Enjoy For Free Iron Axe (The Books Of Blood And Iron, #1) Composed By Steven Harper Accessible Through Audio Book

story. The plethora of characters made me afraid the book would be confusing but the bok proved me wrong.
The story and characters were pulled together nicely, I would recommend it to my friends and family, Mit Danr habe ich jetzt mein erstes Fantasybuch mit einem Troll bzw, einem Halbtroll in der Hauptrolle gelesen, Ich muss sagen das ich anfangs nicht wusst ob mir das gefällt, man hat ja so seine eigenen Fantasyvorlieben.
Aber Danr hat sich irgendwie sofort in mein Herz geschlichen und ich bin ihm gerne in sein Abenteuer gefolgt.


Als Halb Mensch und halb Troll hat Danr keinen leichten Stand, Die Menschen sind ihm gegenüber mißtrauisch und er glaubt das er bei seinem "wahrem" Volk besser aufgehoben wäre.
Dazu kommt aber das er seinem Trollvater zunächst alles andere als wohlgesonnen gegenübersteht, Warum verrate ich aber jetzt nicht, das gehört zu sehr in die Geschichte,

Danr hat in der heilkundigen Sklavin Aisa eine tolle Verbündete, Was ich dabei sehr shcön fand war, das sie zwar unter ihrem Herren zu leiden hat, aber trotzdem kein gebrochenes Mädchen ist.
Im Gegenteil, ich empfand sie als sehr stark, Als die beiden zusammen aufbrachen, hat Aisa einige mutige Aktionen gebracht, Also schwach ist sie nicht, Jedoch hat auch sie ihr Päckchen zu tragen und das steht zwischen ihr und Danr.


Mit Talfi kam dann noch ein weiterer Charakter ins Spiel den ich auf anhieb mochte.
Er war Danr ein toller, wenn auch einziger, Freund und hat mich mit seiner herzlichen und aufgeweckten Art gleich für sich eingenommen.
Das er so gut es ging zu Danr gehalten hat fand ich klasse,

Auch die Handlung bot einiges, erfrischend anders ist es das die Elfen nun mal die bösen sind.
Aber auch der Rest kann sich echt sehen lassen, Ich mag die Reise die Danr und seine Freunde antreten mussten um Weltenspalter zu finden,

Was ich jedoch nicht gut fand und deshalb leider ein Herzchen abziehen muss ist diese meiner Meinung nach zu ausschweifende Darstellung Danrs Meinungüber die homosexualität eines der Figuren im Buch.
Das hätte man nicht so in die Länge ziehen müssen, ist ja schließlich kein Coming OutRoman wo man das nicht gerade einfache Thema in ein paar Sätzen vom Tisch hat.
Das passt einfach nicht rein, Sorry. Ansonsten fand ich das Buch aber echt toll,

Ich kann das Buch Fantasyfans die mal einen erfrischend anderen Charakter in der Hauprolle haben möchten wirklich empfehlen.
Danr ist zwar ein Halber Troll aber er hat meiner Meinung nach mehr menschliches an sich.
Die Handlung ist interessant und auch die Charaktere finde ich gut gelungen, Bis auf meinen kleinen Kritikpunkt fand ich das Buch super und freue mich schon auf den zweiten Teil.
Has a sort of "grownup fairy tale" vibe happening, Very clear influence in Norse mythology in terms of setting all the classical races, a WorldTree with dimensional nexus properties, clear parallels to the Aesir pantheon though no Thor expy weird.
Some changes, with the addition of orcs not all Chaotic Evil, and the most distinctive racial reinterpretation, trolls much brighter and more moral than usual, and light elves straight out of Pratchett's "Lords and Ladies".
Actually, even worse.

Characters are generally likable, and not shallow caricatures, but no one's an ocean of depth, either.
Danr the halftroll hero shows the most at the beginning, and gets more onenoteish in the last third, though his heroic breakdown in "letting the monster loose" at the end is fun.
All have somewhat unique consequences and

problems,

Final villain shows up in person far too late to be properly imposing, and is dispatched a bit too easily and neatly, though he and his plan and the cosmic problem being solved take a backseat to the companions' own personal struggles, which may account for the slight lack of heft and seriousness in the overall feel of the narrative.
That and Harper's clear love of goddesses as mostly cuddly old grannies that could easily kill you.


A quick read, not ponderous or slow in any way, That's not all bad, but there's little true darkness to be had, even in aid of lending the atmosphere some balance.
Narrative ties up neatly, and leaves no clear idea where things will go next, much like the first Matrix or Pirates films.
This is also part of a trilogy, Your Mileage May Vary.

But overall, not bad at all, and certainly not the kind of tale one thinks one would get given the title.
This book was on my toread list of fantasy books with LGBT characters, Since I'm always on the lookout to support OwnVoices, I was delighted to discover that Steven Harper Piziks has a blog where he talks about his boyfriend husband and LGBT rights issues among other things.


