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Iron Shadows
When beautiful detective Cat Juvell and her partner go undercover to save a wealthy heiress from a mysterious cult, they discover a world of bizarre erotic rituals and brutal deaths as they unlock the secret of the cult's terrifying mission
383 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
60 people want to read
About the author
Steven Barnes
130 books477 followersSteven Barnes (born March 1, 1952, Los Angeles, California) is an African American science fiction writer, lecturer, creative consultant, and human performance technician. He has written several episodes of The Outer Limits and Baywatch, as well as the Stargate SG-1 episode "Brief Candle" and the Andromeda episode "The Sum of its Parts". Barnes' first published piece of fiction, the novelette The Locusts (1979), written with Larry Niven, and was a Hugo Award nominee.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 20, 2015
This is, hands-down, the worst book I have ever read. The prose is awful. The plot is awful. The issues are treated in offensive and gross ways. The pacing sucks. I'm trying to think of something nice to say. ...wait for it. Nope.
This is how bad this book was: my roommate was suffering from severe motivational issues. She was feeling depressed and it was hard to get stuff done. Oh, but I found a way to get her to do anything. I just needed to start reading my book aloud. And I'd hear shrieks of how evil I was... as she was going off to do what she was supposed to.
Originally, I was reading the book aloud because misery loves company. When I say this book has purple prose, I am not kidding. And we're not just talking about over-flowery descriptions. Sometimes, it's a severe wtf moment. This guy doesn't need to just put down his thesaurus. He needs to pick up a fucking dictionary!
People do not walk in a "moist fashion." A young girl escaping is not a "trouper" unless she is putting on an act. A 747 is not an "iron bird." Whose legs have "golden contours" when they're vacuuming? Here. Try this:
The bolding is not my own. There's random bolding strewn throughout the book nonsensically. Sometimes right next to italics with no meaning.
Oh, and if you have triggers? Just don't read this book. I don't know what your triggers are, but I can promise you they're covered somewhere in here.
If I were going to summarize this book... Well, let's try.
Women are hateful and full of the need for revenge. They use sex to get what they want, but also to destroy men. Asia and Africa are magical places, unlike Europe. Martial arts! PTSD means you're broken and only magic can heal you. People who have been paralyzed for most of their life will do anything if only you could heal them. Gender essentialism is awesome! Something about tigers hunting together. Incest is complicated.
Oh, and then there was the scene where a yarn bomb tentacle monster anally rapes a man.
You know, can you just trust me? Just trust me. Don't read this. I promise you'll be better off not trying. Please. Listen to my words.
This is how bad this book was: my roommate was suffering from severe motivational issues. She was feeling depressed and it was hard to get stuff done. Oh, but I found a way to get her to do anything. I just needed to start reading my book aloud. And I'd hear shrieks of how evil I was... as she was going off to do what she was supposed to.
Originally, I was reading the book aloud because misery loves company. When I say this book has purple prose, I am not kidding. And we're not just talking about over-flowery descriptions. Sometimes, it's a severe wtf moment. This guy doesn't need to just put down his thesaurus. He needs to pick up a fucking dictionary!
People do not walk in a "moist fashion." A young girl escaping is not a "trouper" unless she is putting on an act. A 747 is not an "iron bird." Whose legs have "golden contours" when they're vacuuming? Here. Try this:
She was in her early thirties, with an oval face framed by a cascade of small soft blonde ringlets. Her habit of peering out from behind them sometimes made her resemble a mischievous child peeking through a fence. Presently concealed beneath a powder pink jump suit, her broad shoulders and narrow waist rivaled those of a National-class rock climber or competition swimmer. Neither of these were her discipline of choice. Her taut frame seemed knitted of pure energy, forever on the skittish edge of unraveling. Her birth certificate read Portia Musette Juvell. Since her mother's death a decade before, she rarely answered to anything but Cat, and invariably signed or spelled her first name "Porsche."
The bolding is not my own. There's random bolding strewn throughout the book nonsensically. Sometimes right next to italics with no meaning.
Oh, and if you have triggers? Just don't read this book. I don't know what your triggers are, but I can promise you they're covered somewhere in here.
If I were going to summarize this book... Well, let's try.
Women are hateful and full of the need for revenge. They use sex to get what they want, but also to destroy men. Asia and Africa are magical places, unlike Europe. Martial arts! PTSD means you're broken and only magic can heal you. People who have been paralyzed for most of their life will do anything if only you could heal them. Gender essentialism is awesome! Something about tigers hunting together. Incest is complicated.
Oh, and then there was the scene where a yarn bomb tentacle monster anally rapes a man.
You know, can you just trust me? Just trust me. Don't read this. I promise you'll be better off not trying. Please. Listen to my words.
April 21, 2023
So the other day I started reading Iron Shadows by Steven Barnes. He’s apparently a bestselling author. Which is really disturbing.
Because four sentences in, he describes a woman as “a small wiry brunette”. Seriously? Does anyone actually identify women by their hair colour any more? That’s so—1940s. Isn’t it? I check. The book’s copyright is 1998. Okay. Guess not. Guess the tradition of objectifying women lives on.
