Product Description

From the author of The Court of the Air and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves comes a thrilling new adventure set in the same Victorian-style world. Perfect for fans of Philip Pullman and Susanna Clarke. Born into captivity as a product of the Royal Breeding House, friendless orphan Purity Drake suddenly finds herself on the run with a foreign vagrant after accidentally killing one of her guards. Her strange rescuer claims he is on the run himself from terrible forces who mean to enslave the Kingdom of Jackals as they conquered his own nation. Purity doubts his story, until reports begin to filter through from Jackals' neighbours of the terrible Army of Shadows, marching across the continent and sweeping all before them. But there's more to Purity than meets the eye. As Jackals girds itself for war against an army of near-unkillable beasts serving an ancient evil with a terrible secret, it soon becomes clear that their only hope is a strange little royalist girl and the last, desperate plan of an escaped slave.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15426 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 455 pages

Review
Praise for THE RISE OF THE IRON MOON: 'All manner of bizarre and fantastical extravagance.' Daily Mail 'Hunt's imagination is probably visible from space. He scatters concepts that other writers would mine for a trilogy like chocolate-bar wrappers. This is Philip Pullman with a dose of benzedrine. Hold on to your hat and let yourself get carried away.' Tom Holt, SFX Praise for Stephen Hunt: 'A ripping yarn ! the story pounds along ! constant inventiveness keeps the reader hooked ! the finale is a cracking succession of cliffhangers and surprise comebacks. Great fun' SFX 'An inventive, ambitious work, full of wonders and marvels' Lisa Tuttle, The Times 'The characters are convincing and colourful, but the real achievement is the setting, a hellish take on Victorian London ! the depth and complexity of Hunt's vision makes it compulsive reading for all ages' Guardian 'Wonderfully assured ! Hunt knows what his audience like and gives it to them with a sardonic wit and carefully developed tension' Time Out 'Studded with invention' Independent 'Rich and colourful !keeps you engrossed !a confident, audacious novel' SFX 'Like a magpie, Stephen Hunt has plucked colourful events from history and politics and used them for inspiration ! Hunts tells his full-blooded tale with lip-smacking relish, revealing a vivid, often gruesome imagination ! [it] brims with originality and, from the first, its chase-filled plot never lets up' Starburst 'To say this book is action packed is almost and understatement ! a wonderful escapist yarn! Definitely a book to take with you on a long flight' Interzone

Review
`Wonderfully ASSURED ... Hunt knows what his audience like and gives it to them with A SARDONIC WIT and carefully developed TENSION'

Review
`Stephen Hunt evokes DICKENS and PULLMAN ... impressive'

Customer Reviews

Stephen Hunt does War of the Worlds!
The action in this third volume of Hunt's Jackelian sequence takes place on an epic scale, with the world of Jackals menaced by something nasty from Out There. Even the meddling Court of the Air can't help (indeed, I wonder if, after this, we will hear any more of the Court?)

For those who haven't read the previous volumes, The Court of the Air and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves it might be best to do so before reading this, as there is a lot of backstory. But you will want to move onto this one quickly! In summary: The Kingdom of Jackals exists on a far future Earth - or so it appears - and is at loggerheads with its deadly rival, revolutionary Quatreshift (think late 18th century- early 19th century Britain and France). Defended by its trusty fleet of airships, Jackals expects to win the day. But dark forces are at work. The technology is steam driven, the politics are very pre Reform Act "Roast Beef of Old England", the invaders are Wellesian.

In this installment, we find out much more about Jackals' past, and meet again the main characters from "The Court of the Air" many of whom were elsewhere in "Kingdom Beyond the Waves". As always, the story is frenetic and filled with ideas, an excellent read. My only reservation - and it is a small one - is that the sheer amount of "placement" necessary to get everyone arranged in this story, and the scale involved, rather dulls the narrative. Whole nations (and the Court of the Air) are ravaged by the invader before the main narrative really begins. Epic journeys take place between chapters. Molly and Jared rub shoulders with governments and join in an immense scientific project to save Jackals. It all gets rather breathless. That's the first third of the book.

Then it slows down, and a more familiar, and compelling, Huntian narrative commences - including derring do, treachery, last minute escapes, mind boggling technology and (not, I hope, too much of a spoiler) ultimate triumph.

Highly recommended.

Stop press: Secrets of the Fire Sea has been announced for next February.

A fantasy adventure with rockets
This is the 3rd fantasy novel by Stephen Hunt set in the Kingdom of Jackals, but unlike a lot of other fantasy series, it's a stand-alone work (so real need to read all the other ones in the series: although you'd benefit from some of the prior world-building, perhaps).

The Rise of the Iron Moon, like the previous two books by Hunt, is a real page-turner. There is a slightly slower burn to get into the novel than the previous two in the series, but once you're in, it's a fast clip all the way to the finishing line, and what a brilliant ride it is. There's an invasion of Jackals by an enemy called the Army of Shadows, and without wishing to reveal any spoilers, they've come from a rather longer way to invade the Kingdom than anyone initially expects.

This novel sees the return of Molly from The Court of the Air, slightly older and wiser, but still unlucky enough to be in the eye of the storm, along with her long suffering u-boat privateer friend, Commodore Black. She's joined by Coppertracks, the super-intelligent steamman (a nano-mechanical lifeform), as well as an escaped Royalist girl on the run with a slave, and a drunken soldier from the rocket corps called Connor of Cassarabia.

The setting is the same 18th/19th century technology level of things that you would expect from the Jackelian world - basically whatever survived the ice age that wiped out most of humanity. The Army of Shadows, unfortunately for the heroes, is attacking a little better armed than rifles and airships, though!

Anyone who enjoyed the first too novels will love this one too, I think. An intelligent fantasy adventure that'll have you up at night desperate to finish it.

Journey to the moon
This is the third book in the Kingdom of Jackals, following on from "The Court of the Air" and "The Kingdom Beyond the Waves". It is recommended that these books are read before coming to The Iron Moon. Stephen Hunt's latest novel is an epic fantasy and science fiction novel set on a kind of alternative world. The assortment of varied characters try to stop the threat of an army of shadows. Hunt ensures that the readers interest is kept throughout. Recommended.