The Iron Duke

By: Meljean Brook

Narrated by: Faye Adele

Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

First in an all-new series where seductive danger and steampunk adventure abound in the gritty world of the Iron Seas.

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession.

But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England. To save them, Mina and Rhys must race across zombie-infested wastelands and treacherous oceans-and Mina discovers the danger is not only to her countrymen, as she finds herself tempted to give up everything to the Iron Duke.

©2010 Meljean Brook (P)2011 Penguin

Love this series!

The characters and world of wonder come alive with a great reading. It’s an amazing mesh of story and images that is a joy!

Amazing detail and story!

I was very impressed with this story! I was a little hesitant to get it but am very glad I did. This story had everything, action, science fiction, history, and romance. The author was able to make the details believable and I loved to imagine the world she created. Definitely worth the credit!

A perfect balance of passion and plots

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good story plot with an intriguing twist on the Victorian era as well as a dark and passionate romance.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Iron Duke?

That is the interesting thing about this book. Each moment is a wonderful build on other moments so it would be hard for me to isolate just one or two as a favorite.

What about Faye Adele’s performance did you like?

She is definitely a voice actor and not just a narrator. I felt as though her voice led me through the author's world and not just recited it.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Hmmm. Even in a world turned upside down by greed, prejudice and the need for power, love, acceptance and redemption can be found.

Any additional comments?

This book is great if you like a good mature romance with just the right dash of mystery and intrigue. I found the characters to be quite entertaining and the descriptions of the places and people to be just the right amount to lure me into the author's world without making me feel as though I needed to fast forward past anther long description of someone's attire or the color of the sky.The romance builds at what I considered to be a good upward pace. I found Rhys' dark and controlling behavior to be alluring. Mina's character is a wonderful blend of strength and intelligence with a touch of innocence.The rest of the cast of characters were also good and added the right amount of humor, anger, mystery and wisdom. Definitely an entertaining read.

Wonderful reading.

I've read this book many times and the audio version was just as good. Enjoyed the accent of the narrator.

Didn't finish it.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listened to the vast majority of the book but didn't find myself excited to listen to any more. I kept thinking that there was so much back story, world building and character development that it would get "on with it," but alas. The author was a good story teller with a plodding, rambling story.

Any additional comments?

The author was inventive in her descriptions of the mechanical devices in her world. I felt here world building was very good but, again, the plot just didn't move along fast enough for me. I so wanted the author to set up the fanciful world then go on the grand adventure but I felt the adventure wasn't grand.

A new genre for me - and I’m hooked

What a fascinating world! So creative and detailed. I had no idea what I would be getting, haven chosen this author after a short story in an anthology. However, I’m excited for more. I became a little lost with the English names flying about in the plot, and who the Black Guard was at first, (and other various bad guys) but I caught on enough to follow.
As for performance, I have no criticism but I’m finicky in that I always hope for the male lead’s voice to resonate and have a deeper timbre. It’s my only problem with audio. Though I can’t truly complain because a female narrator can probably only do so much, (as with a male narrator and female voices) but it tends to be a tripping point for me when trying to immerse myself into the story.

Pleasant surprise

This isn’t my typical fare- steampunk and zombies, but I’m SO glad I gave it a shot and I’ve got a new author’s worth of work to delve into now. Great world-building, fantastic narrator and a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming! Highly recommend!

First steampunk book for me

This is the first steampunk book I've listened to. I like this one so much that I'm going to listen to others by this author. The story is well paced, and the characters are anything but predictable. The narrator is excellent. She is so good that sometimes I felt like I was watching a movie - she really makes the story come alive. Now onto the next one!

Grimdark steampunk espionage regency

Great big-picture concept with some clumsy execution and rather a lot of plots to follow. The story takes place in an alternate Victorian London newly freed from two hundred years of Horde subjugation that included a plague of nanobots which created crazed zombies out of people, caused bug-fever and death, or permitted controlling people to make them Frenzy. This is steampunk with dirigibles, Krakens (robotic octopuses), and mechanic enhanced people. It’s also a mystery thriller combined with romance between Inspector Mina and a duke (and former pirate captain) Rhys, who join forces to investigate a murder, search for a hijacked ship, and track down a dangerous weapon. And further, it’s a story full of prejudice and abuse, where people do all sorts of awful things to each other based on their appearance, gender, or simple vulnerability.

On the plus side, the world this author creates is unique and fascinating. I loved the concept of a post-nano-bug-apocalypse in regency London. It had the feel of Reign on Fire, but with bug-created zombies instead of dragons. I liked that there were strong women, including Mina, her mother, and Yasmeen (my favorite cutthroat captain who stars in book 2). And I like that the regency romance was edgier than the usual Julia Quinn-type fare (not that I don’t enjoy her books now and again, but I think broodier romance works with steampunk, and especially this kind of steampunk).

On the downside, there’s a frustrating imbalance of detail. Throughout the story we get a lot of detail about both MC’s tortured pasts while at the same time the Horde is described in only the broadest brushstrokes. Are the Horde human or beasts? How come we never meet a single one? What makes half Horde people easy to spot? I think maybe the Horde is like the Mongols and Ghengis Khan... which is why Mina’s black hair marks her... but I could be completely wrong because there’s so little detail. Downsides also include past sexu@l abuse of women and children, prejudice and vitriol (albeit mostly against Horde half-breeds), torture and PTSD. With all that dark, I feel like there needed to be more humor or livelier dialogue. Then there’s the awkward romance, which is mostly him being arrogant and controlling for half the book, until they are both drunk and he forces her to accept or@l (ch10), at which point they embark on several explicit scenes oddly lacking in chemistry (ch12, 13, 14, and 18). I’m not sure if it was the writing or the narrator than made the nooky very meh for me; I didn’t find the narrator’s male voices very sexy at all. Finally, the bad guys are largely one-note and absent until the scenes where they are revealed, captured and dealt with, making them not very interesting.

On the whole, especially getting this on sale, this was a solid enough book that I will listen again sometime. I liked book 2 even more as it has more fun, action and adventure as Tomb Raider goes zombie steampunk. Book 3 abandons all the characters of books 1&2 and is an on-the-run mystery adventure as an inexperienced pair seeks Amazons in Iceland- it’s a bit more sweet than I like and dwells too much on the prejudices against mechanically enhanced people and LGBTQ relationships, but still a unique and entertaining story. The prequel Here There Be Monsters is most like book 2 with a swashbuckling steampunk romance that benefits from the novella, get-right-to-the-fun-parts, length.

If you want more paranormal in your steampunk romance, try my favorite paranormal regency series Darkest London by Kristen Callihan.

If you’d prefer paranormal steampunk romance that’s lighter and cleaner, consider Soulless by Carriger, beginning a jaunty series that includes werewolves and vampires. That series ended up being too juvenile and silly for me.

If you liked the grimdark, insectoid adventure more than the steampunk or romance, consider the trilogy beginning with A Crown for Cold Silver.

If you want to go even more Sleepy Hollow, gothic steampunk mystery horror, and can handle a MM romance, try Magpie Lord. It’s darker, edgier, and bdsm-ier (is that a thing?)

Great world building and steamy sex scenes

The first chapter is a little dense with details, but stick with it. She has a lot information to convey for you to understand the story, but once she gets past that, you are off and running! Its a really interesting world with all the wonderful little steampunk details to make you smile. And the sex, good heavens!