“Night was falling across the plains, the sun swallowed by the distant blue ridges of the western horizon, its lingering band of golden fire casting the tattered blanket of clouds beyond in vivid hues of amber and rose. The darkest clouds loomed directly overhead, their edges blood-hued by the dying sun like cleaving blades. Ree hoped it was not an omen.”

The rebellion is in full swing and the Guild must be brought down before it manages to gain anymore power. Ree is super focused on this goal, she’s a General in this war, a fighter, a strategist, a killer. Yet she is also a mother. Javani is no longer just a kid, she’s becoming a woman with ambitions, dreams, a life of her own. As tensions rise these two will collide but the war must continue nonetheless. With rebels, Guild assassins, technological advances, old and new alliances all coming into play the fate of the Plains hangs on a thin thread.

The Iron Road by David Wragg is the explosive, action packed, grand finale to the Tales of the Plains trilogy. 

At the heart of this series has always been the mother/daughter relationship between Ree and Javani and their explosive conflict. Their relationship has always been strained with Ree being an ill-tempered, overbearing and at times micromanaging parent. In turn Javani has never understood Ree’s cautiousness, the constant demands her mother is under, she misinterprets love for annoyance and so is at constant odds with Ree. Wragg depicts such realistic characters here because Javani desperately needs to grow up and Ree desperately needs to allow her to do so. Yet this is the book which the narrative allows for this to happen. With Ree being gravely injured this pulls her out of the action for the majority of the story and in her absence her daughter is the one to step up. Yes, Javani still makes mistakes, still behaves petulantly and rashly, I mean she is fifteen years old so she was never going to instantly have wisdom, however she does begin to listen to others and as her role in the rebellion becomes leading and motivating everybody else to fight back against the Guild and not simply accept defeat, she discovers she’s actually quite good at it. Walking in her mother’s shoes gives her a deeper understanding of what her mother encountered every day, it gives her a glimpse into an adult who had everybody rely on her and the weight of that understandably caused her to be irritable. Again this is such a realistic representation, how often have we misunderstood our parents until we’re faced with the same decisions they had to make? Until we’re faced with the same responsibility? Ree and Javani were illustrated as two sides of the same coin and their whole dynamic was just superbly crafted.

“Ree lived close to the knuckle, hard on the plains, and though she’d always known there would be limits she was not ready to face them now.

How much longer could she do this? And what would she leave when she could not?”

Although the previous two books were self-contained stories that technically could both be read as standalones, The Iron Road manages to bring the trilogy together to give a fully rounded view of the story. For those of us who, like me, were missing Anashe and The White Spear from The Hunters are treated to their return and for those wanting more of our grumpy archer, Anri and adorably sweet Manatas and Taurus, then Wragg also satisfies here too. We even have The Commodore, who happens to be a firm favourite character of mine (if you know who she is, you know!) whose major role in the narrative delighted me to no end. Then we have two new characters, Maral and Kuzari, two assassins working for Beralas, chairman of the Guild. Despite both being highly seasoned killers, and you know being on the enemy’s side, they were both so likeable and Maral’s journey to discovering the truth about her past was a fascinating addition. All these character dynamics worked wonderfully together, all the narrative arcs converged satisfactorily and Wragg delivered such an entertaining read.

Wragg has always been a writer who can deliver on the fun factor and oh my are you in for a treat here! There are so many scenes within this book that made me laugh out loud, they were full of shenanigans, action packed, ridiculously dangerous but incredibly hilarious. The interactions between characters were outstanding, full of witty banter, miscommunication, and sarcasm. Anri and The Commodore were my favourites here, both foul mouthed and bouncing off each other’s crude dialogue. Anashe’s more practical and serious approach was a great contrast and made certain scenes even funnier, particularly when the plans within the rebellion were so absurd but highly comical when played out. The majority of the last two hundred pages focuses on a heist on a moving train. There’s alchemical weapons involved, crossbows, explosions, just sheer utter chaos and I loved every page of it. Every character interaction made me laugh to the point of tears as everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I was reminded of why I love Wragg’s books so much, they simply bring me joy. 

“The Commodore hurled aside the door, and the entire train shuddered.

A great shock travelled along it, lifting the wagon on its tracks, sending the Commodore sprawling and leaving Javani clinging to the doorframe for dear life as, a heartbeat later, everything came crashing down once more.

‘What in hells did you do?’ Javani bawled at the Commodore, who had pitched into a nest of sacks just inside the doorway.

‘Fucked if I know,’ came the muffled response.”

 

Fun banter, heartfelt character growth and action scenes to excite and delight, The Iron Road delivers a showstopper of a finale.

The Iron Road is available now – you can order your copy on Bookshop.org