I gave up on reading Elizabeth Bear’s Blood and Iron last night. What killed the book for me were the constant obscure references to events that happened outside the book. It was like eavesdropping on a couple of old friends: “Of course I couldn’t because of what happened last Thursday” “Oh yeah, and when you think about the stuff from Christmas, it’s not surprising that they did that.” This is the first book in The Promethan Age series.
Blood and Iron is a contemporary urban fantasy that assumes a world of magic hiding in the shadows of our own world. The Prometheus Club has been battling against Faerie by using technology to repel the Fae. They are on the point of eradicating Faerie forever for their numerous crimes against humanity. The Faerie court’s hunter is involved with the current incarnation of Arthur and seeks to entangle this Arthur’s Merlin. There’s also the hunter and the Arthur’s child who was abducted by (or surrendered to?) the Faerie queen.
The story is interesting but it seems deliberately convoluted. I didn’t care enough about any of the characters to continue trying to unravel it. I will not be reading any other books in this series.