet up in different places. Remic gets that. You got the drug addict haunted by the memory of her dead sister. Some tough old brothers with their own feud. A couple of broken individuals better known for murder than their old heroics, you know, a mixed bag of nasty. They bicker, they get physical, they go barebones a time or two, and then they save each other and fight the orcs together, just like they should.
I want good fights or I am going home. Big battles where I can hear the weapons clanging, feel the change in the air during a charge, cringe at every splash of blood. What is it the kids are calling it?
Grimdark?
Eh?
Isn’t that what I said?
GRIMDARK?
Ok, what is the difference?
Fine. GRIMDARK. That’s fantasy that remembers how it’s done. Don’t stray from the proven path. Big nasty villain with untold magic, a fellowship with a quest, and lots of battles. That’s what you kids should be looking for. Not that your going to listen to me, no doubt you have some tale about a book within a book hiding behind your back. No respect.
Now that ending left a bit to be desired, I expect a little more UMPH from my conclusions. A bit anticlimactic, a bit too easy for our heroes; at least when it comes to the invasion. But like a first book should do this one ends on a cliffhanger; a little political intrigue involving a mad king. And I see the next book in the series involves the big tower that was being built in the background of this book; if that isn’t a good sign of things to come I don’t know what is.
Now let me tell you a bit about the women in this series. A couple of fighters in addition to the nasty mage lady. And at some point most of them got nekkid. It has been too long since I read a book that described… {And with that we will leave this old curmudgeon to ramble by himself, perhaps suggest he go up for a cold shower. And we promise to hide the scotch next time}.
4 Stars. Formulaic, and for fans of GRIMDARK only I am sure, but much improved over the author’s Clockwork Vampire series. Fast paced, good action and an interesting cast of anti-heroes.
Note: Today’s post will be written by the old fantasy curmudgeon. Just ignore him while he rants, he should be asleep by noon anyway.
Eh, you kids today wouldn’t recognize good fantasy if it slapped you in the face. With your ‘secondary worlds’ and your ‘punks’ and whatnots. I tried to read a fantasy novel a week ago that took place entirely in one city. How the hell can it be a fantasy book without an epic quest? That is what I want to know. And don’t get me started on your ‘weird’ stuff, acting like teenagers with dog collars on while you read about slate moths and zombies and god knows what else. Probably playing that heavy metal music while you do so, if I had my guess.
Now take this Andy Remic character, there is a guy that respects what camebefore. He follows tradition and doesn’t think he is better than the rest of us, forging brand new paths that none of us want to go down thank you very much. Take that new book The Iron Wolves. Ancient evil raises an army and storms the unbreakable fortress that provides the human lands their last hope. An old general gathers together his old company and travels through haunted woods and past plague lands to stop her. There is DESTANY involved, because the wolves share a secret curse that makes them the best hope.
He recognized right away what was missing from most new fantasy, Orcs! Tolkien showed us that orcs are gold; frankly if I don’t see an orc I don’t want anything to do with it. Even that young punk Jordan had orcs, even if he felt he was better than Tolkien and gave them some silly trolloc name. Good fantasy should involve a fight of humans against an overwhelming orc hoard, preferably at an ancient fotress with absurdly high walls. Hmph, that Martin fellow got the wall right but forgot the orcs. That is why his stuff will never be popular. And that’s why I see big things ahead for Remic. He didn’t just give us Orcs, but MUD Orcs. Raised by sacrifice, led by even nastier mud orcs and a beautiful magic lady, this is a force I can respect.
Now every good fantasy should have a fellowship. Don’t go calling me old fashioned, I don’t expect all my heroes to be goodie two shoes. But they do need to be good to each other; that’s important to the story. These Iron Wolves now, they are the real deal. Brutish, nasty, but heroes all. We know they drove back the last orc invasion and are called upon to do it again. Watching them get together again is half the fun. Did the fellowship of the ring get together at the Shire? NO, they have to meet up in different places. Remic gets that. You got the drug addict haunted by the memory of her dead sister. Some tough old brothers with their own feud. A couple of broken individuals better known for murder than their old heroics, you know, a mixed bag of nasty. They bicker, they get physical, they go barebones a time or two, and then they save each other and fight the orcs together, just like they should.
I want good fights or I am going home. Big battles where I can hear the weapons clanging, feel the change in the air during a charge, cringe at every splash of blood. What is it the kids are calling it?
Grimdark?
Eh?
Isn’t that what I said?
GRIMDARK?
Ok, what is the difference?
Fine. GRIMDARK. That’s fantasy that remembers how it’s done. Don’t stray from the proven path. Big nasty villain with untold magic, a fellowship with a quest, and lots of battles. That’s what you kids should be looking for. Not that your going to listen to me, no doubt you have some tale about a book within a book hiding behind your back. No respect.
Now that ending left a bit to be desired, I expect a little more UMPH from my conclusions. A bit anticlimactic, a bit too easy for our heroes; at least when it comes to the invasion. But like a first book should do this one ends on a cliffhanger; a little political intrigue involving a mad king. And I see the next book in the series involves the big tower that was being built in the background of this book; if that isn’t a good sign of things to come I don’t know what is.
Now let me tell you a bit about the women in this series. A couple of fighters in addition to the nasty mage lady. And at some point most of them got nekkid. It has been too long since I read a book that described… {And with that we will leave this old curmudgeon to ramble by himself, perhaps suggest he go up for a cold shower. And we promise to hide the scotch next time}.
4 Stars. Formulaic, and for fans of GRIMDARK only I am sure, but much improved over the author’s Clockwork Vampire series. Fast paced, good action and an interesting cast of anti-heroes.
December 6, 2017
The Iron Wolves is bloodthirsty fantasy, the likes of which I've not read before (and I've read all the Fire and Ice novels to date by George R R Martin). Not for the squeamish, author Andy Remic pitches the reader directly into chaos, wading through pools of blood, sinew, brain matter, and all manner of gore each chapter as the fantastical takes over reality; equine and man merge, kingdoms fall, beauty is betrothed to the beast, and a quest worthy of heroes evolves - only these heroes are murderers, bar room brawlers, magicians, and sadists.
This really is a top notch book that is as atmospheric as it is horrifying. The heroes are unconventional, their quest bloody and seemingly unwinnable, while the ending is unorthodox, the book all the while, beautifully written to capture the readers imagination.
My rating: 5/5 stars. If you like dark, violent and character driven fantasy, I highly recommend The Iron Wolves.
This really is a top notch book that is as atmospheric as it is horrifying. The heroes are unconventional, their quest bloody and seemingly unwinnable, while the ending is unorthodox, the book all the while, beautifully written to capture the readers imagination.
My rating: 5/5 stars. If you like dark, violent and character driven fantasy, I highly recommend The Iron Wolves.
December 13, 2013
This grimdark old school fantasy book could have been written at the dawn of time it's so formulaic and chockfull of cliches. Evil mage queen Orlana is of course deadly and beautiful, with a formidable sexual appetite - do evil queens come any other way? The men are all brutal, misogynist monsters, with the possible exception of General Dalgoran, described as so massively muscled it's a wonder they don't go around squashing all the poor wilting women like bugs. Dek, Ragorek and Narnok, three of the eponymous Iron Wolves fighting squad, are so interchangeable I frequently had to go back a couple of paragraphs to try to figure out which one that was again. There are two warrior women in the Wolves as well, Trista and Kiki, and - no prizes if you guessed it already - they're both deadly and beautiful as well.