Iron Axe was an interesting read for me, From its tags, I didn't think it was YA, but that's how it read to me: YA in a fantasy setting, tackling some very heavy issues such as recovery from sexual abuse, death of a parent, and homophobia, in greater depth than typically found in epic fantasy.


I really liked the setting and the three branches of beings, Most of them trolls, orcs, elves have been portrayed pretty widely in Western European folkore, fairytales, and the kind of modern fantasy that grew out of that mythology, e.
g. LoTR. I loved that the main hero in Harper's story Danr is halftroll, halfhuman, That was definitely something different and made him instantly sympathetic to me, having a softspot for misunderstood heroes.
Harper's take on elves, and their family branches fairies and sprites, was really innovative too, Their seductive power and quest for domination made for an intriguing spin,

There are a lot of magical elements that drew me in like 'twisting' a kind of teleportation, eye splinters which every child is born with, and those that can take them out can see truth, and Death being a goddess who can be held hostage with an unexpected impact.


As a reader who likes seeing LGBT characters frontandcenter, I was a little disappointed by the actual 'screen time' the couple of gay characters get.
And I wasn't crazy about the handling of those few sideline characters.
In a sense, the book takes the Bury Your Gays trope to new heights in that the main gay character Talfi gets graphically, gratuitously murdered multiple times! The saving grace is that he's magical and keeps coming back but still, it read to me like a vicious bashing for his defective gayness.
I have to believe the author did not intend to promote that message, but the overall portrayal of gay folks in the story felt problematic to me.
Talfi's "true love" kind of bursts onto the scene in the last few pages, and there's little development of who he is, or how the two guys reconcile after Talfi was brutally killed by his boyfriend's father.
As a result, their relationship comes off as really shallow, fawning over each other all of the sudden, in the midst of a huge war breaking out.
And then Talfi gets his head cut off again, By his best friend. It's just not the best treatment of a character who the author is trying to position as unfairly judged by others based on his sexuality.


Overall, I thought it was a good story that brought some fresh characters, fresh situations into a fantasy setting.
A fantasy told from the other side, About a half troll that saves the world, I thoroughly enjoyed it. This does what a similar type book, Grunts, does but without the poor attempts at humor.
Worth a read for any fantasy enthusiast, Enjoyable enough, but I doubt I will continue the series, I made it to just over halfway through this book before giving up, This book really isn't bad enough for me to give it just one star it has some decent worldbuilding and an interesting plot premise but it's written in a painfully basic way and the characters are to me at least uninteresting I couldn't bring myself to care about them, and I'm afraid that always kills a book for me.


I know other people love this book and that's good, but it's not for me.


And one thing that irritated me unreasonably WTF is up with that cover I mean, is that axe head stuck on with blutac or something! Draw a decent axe, FFS!! I just hate that it takes me so long to finish a book.
I believe had I read this in say two weeks I would have enjoyed it more.
Instead, because it has beenweeks, I felt it was sluggish, repetitive and utilitarian, My opinion of course is subject to my own speed handicap, Pooey Iron Axe is the first book in a newish epic fantasy series, Readers follow Danr, an indentured servant to a farmer who also happens to be half troll and half human.
His heritage makes him an outcast with no friends besides Aisa and Talfi, Aisa is a slave who has been sexually abused by her masters for a long time.
Talfi is a guy about Danr's age living with a Good Samaritan that Talfi calls Uncle Orfandell.


Strange things start to happen in and around Danr's village, A nearby farm is attacked by trolls, However, trolls are supposed to be locked into underground caves by magic, unable to come to the surface.
The spirits of the dead have also been unable to find peace, Instead of traveling to the afterlife, they remain close to their bodies and constantly demand release.
Through a series of strange circumstances, it falls to Danr and his two friends to find out what is going on and save the world from impending doom.


I really enjoyed about the firstof Iron Axe, The world building is superb, detailed but not confusing, Danr, Aisa, and Talfi are likable characters, However, at aboutthe oversimplified characterization started to really get to me, Some of the things Danr and Aisa do and say are so oversimplified that they seem to be caricatures instead of actual characters.
For example, without giving too much away, Danr's reaction to Talfi's big secret was infuriating, It was meant to be infuriating, I think, but the lack of complexity in Danr's thought process was what really got to me.


Since the characters are so very simplistic, the moral dilemmas they find themselves in are also depicted simplistically.
The result is that at times I felt like I was reading an excerpt from a children's moral story.
I read fantasy novels to escape the realities of daily life, not to get moral lessons fit for young children.


There are a lot of things I liked about Iron Axe, too, I've already mentioned the world building as one, The author subtly develops the theme of selfexamination and truth seeking, Before you can see the truth about those around you, you must first remove the obstacles that prevent you from seeing the truth about yourself.
Danr, Aisa, and Talfi all learn this separately, But, as Danr also learns, "people rarely wish to know the truth, "

Iron Axe getsfrom me, The good parts are really good, but the notsogood parts are really annoying,

I won two copies of Iron Axe from the publisher, The opinions expressed in this review are my own, .