Review: Smoke and Iron

Smoke and Iron
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

The opening moves of a deadly game have begun. Jess Brightwell has put himself in direct peril, with only his wits and skill to aid him in a game of cat and mouse with the Archivist Magister of the Great Library. With the world catching fire, and words printed on paper the spark that lights rebellion, it falls to smugglers, thieves, and scholars to save a library thousands of years in the making... if they can stay alive long enough to outwit their enemies. 

Fair warning, prepare yourselves for a bumpy ride this book, overall we're preparing for the grand finale of the series in the next book and everything is leading up to that, but the book itself is quite explosive on it's own. 

Picking up from where we left off in the previous book, and Jess is playing quite the dangerous game. His POV honestly had me feeling so tense and on the edge of my seat waiting for something to go wrong. Things are really heating up this book and the stakes are high, seeing as how pretty much everyone is in danger at one point or another. 

Along with Jess's POV, our main POV's are Khalila who gets her time to shine as she becomes the leader of the little group that is Dario, Santi, Thomas and Glain. I have to say, I'm really excited with where her story is going, I've been hoping for bigger things for her throughout this series and it seems like Caine is coming through. We also have Wolfe's POV which is quite dark, and Morgan. I really loved how the multi POV was utilised for this book. 

We have a lot going on, it's all go from page one as each POV has a plan or goal to achieve and we see things being set in motion, threads woven in and the plan start to come together. We have the same POV for a few chapters, before switching to another POV for the next part and it really keeps you reading. We have piratical action from one group, more subtle, insidious plotting from others and the swift changes keeps the pace moving along so there's never a dull moment. 

Then when we hit the final part of the book and the Feast of Greater Burning things step up even more, as we get Thomas, Santi and Glain as well as the previous POVs. 

I love getting to see different parts of the world and how they've been changed by the Library, and subtly twisted to fit this world, and this time we get to see Spain, not as much of it as we got to see Philadelphia but we do get to explore it a little. 

Our characters have been through a lot already but even in this book they still have more to get through. Khalila is becoming more and more a leader and she's not the only character to still be changing. Wolfe faces the darkness and so does Santi in his own way. As for Jess and his brother...I feel like their relationship has come a long way, and they make an excellent team and I did enjoy seeing them team up. 

The pace is steady, building up towards the action at the end and the turning point of the series with sprinkles of action, deceit and betrayal throughout. The ending is certainly explosive but after being built up so much...perhaps a tad quick. But ultimately it wraps up some plot threads and weaves new ones in as one situation is partially under control...but there's trouble coming, one loose thread to deal with and things still need to be resolved.