“Ironborn” is a fun, action-filled YA Fantasy novel that does not quite live up to its hype. Publicists should not toss the names of Terry Pratchett and Joe Abercrombie around lightly; raised expectations are the main cause of one-star reviews.
Setting that aside, this is a reasonable book of its kind, full of quirky but stereotyped characters and mild humour of the sort that the naïve think rough, tough men indulge in. It’s in a sub-category sometimes called “Sword but no Sorcery,” where magic is minimal, and reader interest leans heavily on the “Sword” part.
This is the tale of a crippled beggar in an extremely ugly medieval environment, barely eking out an existence through use of his wits. A questionable turn of fortune sees him stowing away by mistake on a ship full of Marines on an undercover operation. He works his way into their group because they gradually come to recognize his wit and grit, just as the readers do. Soon we find ourselves cheering each unlikely success. It’s easy to believe in just about anything if you really want to.
From there the book is a constant battle against barely believable (even for Fantasy) odds.
The other strength of the book is the world building. It may not be a pretty world, but the description is detailed and powerfully cringeworthy, and the sights, sounds, and especially smells draw us in. And also revolt us.
On the negative side, I found the writing difficult to get into because of the awkwardness of the sentences. Some were merely misplaced modifiers:
“He looked up to see Quicksilver in the rigging, who was now raining down flask after flask of oil…”
But this one…
“The ships at the docks, and the Auld Faithful, and the family he never had waited, ready to carry him to that future.”
…is grammatically correct, but I had to read “he never had waited” three times to figure out what it meant.
But my main difficulty in this review is deciding what readership to recommend the novel to. The naïve dialogue, potty humour and simple character motivation seems appropriate for pre-teen readers, but the gritty subject matter leans towards PG-13. Battle scenes are remarkable for their repeated gory descriptions of people being pierced by ballista bolts, and limbs and heads being lopped off.
Basically, this book resembles the over-the-top violent video games and graphic novels parents wish their fourteen-year-old son would stay away from.
Four stars.
