Iron Devils, The

by Ari Marmell, Almarie Guerra (Reading)

In the ruins of the world, the last remnants of humanity find themselves caught in an impossible war between the mechanical and the mystical - between the unliving and the undead.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Urban Fantasy

MP3 CD

First published September 24, 2018

About the author

When Ari Marmell has free time left over between feeding cats and posting on social media, he writes a little bit. His work includes novels, short stories, role-playing games, and video games, all of which he enjoyed in lieu of school work when growing up. He’s the author of the Mick Oberon gangland/urban fantasy series, the Widdershins YA fantasy series, and many others, with publishers such as Del Rey, Titan Books, Pyr Books, Wizards of the Coast, and now Omnium Gatherum.

Ari currently resides in Austin, Texas. He lives in a clutter that has a moderate amount of apartment in it, along with George—his wife—and the aforementioned cats, who probably want something.

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off as a post-apocalyptic, dystopian story about humans enslaved after losing a war with the machines (a la Terminator or The Matrix), but takes a very seasonally appropriate (n.b.: I was reading this in October) turn midway through.

Great characters, a fun story, leavened with some nice, snarky humor. I would be very happy with a sequel.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let’s get right to the important point: I kept checking my watch waiting for the workday to finish so I get back home to read Ari Marmell’s The Iron Devils.

Yes, it’s that good. Yes, it’s that gripping. Yes, it’s so richly realized it sucks you completely into its world. That its world could happen tomorrow makes it better. Or maybe worse. I keep reminding myself to eat dessert first because you never know.

Dystopian lit is my favorite genre. I’ve read a lot of it and I’m picky. The Iron Devils grabbed my interest after the first paragraph. By the midpoint of the second page, I was hooked. When the writing leaps into your brain like you’re watching a movie and gives you a completely relatable main character with flaws and heart and tears and grit and strength, well, the drive home can’t come soon enough.

There’s no way I’m going to spoil this for you (I never spoil in a review, but you’d have legitimate reason to curse me for this one). But just in case I haven’t yet convinced you to grab this one NOW NOW NOW:

In a near-future world of rubble and devastation, Magadalena Suarez’s team is a combination of mechanics, bombers, salvage ops, sweepers, and Jacks-of-all-trades. Their bosses—their owners, really—are tough and uncompromising. They’d have to be: they’re machines.

Think The Terminator meets “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” meets MacGyver meets “I, Robot.” And that’s without spoiling the entire second half of the book.

Magdalena’s team are real people. They’re your neighbors and your coworkers thrown into an all-too-possible post-chaos world and doing whatever they have to do to survive. They find moments to laugh, to fall in love, to hide their hatred of the machines and to make it through another day, another mission with their team intact.

I finished this book and went outside to make sure the grass was still green, the neighborhood was still standing, and the everyday boring tasks were still there to be taken care of. And I was glad to deal with the boring tasks. That’s how much The Iron Devils sucked me in.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a post apocalyptic battle between vampire and machines and humans stuck in the middle, after a while I wanted all 3 groups to kind of be wiped out. I had a hard time rooting for anybody. Machines are cold and uncaring, vampires are monsters, and the humans are just kind of unpleasant on the whole. The book is well written and paced, but I just stopped caring what happened to any characters about a third of the way through.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this story, but didn't. It started off pretty good and I was curious to see where it would go, but the human characters, especially Mags, were so annoying. Not written in a way that I seemed realistic and just...Mags was so not smart at times. I cannot believe that she is even still alive. It was set up that the machine overlords with kill you without a moment's thought if you step out of line, and yet Mags was constantly doing things that should have gotten her killed by them, but didn't. I guess she was just oh so super special no one else can do whatever it is she does. I really don't know why she was so revered as she didn't really do anything...except make some not smart decision, get angry every two seconds and spout off, say mean things to others in her anger, think she can tell everyone what to do even when she is not in charge, etc. I really did not like her and that is not always a bad thing, but the way she was written was in a way that I didn't like her and didn't want to read her.

Then in the middle of the book we have this awful segue with Ian which was frustrating and really slowed the story down to a crawl for no good reason. It wasn't written very well and I mean if Mags and everyone would have been written better it could have worked, but as it was I was rolling my eyes every two seconds and telling my husband how unintelligent Mags and this story is!

There were parts that I did really enjoy which made it all the sadder it wasn't consistent for me. I loved the stuff with Lucasta and learning about him. The fighting with him was a lot of fun. If only the humans didn't ruin the story for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book

[Dion Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great, very well written and easy to follow and read, the world reminded me of the 1995 movie ‘screamers’ with that gritty post-apocalyptic, dystopian feel to it, and then you add in the old school vampires which adds another element to the story, the action and horror was great, but I would have loved to see more of it.

The characters were very well written and believable, even the robots seemed to have personalities.

This book dose an excellent job of mixing the post-apocalyptic, dystopian story with the Sci-Fi (vamps).

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*

[Keary Birch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, immensely enjoyable, and thoroughly recommended.

The best book in its genre ;)

Actually, I have enjoyed this book a huge amount it is probably the best of the author's books so far. He just gets better and better.

Go and buy this and read it. In fact, buy two and send one to a friend you like.

[Paul Grosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing excellent, don't care for the genre

I do not care for most horror stories, I tend to be more of an optimist so the genre grates with me. But the writing and character development were top notch so i finished it. If you like horror stories i can highly recommend this book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page turner

You don't expect to find vampires in a science fiction post-apocalypse world. It's a surprisingly pleasing addition to a story of survival. Kept me up as I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ari Marmell never disappoints. This is a truly unique spin on the post-apocalyptic story. Mags and Lacusta are stand-out characters. Fingers crossed there will be a sequel.