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Publisher:
Orbit (Time Warner) |
Release
Date: February 2003 |
ISBN:
184149156X |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon US || UK |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Fantasy |
Reviewed:
2003 |
Reviewer:
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewer
Notes: |
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The
Iron Chain
Legends of the Land Book II
By
Steve Cockayne
As anybody who has read the first
Legends of the Land novel Wanderers & Islanders (also
reviewed on this site) will know when you open a Steve Cockayne
novel you can prepare for a treat. If you love fantasy but wonder
why so much of it is about dungeons and dragons when there are many
other rich sources to be mined for stories, then this book is for
you. What is it about? Perhaps that isn't altogether easy to say.
As with the first novel, it concerns three very different people--two
of whom were in the earlier book and also took a leading role. Michael
"Rusty" Brown is now an adult and soon has a family as
well to care for, and with all the reforms King Matthew is making
he soon finds that he has a demanding new job. Leonardo Pegasus
is still working in the country pub, little knowing that his Multiple
Empathy machine has been reproduced many times over and has caused
something of a technological revolution. But what are these imps
that are said to exist inside it, and who is Lee?
Threaded
through this tale of a world that is slightly removed from our own
is the sinister figure of Tom Slater, at once sinning and sinned
against, and his mysterious chain. As the other characters live
out their lives, we can eavesdrop on his counseling sessions and
discover what has made him who and what he is.
Steve Cockayne has once again produced
something that is very English and enjoyably original. The world
they inhabit is reminiscent of children's literature, but at the
same time is a compelling satire on modern Britain, a land that
formerly contained something of the fairy tale about it but has
since been subjected to some sinister "reforms" and changes.
We see a world inhabited by complex traditions and possessing a
certain innocence turned upside down and invaded by bureaucracy,
pointless new rules and leaving no room for many displaced people
while others profit on their misery. Put like that, it sounds rather
grim and its underlying message is all rather chilling, but if you
want to be dazzled by originality and read something that may one
day have its share of imitators then this is it. The best fantasy
of 2003? In the top five, I should think.
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