These Wolves, led by Dalgoran and joined by the only male Wolf who's not cut from the exaggerated-blacksmith/viking cloth, Zastarte, come together to beat off a new threat to their country. Years earlier, they were instrumental in defeating a dark wizard and his army of mud-orcs. Now, evil mage Orlana has risen up from the "Furnace" and, wouldn't you know it, gotten straight on with raising her own army of mud-orcs along with her "splice", creatures derived from grotesquely mutilating or mashing together men, horses, lions, insects, etc.
Andy Remic has never met a metaphor he didn't seem to want to torture to within an inch of its life and the term "flowery descriptions" might have been invented just for him. Every act of brutal violence is described with as many similes, analogies and adjectives as possible, particularly in the first half of the book, with clunky expositional interjections to fill in the back story. Things get marginally better in the second half of the book, when Remic judges we have enough of the characters' history to be getting on with and the pace picks up considerably, but the plot continues to be the same fantasy story we've read a thousand times before, with very few additions or deviations to spice things up.
There are those that will settle into The Iron Wolves as a decent (re)telling of a grimdark tale, with all the cruelty and vile intent that hardcore fans of the genre enjoy. But others, like me, will find the cliches just far too much to bear and the lack of originality leaves the sex and violence feeling a bit gratuitous, like you somehow happened upon an X-rated fanfic of The Lord of the Rings.
These Wolves, led by Dalgoran and joined by the only male Wolf who's not cut from the exaggerated-blacksmith/viking cloth, Zastarte, come together to beat off a new threat to their country. Years earlier, they were instrumental in defeating a dark wizard and his army of mud-orcs. Now, evil mage Orlana has risen up from the "Furnace" and, wouldn't you know it, gotten straight on with raising her own army of mud-orcs along with her "splice", creatures derived from grotesquely mutilating or mashing together men, horses, lions, insects, etc.
Andy Remic has never met a metaphor he didn't seem to want to torture to within an inch of its life and the term "flowery descriptions" might have been invented just for him. Every act of brutal violence is described with as many similes, analogies and adjectives as possible, particularly in the first half of the book, with clunky expositional interjections to fill in the back story. Things get marginally better in the second half of the book, when Remic judges we have enough of the characters' history to be getting on with and the pace picks up considerably, but the plot continues to be the same fantasy story we've read a thousand times before, with very few additions or deviations to spice things up.
There are those that will settle into The Iron Wolves as a decent (re)telling of a grimdark tale, with all the cruelty and vile intent that hardcore fans of the genre enjoy. But others, like me, will find the cliches just far too much to bear and the lack of originality leaves the sex and violence feeling a bit gratuitous, like you somehow happened upon an X-rated fanfic of The Lord of the Rings.
October 21, 2015
One of the most exciting books I have had the pleasure of reading. It should come with a warning label! It slingshots you into a world of violence with relentless pace in each chapter. A cast of rough and tough, harder than rock men and women as deadly as Viper venom.
Packed with action, emotion, twists and turns, sex drugs and ... heads fall off, a lot!
Not for the squeamish, not even for the battle hardened. It is for those of you that like to be ripped from reality and plunged into the thick of the carnage.
An all out adrenaline bomb of a read. Bring on book two!
Packed with action, emotion, twists and turns, sex drugs and ... heads fall off, a lot!
Not for the squeamish, not even for the battle hardened. It is for those of you that like to be ripped from reality and plunged into the thick of the carnage.
An all out adrenaline bomb of a read. Bring on book two!
May 24, 2014
4.5 for overall enjoyment
Writing 4/5
Imagination 5/5
Plot 4/5
Setting 4.5/5
Characters 5/5
As with this authors other series The Clockwork Vampire Chronicles Kell's Legend, I loved this book. Very violent and dark, fast paced, with a hugely imaginative world and creatures. There were also major plot twists and turns which were enjoyable as so many fantasy books don't use this element. Great cast of characters who were all very interesting and unique and several were able to make me care about their stories and what happens to them. Tons of ultra powerful magic and sorcerers and a great backstory is weaved in throughout the book which will appeal to readers who enjoy these elements as do I. The writing was excellent and right to the point, in classic sword and sorcery style. At times I got a bit lost in this book and also one part of the ending was a minor disappointment but I can't reveal anything specific for the sake of avoiding major spoilers. This book is highly recommend for sword and sorcery fans (in a way it reminded me of Robert E Howard's The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and Karl Wagner's Darkness Weaves works) as well as Grimdark fans. I eagerly await the next book in this series The White Towers: Book 2 of The Rage of Kings and hope that Andy Remic will write more in this world as he has set up a very fascinating world I want to read more about!
Writing 4/5
Imagination 5/5
Plot 4/5
Setting 4.5/5
Characters 5/5
As with this authors other series The Clockwork Vampire Chronicles Kell's Legend, I loved this book. Very violent and dark, fast paced, with a hugely imaginative world and creatures. There were also major plot twists and turns which were enjoyable as so many fantasy books don't use this element. Great cast of characters who were all very interesting and unique and several were able to make me care about their stories and what happens to them. Tons of ultra powerful magic and sorcerers and a great backstory is weaved in throughout the book which will appeal to readers who enjoy these elements as do I. The writing was excellent and right to the point, in classic sword and sorcery style. At times I got a bit lost in this book and also one part of the ending was a minor disappointment but I can't reveal anything specific for the sake of avoiding major spoilers. This book is highly recommend for sword and sorcery fans (in a way it reminded me of Robert E Howard's The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and Karl Wagner's Darkness Weaves works) as well as Grimdark fans. I eagerly await the next book in this series The White Towers: Book 2 of The Rage of Kings and hope that Andy Remic will write more in this world as he has set up a very fascinating world I want to read more about!
January 4, 2025
3.5 stelle
Deve tanto a David Gemmell.. ma meno profondo, più oscuro e muscolare..
È un libro che va letto senza grandi pretese di Worldbuilding, complessità o altro.. è come uno di quei film anni 90 pieno di azione rocambolesca e gore.. e così va preso..
I personaggi non sono affatto male, ben tratteggiati e caratterizzati, tutti psicologicamente danneggiati, marci ma con una loro moralità.. a volte forse c'è un eccessiva dimostrazione di quanto sono assurdi, ma comunque ci può stare.. e questi sono i "buoni"!
I cattivi invece sono cattivi davvero e fanno di tutto per fartelo capire un po' al limite del macchiettistico.. mi hanno ricordato molto i cattivi, crudeli e cruenti di Godblind della Stephens..
Il Worldbuilding è piuttosto classico, ma non insipido.. sarebbe stato piacevole avere un po' più di originalità, e meno sensazioni da mappa di d&d.. soprattutto nella lore, che alla fine risulta carina ma forse un po' poco approfondita..
La trama abbastanza lineare.. i 5 Iron Wolves hanno sconfitto le orde degli orchi di fango.. adesso dopo 20 anni una nuova minaccia all orizzonte, i 5 dovranno essere ri-recrutati e dovranno raggiungere le possenti mura della fortezza del passo.. ma sono più vecchi e mal messi.. ma hanno ancora qualche segreto nascosto nelle loro cotte di maglia..
