Fofo’s #CBR4 Review #04: The Rise of the Iron Moon by Stephen Hunt
Target: Stephen Hut’s The Rise of the Iron Moon (Jackelian 3)
Profile: Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Alien Invasion
The more Stephen Hunt novels I read, the harder they become to write about. There’s a formula to his works. Take between one and three protagonists, add supporting characters liberally, bake in parallel story arcs and serve over a hot bed of Deus Ex Machina. Mmmm. The method shares a lot with the Penny Dreadfulls that longtime protagonist Molly Templar writes when she’s not busy saving the world from sure destruction. I had a lot of hope for Hunt’s work evolving over the course of his series, particularly because he’s started playing with different storyline models. Books one and two of the Jackelian series fell firmly into the typical epic quest/adventure model, but Rise of the Iron Moon experiments with a story of invasion and resistance.
My husband read this recently and was sort of so-so in his feelings towards it, but I think this was the first book by this guy he’d read. He picked it up on a whim at the library.
I really wouldn’t expect anyone, even a fan of the series, to give this book more than mixed reviews. It’s too bad the series isn’t marketed as a series very well. There’s practically no mention of it on the cover, and they go out of their way to avoid talking about the previous protagonists.