We don’t do that with men. We don’t objectify them by their hair colour (or anything else, for that matter). Their hair colour for godsake. She’s a brunette. Or a blonde. Or a redhead. As if all women with brown hair are what, interchangeable? Because they’re completely defined by—-the colour of their hair?
Not only that, but he had to mention her size. Small. Of course. If she’s going to be a heroine, she has to be small. I’m surprised he didn’t tell us how large her breasts are.
And whereas she’s small, he’s “enormous”. Of course he is.
Could we just reverse the description with nothing odd happening, that test for sexism? “The man, a small, wiry brunette with an ugly bruise on his left cheek, wore a yellow unisex utility uniform. The woman was enormous, but barely conscious.” Not only do you find it odd to hear a man called “a small, wiry brunette”, you no doubt found it a bit disgusting to hear the woman called “enormous”.
I am, goddammit, still a little forgiving, so I read on.
But the very next woman—or maybe it’s the same woman, since the next bit happens two months earlier—the very next woman “nibbles” on dry wheat toast. Because we can’t have a woman actually eating with guilt-free enthusiasm.
And she has “an oval face framed by a cascade of small soft blonde ringlets”. Small again. And soft. And blonde. And ringlets. Ringlets?!
In case we missed it, “Her habit of peering out from behind them sometimes made her resemble a mischievous child peeking through a fence.”
In 1998. And published by Tor.
No wonder women can’t get published. As long as this insulting crap is deemed worthy. Is bestselling.
When will men finally get it? When will they finally get it right?
Robert J. Sawyer. He’s the only one. The only male sf writer who’s smart enough to create a non-sexist world.
Because four sentences in, he describes a woman as “a small wiry brunette”. Seriously? Does anyone actually identify women by their hair colour any more? That’s so—1940s. Isn’t it? I check. The book’s copyright is 1998. Okay. Guess not. Guess the tradition of objectifying women lives on.
We don’t do that with men. We don’t objectify them by their hair colour (or anything else, for that matter). Their hair colour for godsake. She’s a brunette. Or a blonde. Or a redhead. As if all women with brown hair are what, interchangeable? Because they’re completely defined by—-the colour of their hair?
Not only that, but he had to mention her size. Small. Of course. If she’s going to be a heroine, she has to be small. I’m surprised he didn’t tell us how large her breasts are.
And whereas she’s small, he’s “enormous”. Of course he is.
Could we just reverse the description with nothing odd happening, that test for sexism? “The man, a small, wiry brunette with an ugly bruise on his left cheek, wore a yellow unisex utility uniform. The woman was enormous, but barely conscious.” Not only do you find it odd to hear a man called “a small, wiry brunette”, you no doubt found it a bit disgusting to hear the woman called “enormous”.
I am, goddammit, still a little forgiving, so I read on.
But the very next woman—or maybe it’s the same woman, since the next bit happens two months earlier—the very next woman “nibbles” on dry wheat toast. Because we can’t have a woman actually eating with guilt-free enthusiasm.
And she has “an oval face framed by a cascade of small soft blonde ringlets”. Small again. And soft. And blonde. And ringlets. Ringlets?!
In case we missed it, “Her habit of peering out from behind them sometimes made her resemble a mischievous child peeking through a fence.”
In 1998. And published by Tor.
No wonder women can’t get published. As long as this insulting crap is deemed worthy. Is bestselling.
When will men finally get it? When will they finally get it right?
Robert J. Sawyer. He’s the only one. The only male sf writer who’s smart enough to create a non-sexist world.
May 18, 2022
I just… I’m baffled. I wanted to give this book a chance but each sentence was another punch to the gut. It contains every sensitive topic in the world and each one is handled worse that the last. I’m a fan of all the topics of the book: cults, supernatural junk, relationships, horror and gore, etc… but this was just awful. It seemed like it was just a shock value book. None of the characters behaved like actual people, and the pacing was beyond horrible. Perspectives would jump and change in the most awkward ways, and there’s obviously something to said about the author by the way some of these issues are treated. The sheer amount of incest and rape in this book is insane, and most does not even serve a real purpose. There’s a whole “reveal” near the end about how the MC’s brother is actually her foster brother, and there were some very weird implications about their relationship from that point on. I also think it’s kind of funny how despite the book and everything in it being about sexuality, the only character who isn’t straight is uncomfortable with his bisexuality, and he’s essentially only considered bisexual because of an implied relationship with his father and the people he’s killed. At least that’s what I’ve come to understand. Honestly, half of the stuff in this book doesn’t make sense unless it’s actually said outright. I pushed through it simply because I wanted to see how this disaster ended, and somehow, it managed to have the most confusing, disastrous, and outrageous ending I’ve ever seen. Overall, I would not bother with this. With the misogynistic undertones, unnecessarily descriptive rape, and oh god the terrible writing, it has left a book shaped hole in my soul. I literally cannot stress how bad it is. I wish I could give it zero stars.
(I left out a lot, but check out deilann’s review. It fills in what I missed.)
(I left out a lot, but check out deilann’s review. It fills in what I missed.)
