Cold Iron & Love is Love

[cornerofmadness]

Cold Iron by Andy Diggle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cold Iron in one way is your typical fae folk tale but in another is a bit different in that instead of our usual suspects of say Ireland or England it's set on the Isle of Man, using their folklore. Kay is a young woman working in a rather rough bar, dreaming of making it off the rural island to the bigger cities, hoping her music will take her there. Her boyfriend is pretty much a loser and her parents are gone. She's been raised by her grandmother who is one hundred percent invested in the idea that the fae folk are very real, insisting on Kay touching the iron horse shoe every time she goes in and out.

I like granny even though her main purpose is to inform the reader about Manx folklore as she lectures Kay, even including the fact the island takes its name from Manannán mac Lir, a god-hero who now resides inside the fae realm. Kay, naturally believes none of it until she nearly runs over a young girl one night. Mona is on the run from a Glashtyn.

Mona was given to the fae -and to The Widower, Manannán's title as names have power - by someone in exchange for his wish, nearly 200 years ago. Determined to keep Mona safe and out of faerie hands, Kay is unafraid to take the fight to them.

The story ends with a prose epilogue about ten years down the road which was an interesting edition.

I love these kinds of faerie tales, the reminder they were not considered nice and cute in the past (though hot fae folk stories are fun too) I thought the story was well done and well paced. I also very much like Brokenshire and Muller's art. The one detail that stood about about granny, the hands. Hands are hard in general but they managed to capture that weathered skin, atrophied muscled hands down to the knobby arthritic knuckles. That really pleased me.



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LOVE IS LOVE Poetry Anthology: In aid of Orlando's Pulse victims and survivors by Lily G. Blunt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I bought this years ago as all proceeds went to helping others in the aftermath of the Pulse shooting in Orlando (and then put it somewhere in my TBR where it got swallowed up until now.

As with any poetry anthology it's going to be a YMMV situation. Some poems will speak to you. Some won't. That's the thing with poetry it tends to hit differently than prose. There's no real need to tell you my favorites, just that there were several I loved. I'm glad I bought this, though I wish there had been no need for the anthology in the first place.



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