Come detto prima, molto action movie sanguinolento.. e un po' in stile Maleficent Seven di Cameron.. anche se poi le cose si riveleranno diverse..
Diciamo che per quello che prometteva, il romanzo ha mantenuto tutto.. con una scrittura divertente, colorita, e a tratti horror/gore, il romanzo si fa bere.. non bisogna però aspettarsi più di questo.. intrattiene, e lo fa bene!
Il voto non troppo alto lo do per il finale.. interessante la parte fantasy, ma troppo rapida, troppo conveniente.. tutto quello che si era costruito con la vecchiaia dei personaggi e i loro acciacchi, e la loro divertente scontrosità, svanisce e tutto diventa pura azione come ai vecchi tempi.. e le rivelazioni finali arrivate in un lampo, digerite in ancor meno, e utilizzate a mo di Deus Ex non mi hanno molto soddisfatto.. leggerò però il secondo capitolo perché comunque resta un romanzo divertente, caciarone e muscolare..
Deve tanto a David Gemmell.. ma meno profondo, più oscuro e muscolare..
È un libro che va letto senza grandi pretese di Worldbuilding, complessità o altro.. è come uno di quei film anni 90 pieno di azione rocambolesca e gore.. e così va preso..
I personaggi non sono affatto male, ben tratteggiati e caratterizzati, tutti psicologicamente danneggiati, marci ma con una loro moralità.. a volte forse c'è un eccessiva dimostrazione di quanto sono assurdi, ma comunque ci può stare.. e questi sono i "buoni"!
I cattivi invece sono cattivi davvero e fanno di tutto per fartelo capire un po' al limite del macchiettistico.. mi hanno ricordato molto i cattivi, crudeli e cruenti di Godblind della Stephens..
Il Worldbuilding è piuttosto classico, ma non insipido.. sarebbe stato piacevole avere un po' più di originalità, e meno sensazioni da mappa di d&d.. soprattutto nella lore, che alla fine risulta carina ma forse un po' poco approfondita..
La trama abbastanza lineare.. i 5 Iron Wolves hanno sconfitto le orde degli orchi di fango.. adesso dopo 20 anni una nuova minaccia all orizzonte, i 5 dovranno essere ri-recrutati e dovranno raggiungere le possenti mura della fortezza del passo.. ma sono più vecchi e mal messi.. ma hanno ancora qualche segreto nascosto nelle loro cotte di maglia..
Come detto prima, molto action movie sanguinolento.. e un po' in stile Maleficent Seven di Cameron.. anche se poi le cose si riveleranno diverse..
Diciamo che per quello che prometteva, il romanzo ha mantenuto tutto.. con una scrittura divertente, colorita, e a tratti horror/gore, il romanzo si fa bere.. non bisogna però aspettarsi più di questo.. intrattiene, e lo fa bene!
Il voto non troppo alto lo do per il finale.. interessante la parte fantasy, ma troppo rapida, troppo conveniente.. tutto quello che si era costruito con la vecchiaia dei personaggi e i loro acciacchi, e la loro divertente scontrosità, svanisce e tutto diventa pura azione come ai vecchi tempi.. e le rivelazioni finali arrivate in un lampo, digerite in ancor meno, e utilizzate a mo di Deus Ex non mi hanno molto soddisfatto.. leggerò però il secondo capitolo perché comunque resta un romanzo divertente, caciarone e muscolare..
June 1, 2023
I had a hard time finishing this one. The characters were either archetypes or totally fell flat, the dialogue was awkwardly written, and the plot was just okay. I couldn't connect with it. Finished it cause it was a gift from my Grandpa, but I wouldn't recommend it.
June 12, 2015
Having literally picked this book up straight after completing the first instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire... let's just say The Iron Wolves leaves a lot to be desired. If you are looking for a well-thought-out fantasy world to explore and immerse yourself in, three-dimensional characters to invest yourself in, or simply a fresh concept, this book is not for you.
I won't go into detail about the plot, as it is devoid of anything to separate itself from a third-rate action movie. A ragtag group of washed-up veterans must reunite to stop the evil witch and her army of orcs from making the realm of Vagandrak-- a place where nothing good ever happens-- even gloomier. What are her motivations? Well, I'll let you guess.
In regards to the writing itself, I'd say its biggest flaw is that it tries too hard to shock the reader, excessively resorting to gory fight scenes and raunchy sex scenes, both of which get really old, really fast. If I had to make an estimate, I'd say these two things make up for 50% of the book or more, and I found myself desensitised to all the violence and fornication long before I hit the halfway mark. On top of this, the gratuitous cussing throughout the story is so pervasive that it's all but impossible to take anything seriously. Even the ghosts drop f-bombs! Indeed, this book might put even the gruffest of sailors to shame.
The author also seems to be quite indecisive with dialogue, dates, and times. On many occasions does Remic seemingly contradict himself. Character X calls character Y a good friend, only to carefully explain why they are not friends later on in the very same conversation. Also, the back of the book will have you believe that the last evil sorcerer to try and do evil things to the realm was defeated thirty years ago. However, it is mentioned otherwise in the narrative, both explicitly and implied on numerous occasions. It's disconcerting when not even the author can keep track of things.
All in all, I'm hard-pressed to find something good to say about this. Some of the lines made me chuckle, but even these were few and far between. I recommend this book to people who don't like books. If you're the sort that feels much more at home in front of a TV screen than with your nose in a novel, and don't care much about story so long as there's blood, maybe, and only maybe, you might find The Iron Wolves worth its $10 price tag.
I won't go into detail about the plot, as it is devoid of anything to separate itself from a third-rate action movie. A ragtag group of washed-up veterans must reunite to stop the evil witch and her army of orcs from making the realm of Vagandrak-- a place where nothing good ever happens-- even gloomier. What are her motivations? Well, I'll let you guess.
In regards to the writing itself, I'd say its biggest flaw is that it tries too hard to shock the reader, excessively resorting to gory fight scenes and raunchy sex scenes, both of which get really old, really fast. If I had to make an estimate, I'd say these two things make up for 50% of the book or more, and I found myself desensitised to all the violence and fornication long before I hit the halfway mark. On top of this, the gratuitous cussing throughout the story is so pervasive that it's all but impossible to take anything seriously. Even the ghosts drop f-bombs! Indeed, this book might put even the gruffest of sailors to shame.
The author also seems to be quite indecisive with dialogue, dates, and times. On many occasions does Remic seemingly contradict himself. Character X calls character Y a good friend, only to carefully explain why they are not friends later on in the very same conversation. Also, the back of the book will have you believe that the last evil sorcerer to try and do evil things to the realm was defeated thirty years ago. However, it is mentioned otherwise in the narrative, both explicitly and implied on numerous occasions. It's disconcerting when not even the author can keep track of things.
All in all, I'm hard-pressed to find something good to say about this. Some of the lines made me chuckle, but even these were few and far between. I recommend this book to people who don't like books. If you're the sort that feels much more at home in front of a TV screen than with your nose in a novel, and don't care much about story so long as there's blood, maybe, and only maybe, you might find The Iron Wolves worth its $10 price tag.
