Disappointed

I expected to love Blood and Iron. I loved Elizabeth Bear's science fiction trillogy (Hammered, Scardown, Worldwired) so much that I gave it as a gift to several people. And I love urban fantasy.

Unfortunately, I didn't love Blood and Iron. The story was interesting, and the characters intriguing. But somehow they just didn't grip me. Only in a few places (mostly in the final 25%) did I care so much that I couldn't stop reading.

Blood and Iron is about the ongoing war between fairy and humankind, and about key emotionally damaged people involved in this war. Part urban fantasy, part twisted Arthurian legend, it twists everything fairy into it's own story.

I think the problem was that I didn't care much about the main character (Elaine Andraste) until far into the book. For much of the book, I didn't see her as having a goal or a specific problem to overcome.

But it is quite cool what Elizabeth Bear does with fairy tales, especially with the Arthurian legend. I might check out the next book in this series, Whiskey and Water, because the implied main character of that book already intrigues me. And I'll definitely pick up her next science fiction - Carnival.