Synopsis
A fallen empire. A goblin airship captain. One big, blasphemous problem.
Captain William Blair has taken shady jobs before—what goblin hasn’t? But this shady job has pirates off the port bow and legendary aethermancers knocking at his cabin door. Unfortunately, Wil has sworn an Oath to escort his newest dubious passenger wherever she wants to go… and a goblin must be worth his word.
The ragtag crew of the Iron Rose once survived the fall of an empire—but none of them are interested in revisiting the experience. As the dregs of the Imperium rise again to claw at their heels, Wil and his crew must face the literal ghosts of their past… or else history may well repeat itself.
Review
After loving the prequel novella, I was eager to dive into the first full-length story set in this world. The story picks up after the prequel as Wil and his crew of loveable rogues are dragged into another scheme, this one with even bigger potential consequences to match the longer page count. As I’d hoped, we get to see more of the characters in a broader plot that explores more of the world and brings us into big world politics. The essential setup starts off as a simple job in which our crew of heroes offer to escort a woman to a certain location and ensure she arrives safely there. It’s swiftly revealed that their mysterious passenger is very much not as innocuous as she seems, however, and soon events escalate wildly beyond what any of our heroes expect.
As before, the story is told through the eyes of Wil Blair, the goblin captain who immediately won me over in the prequel. I was excited to see more of the crew who stole my heart in the novella and we have some new faces introduced here too. The character work remains one of the story’s biggest strengths, and there’s a level of moral complexity here that I absolutely loved. We learn through flashbacks that the protagonist, Wil, once worked for the enemy as part of the army of the villainous empire that once ruled the world of the Imperium – with the caveat that he was only twelve years old at a the time. As a result, he’s spent the past 20 or so years trying to atone for fighting for the enemy and everything of his actions makes sense when viewed through that lens. We see the repercussions of these events via the complex character relationships amongst the crew as some fought on one side and some on the other. And yet there’s also a found family-style bond between this rag-tag crew that results in some seriously emotionally hard-hitting moments. (There was one particular scene earlier on in the story that was a serious gut-punch. Authors, you know what you did.)
I loved the world, too, and we get to see so much more of the setting, ranging from the city of Pelaeia – which is next to a ruin that literally screams with the ghostly echoes of restless spirits – to the grim smog-filled city of Morgause where the protagonist grew up. Every setting feels lived-in and that it carries the resonance of history from the war to the collapse of the Imperium and the machinations in the background that hint at a lot more still to come. We also got to learn more about the fascinating worldbuilding elements such as the aethermancers (the magic users), and how this ties into the steampunk technology of the world, while the mysterious power players of the fairies lurk in the background.
The plot is engaging and the tension continues to build as the stakes escalate, resulting in a story that kept me glued to the pages even during the quieter moments. I appreciated that the longer page count gave the authors more scope to develop the characters and their relationships with a larger-scale plot that remains fast-paced and engaging throughout. There are some fantastic action sequences from airship battles to tense standoffs with goblin criminals and close encounters with terrifying ghosts. Wil’s narration is highly entertaining and adds plenty of humour to a narrative that often veers darker than the prequel, delving into themes of imperialism and war and morality. The authors manage to perfectly balance light and darkness and results in a highly entertaining story that has deeper undercurrents.
The novella won me over, but I feel like the characters really come into their own in this first novel in the series, and it’s the sort of story that you just get lost in and forget you’re reading. Honestly, I’m on board with everything the authors decide to do in this world next. There’s so much creativity and scope to explore more in the future, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for these characters.
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