August 3, 2014
This odd book is a mixmaster of genres, as a detective agency is drawn into a bizarre tale of religous cults, supernatural entities and other things outside their normal scope.
This is not my favorite Barnes book, by far, in part because I felt the climactic battle and the epilogue were a serious letdown. The epilogue was so far past believable that it really bothered me. The rest of the story would have earned a fourth star. Like in some of his other books, the martial arts play a significant role, but in this case they are not the point of the book.
The central characters start off as an odd combination of stereotypes, but end up as being more fully developed and interesting. Two ex-cops who are also an ex-couple, along with the woman's wheelchair-bound brother run a detective agency, but as the story begins they are about to dissolve it, for a variety of reasons. Then, they get handed a plum assignment, one that will pay off their bills and far more. Just get a message to a rich man's relative who has joined a new-age cult. Don't try to kidnap her or anything, just a message and get her on the phone with her loving relative. So simple, and yet things go horribly wrong.
If you ignore the epilogue, it's an adventure story with lots of sex and violence, but not wallowing in either. The fantasy elements are deliberately nightmarish and quite well-written.
This is not my favorite Barnes book, by far, in part because I felt the climactic battle and the epilogue were a serious letdown. The epilogue was so far past believable that it really bothered me. The rest of the story would have earned a fourth star. Like in some of his other books, the martial arts play a significant role, but in this case they are not the point of the book.
The central characters start off as an odd combination of stereotypes, but end up as being more fully developed and interesting. Two ex-cops who are also an ex-couple, along with the woman's wheelchair-bound brother run a detective agency, but as the story begins they are about to dissolve it, for a variety of reasons. Then, they get handed a plum assignment, one that will pay off their bills and far more. Just get a message to a rich man's relative who has joined a new-age cult. Don't try to kidnap her or anything, just a message and get her on the phone with her loving relative. So simple, and yet things go horribly wrong.
If you ignore the epilogue, it's an adventure story with lots of sex and violence, but not wallowing in either. The fantasy elements are deliberately nightmarish and quite well-written.
October 21, 2007
"Iron Shadows" by Steven Barnes has so very, very bad a prologue I laughed out loud and almost put it straight back down again; fortunately he manages to recover quite well from starting off with a heroine who has blue eyes, blonde ringlets, superb legs, martial arts skills and a tragic past (and even makes up for it somewhat by describing the male lead as looking like "a WWF wrestler moonlighting as a librarian").
It is a supernatural thriller, with a sex cult and some detecting type stuff. It reminded me somehow of the Diana Tregarde books, and is somehow very ... 90's. I mean, even if it wasn't set in the '90's, I would still know that was when it was written, you know? So, hey, if you liked the Tregarde books and have a freakish nostalgia for the 90's, this might just be the airplane novel for you! Personally I found the author's obsession with heterosexuality tiresome, but the plot has some surprises and there are a few moments of humour.
All in all, I can't really recommend it, though I'd be willing to give another of his books a try if the library had one.
It is a supernatural thriller, with a sex cult and some detecting type stuff. It reminded me somehow of the Diana Tregarde books, and is somehow very ... 90's. I mean, even if it wasn't set in the '90's, I would still know that was when it was written, you know? So, hey, if you liked the Tregarde books and have a freakish nostalgia for the 90's, this might just be the airplane novel for you! Personally I found the author's obsession with heterosexuality tiresome, but the plot has some surprises and there are a few moments of humour.
All in all, I can't really recommend it, though I'd be willing to give another of his books a try if the library had one.
June 22, 2008
It was such a pleasure to work my way through the twists and turns of this excellently plotted thriller, that I am loathe to give too may details. A pair of detectives, one White, one Black, are on a mission to find a woman who may or may not have been swallowed by a cult. Figuring out who are the bad guys, supremely evil, and who are the good guys, devinely blessed, kept me turning pages all night long.
September 7, 2009
If you like sex and violence, this is a book for you! Lots of both.
However- there were various interesting questions raised during the course of the novel, that were related to the plot but not necessarily relevant to it, and these were really not addressed. I've given this novel a lower rating than I otherwise would because of this. The plot was tight, the characters reasonable- but the questions of what, exactly, was going on and why- the first causes- was left unaddressed.
However- there were various interesting questions raised during the course of the novel, that were related to the plot but not necessarily relevant to it, and these were really not addressed. I've given this novel a lower rating than I otherwise would because of this. The plot was tight, the characters reasonable- but the questions of what, exactly, was going on and why- the first causes- was left unaddressed.
August 19, 2012
Great book, the mystery is figuring out who the iron shadow is. Halfway through I kept thinking about an old scifi movie where people go to a planet and a monster starts killing people. Turns out it is the ID of the guy who doesn't want to leave. Can't remember the name of the movie but it is from the 60's. I guessed right. Great book with a spin. Wouldn't mind reading a followup.
August 28, 2010
This book I found to be very deep, he touches on all levels of one's being and shows how deep revenge can be and the results it can have
March 27, 2014
very good
November 6, 2011
Not reaLLY bARNES BEST WORK
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews