The Iron Wyrm Affair

Starred review from June 4, 2012
Multigenre talent Saintcrow (Angel Town) launches a delicious steampunk alternate London that pays more than a little stylistic homage to Sherlock Holmes, adding additional excitement in the form of magical duels, backstreet chases, battles with giant mecha, and confrontations with ancient wyrms and gryphons. Emma Bannon, a sorceress working for the spirit of Britannia and her current physical vessel, Queen Victrix, is given two tasks: collect and protect Dr. Archibald Clare, an unregistered but skilled mentath (logic genius), and find out who’s behind the recent deaths of several mentaths and sorcerers. Bannon slowly begins to trust Clare, and as he uses his significant mental powers to work through the nonmagical pieces of the investigation, they become a strong team based on mutual respect. The absence of romance means a tighter focus on both action and deduction, and keeps the story appropriate for Saintcrow’s younger fans. Sensual writing, intricate plotting, and sympathetically quirky, satisfyingly competent characters make this series one to watch. Agent: Miriam Kriss, Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

June 15, 2012
Sorcery, steampunk, Sherlock Holmes and an alternate world: first of a series from the author of Angel Town (2011, etc.). Beneath Britain slumbers a huge, ancient, mighty dragon; if it ever wakes up, its fire will destroy the world. In Londinium, Queen Victrix, the current incarnation of the goddess Britannia, commissions Emma Bannon, Sorceress Prime, to protect Archibald Clare, a failed and now unregistered mentath--due to a mistake, he served time in prison for reasons only hinted at--capable of extraordinary feats of deduction. Mentaths, for whom data manipulation is a compulsive need rather than a means to an end, have more in common with Frank Herbert's human-computer Mentats than legendary fictional detectives, however. Bannon has formidable skills, although how magic works is far from clear. She mistrusts Clare and won't give him the data he needs, while he, naturally, is extremely well-informed, except, oddly, about sorcery, and considers her illogical. Mikal, Bannon's lone Shield, or protector (he kills nasty things that threaten her while she's preoccupied with sorcery), betrayed his previous employer, a treacherous sorcerer; secretly, he's a shape-shifting serpent--and her lover. Plot? Well, Saintcrow doles it out piecemeal, without giving Clare or the reader enough clues to add up, but somebody's killing registered mentaths and also sorcerers. The conspiracy possibly involves Cedric Grayson, Chancellor of the Exchequer. But to what end, and who's behind the conspiracy? Clearly not the clownish Grayson. Add to the mix a logic engine, dragons, gryphons, an Italian assassin, steam-powered clockhorses and the curious unavailability of hansom cabs. Intriguing but messy; two of the chief ingredients would have sufficed, four is extreme overkill.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2012
The first book in Saintcrow's new steampunk series introduces Emma Bannon, a prime-level sorceress with a troubled past, and Archibald Clare, a mentath-class genius with a talent for Holmesian-style deductions who just happens to be unregistered due to some recent unfortunate events. Which makes it rather easy for the Crown to lure him into its service after someone, or something, starts killing London-based mentaths. Set in an alternate early-Victorian-era Britain ruled by young Victrix, the novel offers an abundance of steam- and clockwork-based gadgets that may overwhelm readers unfamiliar with the trappings of the genre, but fans will be thrilled with Saintcrow's atmospheric settings. A well-developed world and a large cast of characters set the stage for several sequels featuring the intriguing duo of Bannon and Clare. Fast paced and full of plot twists, this is a lightweight summer read for fans of Gail Carriger and Meljean Brooks.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)