August 13, 2014
I'm really thinking this book is worth about 1 and 1/2 stars. It's just not very good. There are some kernels of a good story in here, such as the last third of the book up until the final battle. In this section, the author does touch on an interesting idea - what happens to a person who's been through too much war and been broken by it? Taken to it's logical conclusion, this would have been a great theme to explore. Unfortunately the author only touches on it minimally.
Frankly, I'm surprised this book was bought by Angry Robot. It is in desperate need of an editor, and disjunction between characters and subjects is all over the place. Also, the typesetting in this edition is atrocious, with transitions never marked.
I did enjoy the author's voice to a degree, but it wasn't enough to win me over from a bad, cliche-ridden story. Twice in the novel, two different characters paused and, for descriptive purposes, admired themselves *for multiple pages* in front of mirrors. This is the most grievous cliche of all and I nearly gave up then.
Recommended only for the most ardent fans of grimdark.
Frankly, I'm surprised this book was bought by Angry Robot. It is in desperate need of an editor, and disjunction between characters and subjects is all over the place. Also, the typesetting in this edition is atrocious, with transitions never marked.
I did enjoy the author's voice to a degree, but it wasn't enough to win me over from a bad, cliche-ridden story. Twice in the novel, two different characters paused and, for descriptive purposes, admired themselves *for multiple pages* in front of mirrors. This is the most grievous cliche of all and I nearly gave up then.
Recommended only for the most ardent fans of grimdark.
November 4, 2013
If Quentin Tarantino read alot of Heavy Metal comics and played Dungeons and Dragons and decided "hey, I'm gonna write a book!", this is what he would write.
The Iron Wolves is a vicious, over the top violent, and throughly vulgar ripping bloodfest of a fantasy. If you wonder "is this the kind of thing I want to read?" I will answer that question for you, because I'm that kind of guy. YES.
This book grabs you by various body parts and then punches you in the face when you try with all your weak little might to get loose.
Only objections in this critic's opinion, is it kind of loses steam in the final act, and I REALLY DISLIKE CLIFFHANGERS.
so Mr Remic, you lose a star, just one..
read this when it comes out already, I'm blue in the face from screaming out my manly review of this book :)
The Iron Wolves is a vicious, over the top violent, and throughly vulgar ripping bloodfest of a fantasy. If you wonder "is this the kind of thing I want to read?" I will answer that question for you, because I'm that kind of guy. YES.
This book grabs you by various body parts and then punches you in the face when you try with all your weak little might to get loose.
Only objections in this critic's opinion, is it kind of loses steam in the final act, and I REALLY DISLIKE CLIFFHANGERS.
so Mr Remic, you lose a star, just one..
read this when it comes out already, I'm blue in the face from screaming out my manly review of this book :)
September 6, 2017
It's like a book, only worse
May 18, 2020
This is a story that is meaty enough to hack an axe into. A dire situation with plenty of desperation. All dark and terrible, just like the Dark Lord ordered! A tale of love and loyalty, betrayal, and bravery. Lots of sorcery and combat. Loved the characters. The Iron Wolves aren't a happy and pleasant group, but they get the job done. I won't say more. Read it and enjoy. I would recommend this to any sword & sorcery fan.
February 10, 2014
I went into The Iron Wolves with the expectation that it wouldn’t be exactly my cup of tea. I’ve been feeling a bit burned out on the whole “grimdark” thing and I figured The Iron Wolves would continue that trend. Much to my surprise I found Remic’s latest fantasy novel to be an engaging, almost hypnotic, opus of foul sorcery and violence. I mean that in the best way possible. The Iron Wolves, a titular squad of heroes have since disbanded and most have fallen on hard times. Of course, there is trouble brewing as the sorcerers creature Orlana the Changer has flesh-crafted horrific creatures to serve her and has set about raising an army of vicious Mud Orcs. So it is that the Iron Wolves are needed once again.
Listen if you don’t like the whole grimdark think I don’t think The Iron Wolves isn’t going to change your mind. Few, if any, of the characters (heroes included) are very likable. This isn’t a book about nice things being done my nice people. This is a book about violent things being done by violent people. It isn’t as nuanced as Glen Cook’s Black Company nor is does it have the humor of Joe Abercrombie. However, if you love the grim and gritty and found yourself longing for fantasy fiction reminiscent of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber then really The Iron Wolves is well worth your time.
There is an energy and vitality to the prose in The Iron Wolves that makes some of it’s weaknesses a bit easy to swallow. Remic is a very kinetic writer and his action scenes have a visceral punch; the man can absolutely paint a strikingly vivid set piece from a ridiculously tall Tower of Babel type structure built on the Emperor’s orders to the subterranean lair of a psychopathic serial killer. Even the novel’s opening seen as The Iron Wolves leader Kiki defends herself against members of the City Guard has a certain visual flair that absolutely compelling to read. If you like violent action written well The Iron Wolves is definitely right up your alley.
That being said Remic is less adept at fleshing out the world of The Iron Wolves and nowhere is that more evident than in both the group themselves (the titular Iron Wolves) and in the novel’s closing chapters. The world feels very much like a blank slate and elements of the story, especially the novel’s conclusion, reads more like deus ex machina than the revelation it is likely intended to be. While the Iron Wolves do a lot of cool and exciting things over the course of the novel I can’t really tell you so anything about where they did it or about the culture that produced them.
In the end The Iron Wolves is a gritty, violent, action fantasy that works as a stand alone novel. However, as the opening novel to a series I am not quite sure it works quite as well. There is a lot of potential in The Iron Wolves and the world it depicts but much of it unrealized and while the remainder is certainly exciting it doesn’t feel fleshed out enough to work in the long run. If you like your fantasy really really dark wherein the only vibrant color is blood red than you should definitely give The Iron Wolves a shot.
Listen if you don’t like the whole grimdark think I don’t think The Iron Wolves isn’t going to change your mind. Few, if any, of the characters (heroes included) are very likable. This isn’t a book about nice things being done my nice people. This is a book about violent things being done by violent people. It isn’t as nuanced as Glen Cook’s Black Company nor is does it have the humor of Joe Abercrombie. However, if you love the grim and gritty and found yourself longing for fantasy fiction reminiscent of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber then really The Iron Wolves is well worth your time.
There is an energy and vitality to the prose in The Iron Wolves that makes some of it’s weaknesses a bit easy to swallow. Remic is a very kinetic writer and his action scenes have a visceral punch; the man can absolutely paint a strikingly vivid set piece from a ridiculously tall Tower of Babel type structure built on the Emperor’s orders to the subterranean lair of a psychopathic serial killer. Even the novel’s opening seen as The Iron Wolves leader Kiki defends herself against members of the City Guard has a certain visual flair that absolutely compelling to read. If you like violent action written well The Iron Wolves is definitely right up your alley.
That being said Remic is less adept at fleshing out the world of The Iron Wolves and nowhere is that more evident than in both the group themselves (the titular Iron Wolves) and in the novel’s closing chapters. The world feels very much like a blank slate and elements of the story, especially the novel’s conclusion, reads more like deus ex machina than the revelation it is likely intended to be. While the Iron Wolves do a lot of cool and exciting things over the course of the novel I can’t really tell you so anything about where they did it or about the culture that produced them.
