Review Devon Monk's Dead Iron.

An apology here for those who have read this already...I evidently used terms such as "his" in this review,  Devon is a she.  Surprised no one took me to task over that. And I used the word "word" when I wanted world. Hopefully I caught all of the mis-pronouns .

I hadn’t planned on doing this so soon but I did a shorter version of this review on a writer’s forum I belonged to and had a couple of extra minute so here it is:

I have been reading a book in a semi new series. "Dead Iron" by Devon Monk. Oh boy he is some writer. First of her's I have read even though he has out a few.

This series--with three now--is hmm, well I'm not sure. They call it steampunk but is it? It is but it's more than that. I want to say an extreme version of Steampunk but that's not quite right either, it's like steampunk took a sudden left turn. More like Gearpunk? That's not quiet right either. Hmmm, SteamgearStrangepunk? Yes, strange has a capitol letter. You have to read the book to get the significance of that. 

It's set in Western times, about the time they built the railroad. It has what are probably elves and dwarves but they are not called that. The short, wide men dig tunnels and stone talks to them. 

Not sure how to talk more about without giving away major plot points but I think it’s worth the read. I will say that the Strange are dark beings who want bodies--any type but especially human. I believe that even the good guy’s from the other Realm are called Strange but they are different.  

However I will say one things--well two things. One is that a part of the ending is strongly hinted at. I won’t be the only one to figure it out. At the same time there are surprises and one or two times someone different than expected shows up to help.  

The second item I will mention is a tiny spoiler. It has little to do with the plot. What a warwagon where in you know what did that come from?? There is no warning, it just kind appears to hold off one set of good guys. What is Devon a fan of John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and/or directer Burt Kennedy? For those who don’t know it’s an old Western.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Wagon

There's danger, a curse by a god, guys that turn into wolves, Magic, a witch, adventure and great writing. It's action packed with little time to catch your breath. There is some but as I said little. The world Devon invented has characteristics of UF and Western fantasies but he adds some twists so it’s not the same old. Monk is another one to model writing after, he knows how to do action scenes. It forced me to read past my allotted time. 

That's it for me for this one.