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

okay

narration a bit stilted and made some of the already melodramatic dialogue even cringier than it needed to be, but overall better than expected

Good stuff

I forgot how good this author is and had not read anything of hers in quite some time. I am so glad I found her again. This was everything a girl could want in an adult Steampunk Romance novel. Drama, air ships, adventure, automatons, steamy romance, swashbuckling, misunderstandings, angst, and suspense. Love it!

STEAMPUNK Fans will not be disappointed!

I have been waiting for this book to come out as an audio production for a while now. I had read 3 or 4 different raving reviews, from various book review sites I follow.
The reviews were right, I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters, and the author did a wonderful job making the world they live in seem real.

The narrator was perfect for this book, and I was pleased to see that she is narrating the next book in this series also.

FYI: There are some pretty steamy love scenes, I found that they were well placed in the storyline, but I would not recommend to younger readers.

Great Adventure!

After reading the short story of “Here there be Monsters”, which is a prequel to this book, I was ready to consume all the steam punk that has been written in this series. I had never read steam punk before and didn’t have a clue what it means. So after looking it up it means in short using sci-fi technology, history, fantasy and combining them in a story. The story is a little confusing the first hour, but it prevailed and made a wonderfully fun adventure.

VT. FAN

What did you love best about The Iron Duke?

THERE IS NOT ONE THING THAT I DID NOT LOVE ABOUT THIS BOOK. THE STORY, THE ROMANCE, THE ACTION, THE DIALOGUE EVERTHING. VERY WELL WRITTEN

What other book might you compare The Iron Duke to and why?

I AM RELATIVELY NEW TO STEAMPUNK SO I HAVE NOTHING TO COMPARE IT TO.

Have you listened to any of Faye Adele’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I HAD LISTENED TO A LORRAINE HEATH BOOK NARRATED BY ADELE AND WAS SO IMPRESSED BY HER PERFORMANCE THAT FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN OVER 700 AUDIO BOOKS PURCHESED I WENT LOOKING FOR OTHER BOOKS BASED ON THE NARRATOR ALONE. SINCE SHE DOES NOT HAVE MANY I DECIDED TO GIVER THE IRON DUKE A TRY EVEN THOUGH I DID NOT THINK I WOULD LIKE IT. L. O. V. E. D IT AND HAVE PURCHESSED THE REST OF THE AUDIOBOOKS .

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

THIS BOOK COVERED ALL EMOTIONAL REACTIONS THE ROMANCE WAS GREAT

Any additional comments?

THIS BOOK WILL TURN YOU ON TO STEAMPUNK AS NO OTHER WILL. AT 63 I AM NOW INTO STEAMPUNK ALL DUE TO FAYE ADELE.

Iron Seas is awesome!

I love this series and Ms. Adele is the perfect voice. The only complaint I have is, why aren't the rest of Ms. Brook's books and shorter work also on Audible? I'd buy them!

Steampunk at it's finest

Great world building , admirable heroes, non-stop action. I re-listen to this periodically, it is so good.

Such a wild ride!

I had no idea what I was going into when I picked up this book. And now I'm so pleased with it!! Like these characters and this world were such fun! Rhys and Mina!

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?)