In the end The Iron Wolves is a gritty, violent, action fantasy that works as a stand alone novel. However, as the opening novel to a series I am not quite sure it works quite as well. There is a lot of potential in The Iron Wolves and the world it depicts but much of it unrealized and while the remainder is certainly exciting it doesn’t feel fleshed out enough to work in the long run. If you like your fantasy really really dark wherein the only vibrant color is blood red than you should definitely give The Iron Wolves a shot.
September 3, 2022
Holy crap, but The Iron Wolves was a hell of a lot of fun! It's as if Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber reached out from beyond the grave to collaborate on the kind pulp fantasy they perfected, decided to take Stallone's The Expendables as their inspiration, recruited Sam Raimi to direct the medieval mayhem, and then demanded that nothing short of the explicit, unrated director's cut make it into print.
What Andy Remic has pulled together here is absolutely genius. If you've read the cover blurb then you have some idea of what to expect but, like me, you probably wondered if he really could pull it off. Well, I am here to tell you to wonder no longer - pull it off he does . . . and then some!
Let's start with the heroes . . . such as they are. Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves became the stuff of legends, holding back the hordes of monstrous mud-orcs at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and banishing Morkagoth, the evil sorcerer, from their world. That victory did not come without a price, however, and the curse they carry has left them broken and battered . . . tortured and twisted beyond measure - murderous brothers, a whoremaster, a drunken gambler, a drug addict with a cancer in her heart, a serial killer, and a torturer. They've become ugly heroes, scarred both inside and out, but they are the world's only help.
“I need it,” she said, and raised her eyes to Dalgoran’s. The pity in his gaze nearly floored her. She considered that pity. From the greatest man she had ever known. From somebody she considered not just her general, but also her friend. Not just her friend, but her father. She shouldn’t have responded how she did. Instead, she felt her anger building.
If that sounds like a little much for your tastes, then all I can do is urge you to have patience. Remic puts a lot of effort into developing these characters, and there is no denying how darkly fascinating they become, or how carefully they elicit our sympathy. Seriously, you might expect to be cold and jaded by the time you meet up with Trista, the last of the Wolves to make a return, but there's such sorrow there, and such beautifully tortured motives behind her serial murder of newlyweds, that you can't help but feel for her. While much of the allure of these heroes is in just how far they've fallen, it's their camaraderie, their banter, and the core of heroism within each of them that really draws the reader in.
As for the villainess, Orlana the Changer, let me give you a glimpse into her summoning:
It was death. It was birth. It was fire. It was rape. It was exquisite murder. It was cheerful suicide. It was acid in her veins. Poison in her heart. Sulphur in her soul. A sincere abortion. A child’s coffin. An army of necrotic lovers. A giggling genocide. All of those things, and yet none.
As weirdly bizarre and perverse as that sounds, it's only an introduction. This is a stunningly beautiful sorceress, the kind who really evokes memories of Howard and Leiber. She's cold, cruel, and cunning, with absolutely no regard for anything but her own motivations. Not content to have the hordes of resurrected mud-orcs at her command (monstrous creatures she summons from the pits with the sacrifice of tens of thousands of men, women, and children), she is also the mistress of the splice - even more monstrous creatures formed by the imperfect, deliberately tortured splicing together of men and beasts.
Their smell came first; it was rotten eggs, it was bad milk, it was sour cheese, it was open gangrene, it was the maggot-filled corpse of a strangled cat. Putrefaction washed over the group and they gagged, and then the mud-orcs sprinted from the darkness and they were big, and moved with agility and aggression and no fear…
In terms of world-building, there's a lot hinted at and suggested here, but Remic never weighs down the story with too much extraneous detail. What settings he does indulge in, however, are exquisitely described. Rokroth is a city where you can feel the cobblestones and smell the smoke in the air; the Tower of the Moon will leave you with a feeling of vertigo, and a nauseous terror of its insane king; Skell Fortress is a haunted ruin that will chill your bones; the Splintered Pass and Desekra Fortress are as epic as any castle, wall, or final siege you can imagine, and the Suicide Forest is . . .well . . . chilling.
They scrambled up the soil and leaves, and stood, mouths open, eyes wide, staring out at a massive glade of hanging corpses. There were perhaps seventy or eighty bodies, each hung by their own hand on short tattered ropes, wearing a disarray of clothing, dresses and shirts and trews, some in boots, some barefoot, all crusted with mud and dirt, as if they’d been hanging for years. Poppies grew all around the glade, adding bright red clusters to a very sombre place.
The story moves along at an almost frantic pace, introducing the Iron Wolves, reuniting them, and seeing them into battle by the end. Along the way we see Orlana overwhelm, overpower, and overcome every obstacle in her path, with the seduction of one man possibly her darkest act. We watch as a insane king refuses to protect his realm, gleefully murdering anybody who dares speak out against him, all the while indulging himself in the most decadent vices.
Yoon returned to the wide bed, sword dripping a trail of blood across fine rugs, to where the three oiled ladies had halted their drug-infused ecstasy. Yoon waved the blade. “Continue. And you.” He pointed with the bloody weapon at a shocked, oiled, painted lady. “Open your legs. Open them wide. I need some entertainment.”
Most importantly, perhaps, we bear witness to the kind of brutal, poetic violence that only epic fantasy seems to manage so well. Remic weaves the dance of blades better than most, delivering on some very well-choreographed confrontations, both intimate and on a grand scale. There's a lot of blood and filth in his tale, and more than a few deaths along the way that come as something of a surprise. By the time it all comes to an end, we realize that only a fraction of the tale has been told, and that motivations and end-games have yet to be revealed . . . but we're also left wondering what might possibly be next, with an ominous cliffhanger that works precisely because there are no guarantees in his world.
All-in-all, one of the most enjoyable reads I've had all year. If you don't mind your epic fantasy with a little pulp and a little profanity, and can appreciate the redemption of deeply flawed heroes, then I strongly urge you to give it a read. It is dark and grim, muddy and bloody, but it's also permeated by a very dark sort of humour that pulls it all together, making the read a raucous one. My only complaint about The Iron Wolves is that the sequel, The White Towers, is more than seven months away . . .
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
What Andy Remic has pulled together here is absolutely genius. If you've read the cover blurb then you have some idea of what to expect but, like me, you probably wondered if he really could pull it off. Well, I am here to tell you to wonder no longer - pull it off he does . . . and then some!
Let's start with the heroes . . . such as they are. Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves became the stuff of legends, holding back the hordes of monstrous mud-orcs at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and banishing Morkagoth, the evil sorcerer, from their world. That victory did not come without a price, however, and the curse they carry has left them broken and battered . . . tortured and twisted beyond measure - murderous brothers, a whoremaster, a drunken gambler, a drug addict with a cancer in her heart, a serial killer, and a torturer. They've become ugly heroes, scarred both inside and out, but they are the world's only help.
“I need it,” she said, and raised her eyes to Dalgoran’s. The pity in his gaze nearly floored her. She considered that pity. From the greatest man she had ever known. From somebody she considered not just her general, but also her friend. Not just her friend, but her father. She shouldn’t have responded how she did. Instead, she felt her anger building.
