The Iron Law: A Review of The Iron Dragon’s Mother, by Michael Swanwick

Fantasy is a versatile genre.  There is classic fantasy, high fantasy, grimdark fantasy, science fantasy, urban fantasy, industrial fantasy, and more.  Any other genre can be combined with fantasy in ways that improve both genres.  The Lord of the Rings is thought of the epitome of classic fantasy, but even that combined a gritty war drama, politics, environmentalism, and linguistics into its story.  The Dresden Files is the quintessential urban fantasy, taking elements of modern-day noir and crime drama alongside its elements of high fantasy.  Then there is industrial fantasy, the combination that often seems the most contradictory.  When we think of elves and gnomes, it is not the natural inclination to imagine their industrial age.  Yet imagining an industrialized fairy tale is exactly what Michael Swanwick’s The Iron Dragon’s Mother accomplishes.

Regicide: A Review of Protect the Prince, by Jennifer Estep

A good fantasy series can potentially go on forever.  Series like the The Wheel of Time or The Dresden Files easily tell a dozen books worth of story.  However, a great fantasy series knows it’s ending, even if takes a while to get there.  Jim Butcher has stated he knows the ending for The Dresden Files and how many books the series will contain.  The reader can see that the story is leading somewhere definite.  Even if the ending suggested in book one is now the ending for the entire series, it still suggests a finality.  Jennifer Estep’s Crown of Shards series is only two books in, but we already have a sense of where the ultimate plot is going.  Machinations have already begun and there is a clear-long term villain.  Ultimately, it is always possible for a series to arrive at its first ending, and realize there is more story to tell.  With great fantasy, there is a sea of endless possibility that allows characters to develop and keep the plot always interesting.