SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: February 15, 2022] City of Iron and Dust
Like a bird attracted to shiny things, when I see an interesting-looking book come by my desk at work, I decide to read it–no matter how big my tipping over pile of other books to read happens to be.
I dithered about reading this book and I had a slightly hard time getting into it (probably because I wasn’t exactly sure if I wanted to read it). But it got very good and very exciting very quickly.
The book is broken up into chapters and each chapter is broken into subsections about a particular character
Jag. She is the daughter of one of the big goblin families in the City of Iron. But she longs for a world where goblins don’t dominate and persecute the rest of the fae. She’s an idealist who goes to fae bars trying to feel something more than the money and power her family has.
Sil. Sil is half goblin half Fae. She is Jag’s half sister. But she was brought up to be an assassin. And her only purpose in life is to protect Jag. Later on, we are shown the brutality she suffered to become such a formidable creature. She has no opinions of her own.
Knull. Knull is a low level drug dealer. The drug is called Dust and it does magical things to the fae. He doesn’t have very good stuff and he knows that the people who buy from him often try to find him to get their money back. Knull wants out of the city. He wants to make a big score and get the hell out. Both of his parents are hooked on Dust and while he’d love to save them, he also thinks they are too far gone.
Edwyll. Knull’s brother. The more responsible one. He actually comes home every night to check on his parents. He is also an idealist and would love to rouse the fae through his art. He imagines old-fashioned art coming back and inspiring the fae to remember what life was like before the goblins took control. He is part of an artists collective.
Granny Spragg. Granny Spragg is the elder stateswoman of a goblin house. Her children have more or less pushed her out of power, but she holds on tooth and claw. She is still very mentally alert and she holds no tolerance for her wretched children. She has big plans to put the other goblin houses out of commission to gain total power.
Skart. Skart is a kobold with a bit of authority. He is older–a shift leader at a factory. He is also one of the heads of the Fae Underground movement.
There are several other major characters who all add to the story. And the story is this.
Some time in the past there was a war. The Goblins defeated the Fae and have enclosed them in a City of Iron (or something like that). One needs to know a fair amount about the Fae for this story to work. Like Queen Mab and the fact that faeries are burnt by iron. The story seems to build on all of the classic tropes of the Fae and doesn’t really explain any of it–but it’s pretty clear what’s going on.
One thing that I assume is new to this story is the existence of Dust. Dust is a drug that does something magical to the Fae. But it is addicting and debilitating.
There are five major Goblin families in the city: House Red (Jag’s father is Osmondo Red); House Bogle; House Hobgob; House Troll and House Spriggan (which is Granny Spregg’s house). The middle three don’t really do much in the story.
Someone had a large brick of Dust shipped into the City. As the story opens we don’t know it was or what they wanted to do with it.
Knull happens upon it first. But when he finds it, he also finds a scene of incredible violence. Goblins broke into a house to find the Dust, but it was well hidden. Knull used some magic of his own to track it down. But before he could escape, the goblins had come back. He was now a somewhat marked man–surely someone could sense that it was him?
Across town, Jag and Sil get involved in a fight in a bar (where Edwyll happened to be). That starts a large fight.
When it is discovered that Knull took the Dust, the goblins send Skart to find it. But since Skart can’t recover it right away, a group of goblin soldiers are released into the streets to kick Fae ass.
This coincides with one of the largest Fae Resistance Groups deciding that tonight is the night to finally fight back They have the numbers and the element of surprise.
But this night is full of surprises.
One of the most exciting things about the story is that it all takes place in one night. I couldn’t put the story down by then end. And even though there is a resolution, I could easily see other stories coming out of this one.
The one thing I didn’t really like about the story was the effects of the Dust. I realize that this is magical story and is full of non-human creatures, but the story mostly felt “real.” It was when the Fae started taking lots of Dust that the story went really deep into the fantastical and I couldn’t decide if those weird things were really happening or if it was in their heads.
But be warned this story is really, really, like really really violent. It is not for the faint of heart.
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