If that sounds like a little much for your tastes, then all I can do is urge you to have patience. Remic puts a lot of effort into developing these characters, and there is no denying how darkly fascinating they become, or how carefully they elicit our sympathy. Seriously, you might expect to be cold and jaded by the time you meet up with Trista, the last of the Wolves to make a return, but there's such sorrow there, and such beautifully tortured motives behind her serial murder of newlyweds, that you can't help but feel for her. While much of the allure of these heroes is in just how far they've fallen, it's their camaraderie, their banter, and the core of heroism within each of them that really draws the reader in.
As for the villainess, Orlana the Changer, let me give you a glimpse into her summoning:
It was death. It was birth. It was fire. It was rape. It was exquisite murder. It was cheerful suicide. It was acid in her veins. Poison in her heart. Sulphur in her soul. A sincere abortion. A child’s coffin. An army of necrotic lovers. A giggling genocide. All of those things, and yet none.
As weirdly bizarre and perverse as that sounds, it's only an introduction. This is a stunningly beautiful sorceress, the kind who really evokes memories of Howard and Leiber. She's cold, cruel, and cunning, with absolutely no regard for anything but her own motivations. Not content to have the hordes of resurrected mud-orcs at her command (monstrous creatures she summons from the pits with the sacrifice of tens of thousands of men, women, and children), she is also the mistress of the splice - even more monstrous creatures formed by the imperfect, deliberately tortured splicing together of men and beasts.
Their smell came first; it was rotten eggs, it was bad milk, it was sour cheese, it was open gangrene, it was the maggot-filled corpse of a strangled cat. Putrefaction washed over the group and they gagged, and then the mud-orcs sprinted from the darkness and they were big, and moved with agility and aggression and no fear…
In terms of world-building, there's a lot hinted at and suggested here, but Remic never weighs down the story with too much extraneous detail. What settings he does indulge in, however, are exquisitely described. Rokroth is a city where you can feel the cobblestones and smell the smoke in the air; the Tower of the Moon will leave you with a feeling of vertigo, and a nauseous terror of its insane king; Skell Fortress is a haunted ruin that will chill your bones; the Splintered Pass and Desekra Fortress are as epic as any castle, wall, or final siege you can imagine, and the Suicide Forest is . . .well . . . chilling.
They scrambled up the soil and leaves, and stood, mouths open, eyes wide, staring out at a massive glade of hanging corpses. There were perhaps seventy or eighty bodies, each hung by their own hand on short tattered ropes, wearing a disarray of clothing, dresses and shirts and trews, some in boots, some barefoot, all crusted with mud and dirt, as if they’d been hanging for years. Poppies grew all around the glade, adding bright red clusters to a very sombre place.
The story moves along at an almost frantic pace, introducing the Iron Wolves, reuniting them, and seeing them into battle by the end. Along the way we see Orlana overwhelm, overpower, and overcome every obstacle in her path, with the seduction of one man possibly her darkest act. We watch as a insane king refuses to protect his realm, gleefully murdering anybody who dares speak out against him, all the while indulging himself in the most decadent vices.
Yoon returned to the wide bed, sword dripping a trail of blood across fine rugs, to where the three oiled ladies had halted their drug-infused ecstasy. Yoon waved the blade. “Continue. And you.” He pointed with the bloody weapon at a shocked, oiled, painted lady. “Open your legs. Open them wide. I need some entertainment.”
Most importantly, perhaps, we bear witness to the kind of brutal, poetic violence that only epic fantasy seems to manage so well. Remic weaves the dance of blades better than most, delivering on some very well-choreographed confrontations, both intimate and on a grand scale. There's a lot of blood and filth in his tale, and more than a few deaths along the way that come as something of a surprise. By the time it all comes to an end, we realize that only a fraction of the tale has been told, and that motivations and end-games have yet to be revealed . . . but we're also left wondering what might possibly be next, with an ominous cliffhanger that works precisely because there are no guarantees in his world.
All-in-all, one of the most enjoyable reads I've had all year. If you don't mind your epic fantasy with a little pulp and a little profanity, and can appreciate the redemption of deeply flawed heroes, then I strongly urge you to give it a read. It is dark and grim, muddy and bloody, but it's also permeated by a very dark sort of humour that pulls it all together, making the read a raucous one. My only complaint about The Iron Wolves is that the sequel, The White Towers, is more than seven months away . . .
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
July 29, 2016
c2014: FWFTB: Orlana, legend, twisting, splice, Kiki. First off, when I closed the book for the final time, I have to say that I can't agree with SFBook.com when saying 'A worthy successor to the Gemmell crown" I am not sure whether this refers to the Gemmell awards or the author's work. It doesn't make too much of a difference as I would disagree with either comparison. The plot was compelling enough to keep me reading the book but I found the dialogue and the characterisation to be very one dimensional with the exception of one or two. It is a grim book indeed and there are some very brutal scenes. Not so that I stopped reading but they did seem a bit gratuitous in some places as with the continual device of using the Red Thumb gang to spur on some of the action sequences. I did find some inconsistencies in the book as well (it may have been my misinterpretation of the words though) eg on P93 I read that it infers that the house that the two brothers are fighting over had been purchased by the father "The house was large and detached, stood in three acres of its own land. Dek's father had been not just a career soldier but a trader in ancient texts; he'd made his money and saw his family well provided for before his untimely, early death. The house had been their family home." but then on P103 "..he stopped, and turned, and stared up at the magnificent stone edifice which had been in his family for five generations. I am not a fan of the POV changing without starting a new chapter as sometimes it became very jarring and certainly disrupted the flow and pace of the book. Too many mentions of 'brain jelly' in various formats but I suppose it is difficult to come up with new descriptive words for a brain injury. I find it difficult to recommend to most of the normal crew but to those who like a bit of dark with their grim...go to it!
April 18, 2016
If you like your fantasy brutal and insane, then look no further. 'The Iron Wolves' is a dark, violent novel filled with bloody battles and cruel magic.
The book's strongest point is the Iron Wolves themselves. A bunch of brutal bastards, even Jorg Ancrath would think twice about crossing them. My two particular favourites were Kiki and Trista, though all of them are seriously badass in their own unique way.
Remic sets a hard and fast pace and maintains this throughout. Although this makes for quick reading, I personally would have preferred more character building and less location hopping. 'Wolves' also has a pulpish feel to it - the blood and gore splashes thick and fast, the sex is ever so slightly gross, and the torturous punishments inflicted by the main antagonist become kind of repetitive.
For me, I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and the story itself was interesting enough to keep me reading; but I felt as though it was marred by the sheer amount of gratuity. However, it's all a matter of taste, and one thing I will say is that Remic is utterly fearless.
The book's strongest point is the Iron Wolves themselves. A bunch of brutal bastards, even Jorg Ancrath would think twice about crossing them. My two particular favourites were Kiki and Trista, though all of them are seriously badass in their own unique way.
Remic sets a hard and fast pace and maintains this throughout. Although this makes for quick reading, I personally would have preferred more character building and less location hopping. 'Wolves' also has a pulpish feel to it - the blood and gore splashes thick and fast, the sex is ever so slightly gross, and the torturous punishments inflicted by the main antagonist become kind of repetitive.
For me, I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and the story itself was interesting enough to keep me reading; but I felt as though it was marred by the sheer amount of gratuity. However, it's all a matter of taste, and one thing I will say is that Remic is utterly fearless.
