Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Orbit (Time Warner)
Release Date: February 2003
ISBN: 184149156X
Awards:
Format Reviewed: Paperback
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Genre: Fantasy
Reviewed: 2003
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde
Reviewer Notes:

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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