The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams

Jen Williams’ debut novel, The Copper Promise was one of my personal highlights of 2014. It came out last January, which seems a long time ago now, and The Iron Ghost is the not-long-awaited but eagerly anticipated follow-up, the middle book in the trilogy. Middle books in a series can be difficult; they have to stand alone and provide a satisfactory conclusion, while at the same time furthering the ongoing story arc. It’s not always easy to dodge the dread spectre of middle-book-sag. And the weight of expectation lays heavy across the shoulders of The Iron Ghost, as The Copper Promise was so well received and such an enjoyable read.

After their defeat of the dragon-god Y’Ruen, the trio of mercenaries who call themselves the Black Feather Three find that demand for their services as swords for hire is high, and it’s the lure of money (the copper promise) that entices them to the northern city of Skaldshollow, high in the mountains. They have been asked to retrieve a stolen artefact, but this relatively simple job takes on multiple levels of complication as our sellswords find themselves embroiled in a war between the stone-crafting Skalds and their neighbours and rivals, the cold-blooded Narhl. They are fighting an ideological war for the very soul of the mountains, in a land steeped in ancient magic, while below the surface of the earth something even more ancient, more magical, and more evil, is stirring…

The Copper Promise hinted at hidden depths to the Black Feather Three, and The Iron Ghost goes even deeper, exploring their tentative relationships, with each other, and even with the mountains that crowd around Skaldshollow. Wydrin’s relationship with her living-rock companion, the werken Mendrick, who she finds herself bonded to in an act of bravado is particularly affecting. It exposes a side of her only hinted at before, a soft core beneath the veneer of cynicism and mouthiness that she wears as an extension to her boiled-leather armour. Whatever her hidden depths reveal, Wydrin is the most courageous, the most obnoxious, the most lovable pirate-turned-sword-for-hire in the whole of Ede, and one of the best characters in fantasy in recent years. Long may she drink, fight and burp.

We also go deeper into the relationship between Sebastian and the Brood Sisters, born from his blood and that of the dragon-god Y’Ruen. They think of themselves as his daughters and now as they learn more of the world they have been born and abandoned into they are growing, stretching, to be human. There is conflict between them, these women who were once all the same, and it’s both fascinating and dreadful to witness them growing apart. Sebastian is a decent man, a fallen knight who has to live with the burden of the terrible mistakes he has made while trying to keep the Brood, and the people they encounter on the road, safe. He finds some happiness in Skaldshollow, but it’s not without its price.

Lord Aaron Frith, the new-forged mage, is gradually thawing, but he still walks the tightrope between his desire to act for good, and his desire for power which could lead to his doom. And his long-denied desire for Wydrin is also beginning to surface here. She could be his salvation, or she could lead him deeper into trouble than ever. This one could go either way.

It might have been difficult for Jen Williams to live up to the, errr, promise, of The Copper Promise, but The Iron Ghost is just as magical, just as action packed, just as clever and just as much fun as its predecessor. If you like sword fights, dragons, assassins, lost cities, quests, crazed mages, wandering statues, true love lost and found (and lost again), you’ll find a great deal to enjoy here. Jen Williams’ writing, for all that it deals with serious issues, has such an irrepressible sense of fun about it that you’d have to have a heart of stone not to love it.

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