January 19, 2014
The Iron Wolves by Andy Remic, is basically a story about getting the band back together in a fantasy world.
An ancient evil has awoken and the iron wolves are the only thing standing between it and the good people of the realm.
Lots about this book has been seen in other books, Andy Remic however does manage to make the story not too cliche, by having an interesting set of characters. As a group they may be heroes, but individually they are deeply flawed.
It's a fun page turner, that does manage to stay interesting right till the end. When reading the book , though, I could not fully shake the feeling that a lot of it is setup for future books. Just a lot of things and places are only ever seen for one chapter and then they disappear from the storyline, as the story moves on.
In the end I would would certainly recommend Iron Wolves to my friends, but it has not really "rocked my world"
An ancient evil has awoken and the iron wolves are the only thing standing between it and the good people of the realm.
Lots about this book has been seen in other books, Andy Remic however does manage to make the story not too cliche, by having an interesting set of characters. As a group they may be heroes, but individually they are deeply flawed.
It's a fun page turner, that does manage to stay interesting right till the end. When reading the book , though, I could not fully shake the feeling that a lot of it is setup for future books. Just a lot of things and places are only ever seen for one chapter and then they disappear from the storyline, as the story moves on.
In the end I would would certainly recommend Iron Wolves to my friends, but it has not really "rocked my world"
November 25, 2013
3.5 Stars
Brace yourself for this violent, bloody, unflinching plunge into the darkest depths of fantasy. With a sinister edge reminiscent of James Clemmens Banned and Banished series and twist on the adventure and companionship of Wies and Hickman's Dragonlance novels, this proves to be a new contender in the fantasy genre. Orlana is a level of evil that will keep you glued to your eReader and the Iron Wolves are heroes of old that I found more relateable and realistic than any with their many flaws.
Brace yourself for this violent, bloody, unflinching plunge into the darkest depths of fantasy. With a sinister edge reminiscent of James Clemmens Banned and Banished series and twist on the adventure and companionship of Wies and Hickman's Dragonlance novels, this proves to be a new contender in the fantasy genre. Orlana is a level of evil that will keep you glued to your eReader and the Iron Wolves are heroes of old that I found more relateable and realistic than any with their many flaws.
January 7, 2017
*Thanks to Netgalley for sending me a free copy for review*
I've had the Iron Wolves on my Netgalley shelf for an embarrassingly long time, my friends. Every time I began reading it something else would come along to distract me. It's just not a book that captured my attention for long periods at a time.
In places the writing style was very good, but I just couldn't bring myself to care overly much what happened to the characters.
I've had the Iron Wolves on my Netgalley shelf for an embarrassingly long time, my friends. Every time I began reading it something else would come along to distract me. It's just not a book that captured my attention for long periods at a time.
In places the writing style was very good, but I just couldn't bring myself to care overly much what happened to the characters.
June 26, 2014
The book, at first took awhile to spark my interest and to separate from all the other basic fantasy books out there.
However,
the back half of the book is the best portion and I will definitely be reading the next book in the series!
However,
the back half of the book is the best portion and I will definitely be reading the next book in the series!
August 12, 2023
You ever get the impression someone was trying WAY too hard when they were writing something, even if it's not functionally the most terrible thing ever made?
This book is quite possibly the most soulless AND pretentious piece of prose fiction I've read (and dropped) in a long time. At first I found the prose, particularly in the opening chapter, a breath of fresh air compared to the prevailing Sandersonism that seems to hang over the genre, but the novelty very swiftly wore thin. When every single passage has to be some elaborate stream of purpled consciousness I just wound up tuning out. That's to say nothing of the book's content.
So, this is one in a long line of edgy dark fantasy stories where the author's only idea for 'dark' concepts was to turn everyone into a horrifically unlikeable asshole with no redeeming traits whatsoever. 'Morally gray' only works when your characters still have some white mixed into the black, otherwise you're just straight up writing villains. Is that a bad thing? Not on the face of it, I suppose, plenty of good books have been written about reprehensible people, but this isn't good, so it winds up just feeling like there's nobody to root for. Remic's only solution was to make the villain of the piece an over the top cartoonish woman cooker, man raping, cannibalistic, evil monster making machine.
And the premise isn't exactly original either. A badass group of tough guys, and like two hot chicks, have to reunite to repel an evil hoard of 'mud-orcs' (I'm not sure why we have to add mud to their title? Just call them orcs?) and defeat the evil dark lord, who happens to be a chick this time. Listen, I don't begrudge the use of tropes at all, but if you're going to be this on the nose I'd honestly rather you just play the genre straight. What do you gain out of taking Tolkien's framework, smearing it in oil, and forcing it to say 'fuck' a lot?
This is always the problem with 'dark' fantasy. It's always superficial, almost like it misses the appeal of some of the classic inner workings of the genre. The grand heroism, the adventure, the sense of epic scale and the vanquishing of dark evils, they're all mainstays of fantasy for a reason. The only thing people can seem to come up with when asked to make a 'fantasy for grown-ups' is to have everyone be a shitty person. Your big twist is 'what if Frodo was a drug-addicted prostitute' or 'what if Aragorn enjoyed child murder?' Well I guess they'd be reprehensible fucks I'd rather not read about, wouldn't they?
DNF'd and I don't feel bad about it because fucking fuck fuck woe is me I'm addicted to murder and hate the rich and blood and gore and smashing violence fuck rape rape fuck shit piss fuck rape aah the tender taste of human flesh aaah
This book is quite possibly the most soulless AND pretentious piece of prose fiction I've read (and dropped) in a long time. At first I found the prose, particularly in the opening chapter, a breath of fresh air compared to the prevailing Sandersonism that seems to hang over the genre, but the novelty very swiftly wore thin. When every single passage has to be some elaborate stream of purpled consciousness I just wound up tuning out. That's to say nothing of the book's content.
So, this is one in a long line of edgy dark fantasy stories where the author's only idea for 'dark' concepts was to turn everyone into a horrifically unlikeable asshole with no redeeming traits whatsoever. 'Morally gray' only works when your characters still have some white mixed into the black, otherwise you're just straight up writing villains. Is that a bad thing? Not on the face of it, I suppose, plenty of good books have been written about reprehensible people, but this isn't good, so it winds up just feeling like there's nobody to root for. Remic's only solution was to make the villain of the piece an over the top cartoonish woman cooker, man raping, cannibalistic, evil monster making machine.
And the premise isn't exactly original either. A badass group of tough guys, and like two hot chicks, have to reunite to repel an evil hoard of 'mud-orcs' (I'm not sure why we have to add mud to their title? Just call them orcs?) and defeat the evil dark lord, who happens to be a chick this time. Listen, I don't begrudge the use of tropes at all, but if you're going to be this on the nose I'd honestly rather you just play the genre straight. What do you gain out of taking Tolkien's framework, smearing it in oil, and forcing it to say 'fuck' a lot?
This is always the problem with 'dark' fantasy. It's always superficial, almost like it misses the appeal of some of the classic inner workings of the genre. The grand heroism, the adventure, the sense of epic scale and the vanquishing of dark evils, they're all mainstays of fantasy for a reason. The only thing people can seem to come up with when asked to make a 'fantasy for grown-ups' is to have everyone be a shitty person. Your big twist is 'what if Frodo was a drug-addicted prostitute' or 'what if Aragorn enjoyed child murder?' Well I guess they'd be reprehensible fucks I'd rather not read about, wouldn't they?
DNF'd and I don't feel bad about it because fucking fuck fuck woe is me I'm addicted to murder and hate the rich and blood and gore and smashing violence fuck rape rape fuck shit piss fuck rape aah the tender taste of human flesh aaah
July 3, 2020
General Dalgoran desperately needs help. Orlana the Changer – a primal wielder of Equiem magick – has escaped the Chaos Halls, and seeks to satisfy her lusts by inflicting carnage of the world of men. To advance her schemes, she builds an army of hideously warped, superhuman creatures, and supplements them by summoning thousands of mud-orcs from ancient breeding pits to her side.
Only one thing stands in the way of total annihilation. The Iron Wolves. Heroes of old who once turned back an overwhelming tide of evil at The Pass of Splintered Bone when they slew the dark sorcerer, Morkagoth.
But twenty years have passed since the Iron Wolves last stood together with General Dalgoran, and the world is not the same.
For one thing, King Yoon has fallen to madness, and is more intent on indulging in acts of depravity and debauchery than protecting his kingdom. People have become complacent, and refuse to acknowledge any possibility that mud-orcs could ever return.
And the Iron Wolves?
The passage of time hasn’t treated them kindly, and they have become just as scarred by life as the battles they’ve fought. Some have lost themselves. Others, have given in to despair. A few have resorted to committing crimes of a heinous nature, just to get by. They’re mavericks, each with their own agenda. How could individuals so dysfunctional be anyone’s last line of defense?
Ah, I’d invite you to find out, in a helter-skelter ride of a story that is, quite simply, a breathtaking ensemble of riotous fun, bone-crunching combat, and a finger-on-the-pulse tribute, reminding us how Murphy’s Law will stab you in the back when you least expect it.
I connected to the mood from the outset. The Iron Wolves (Book 1 of The Rage of Kings) is down and dirty, dark and gritty, and brays its barrack room humor without mercy. It will appeal to those who have endured the heat of battle and come away scarred, as it makes you feel as if you’re back among comrades again.
And the ending?
Life isn’t always happy, and I found the conclusion of this story rather satisfying. And isn’t that how it’s meant to be?
Try it; it’s a tale that calls to the berserker in all of us.
Only one thing stands in the way of total annihilation. The Iron Wolves. Heroes of old who once turned back an overwhelming tide of evil at The Pass of Splintered Bone when they slew the dark sorcerer, Morkagoth.
But twenty years have passed since the Iron Wolves last stood together with General Dalgoran, and the world is not the same.
For one thing, King Yoon has fallen to madness, and is more intent on indulging in acts of depravity and debauchery than protecting his kingdom. People have become complacent, and refuse to acknowledge any possibility that mud-orcs could ever return.
And the Iron Wolves?
The passage of time hasn’t treated them kindly, and they have become just as scarred by life as the battles they’ve fought. Some have lost themselves. Others, have given in to despair. A few have resorted to committing crimes of a heinous nature, just to get by. They’re mavericks, each with their own agenda. How could individuals so dysfunctional be anyone’s last line of defense?
Ah, I’d invite you to find out, in a helter-skelter ride of a story that is, quite simply, a breathtaking ensemble of riotous fun, bone-crunching combat, and a finger-on-the-pulse tribute, reminding us how Murphy’s Law will stab you in the back when you least expect it.
I connected to the mood from the outset. The Iron Wolves (Book 1 of The Rage of Kings) is down and dirty, dark and gritty, and brays its barrack room humor without mercy. It will appeal to those who have endured the heat of battle and come away scarred, as it makes you feel as if you’re back among comrades again.
And the ending?
Life isn’t always happy, and I found the conclusion of this story rather satisfying. And isn’t that how it’s meant to be?
Try it; it’s a tale that calls to the berserker in all of us.
July 29, 2018
Even though I am not quite done with this book, I’m going to give a review. This book is crap!! This author has no idea how to create an awesome antihero character! If you are going to create an antihero character that we can get behind don’t turn them into serial murders and other things! That is not going to give us a reason to get behind them even though they’re supposed to be protagonist. That makes no sense!! Sorry, but it’s not working. If you want a awesome antihero character, read all the books by Joe Emmbrook Romby he knows how to create some anti-hero characters that you can just live and get behind even know their absolute dirt bags!! Also goes for looks goal. However, this author has no idea what he is doing. With the bad ratings, I’m surprise he decided to write a next book or I should say another book to the series!! Any OK I’m I’m going to finish it even though it is cracked and they only have six chapters left. I’m off to read something else hopefully something good and even better than what I’m reading right now
January 23, 2019
this book (and the sequel) was OK, it has some strong ideas and, initially, the main characters (whilst somewhat formulaic) do have some depth and some interesting angles. Howveer the whole thing is a bit disjointed - it seems like the author has had lots of ideas and resolved to fit them all in no matter the impact on the story. there are hints towards certain plot lines that don't pan out, new characters appear just in time to fit a particular need and become central to the narrative despite not having been mentioned previously.
This was an unfulfilling read (both books) and felt a bit immature. the story would have benefited from more focus and fewer branches that lead nowhere.
The feel was that the story was rushed almost as though it was begun with a specific page limit in mind - you spend 8/10 of the book building up to a climactic battle that is concluded almost before it starts. The story then lurches into a somewhat artificial and naive 'cliff hanger' that sets up the sequel - a book that suffers from exactly the same issues
very much a case of what might have been
This was an unfulfilling read (both books) and felt a bit immature. the story would have benefited from more focus and fewer branches that lead nowhere.
The feel was that the story was rushed almost as though it was begun with a specific page limit in mind - you spend 8/10 of the book building up to a climactic battle that is concluded almost before it starts. The story then lurches into a somewhat artificial and naive 'cliff hanger' that sets up the sequel - a book that suffers from exactly the same issues
very much a case of what might have been
September 10, 2023
The pacing is bizarre and the ending comes out of bumfuck nowhere. The book is the first in a series, but reads like there are setting details in another book you were supposed to read first; any “Book One of” like that should come with a disclaimer.
Lastly, the editing is bizarre. In the last 150 pages, there are no line breaks between scenes. The only indication that a scene changes within a chapter is the jarring change in context and the lack of an insert at the start of a paragraph.
Lastly, the editing is bizarre. In the last 150 pages, there are no line breaks between scenes. The only indication that a scene changes within a chapter is the jarring change in context and the lack of an insert at the start of a paragraph.
November 26, 2018
Consult your doctor before reading this book. Not for the weak of heart. You may test positive for performance-enhancing drugs while and a short time after reading this book. Neither P90X nor puberty can claim the kind of transformation you will experience from this pure dose of testosterone in written form.
December 3, 2019
An Ok book. Towards the end, it becomes a bit more like a meh book.
Too much relying on deus-ex-machina. It is a light enjoyable read if you do not mind too much the grim side, which is a bit overexaggerated.
Too much relying on deus-ex-machina. It is a light enjoyable read if you do not mind too much the grim side, which is a bit overexaggerated.
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