User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Iron Garland is the third instalment of Jeff Wheeler's planned five book Harbinger series and Jeff Wheeler certainly doesn't disappoint.
After the very solid foundations laid by the preceding books, Jeff Wheeler has skipped ahead three years, ramped up the intrigue and expanded the world across the Mirror Gate.
The fate of both worlds rest in Sera’s and Cettie's capable young hands as they gather their wits and rise above their allotted stations, much to the chagrin of their elders.
Sera and Cettie are blossoming into strong ladies, each with their own distinctive voice which is a tribute to the writing prowess of Jeff Wheeler. While waiting for the release of Iron Garland, I read for the first time Wheeler's debut series, Legends of Muirwood, and his skills as an author have noticeably grown. His characters in Harbinger are far more nuanced and his situational writing and plotting has significantly improved with experience.
A thoroughly enjoyable journey with the now familiar characters of Sera and Cettie in a world brimming with magic and yet to be revealed secrets. These are characters that are close to my heart and I pine for their return in Prism Cloud.
Rating: really liked it
I know I didn't love Mirror Gate so much but Wheeler brings all the stops out in Iron Garland.
Wheeler assumes now that we are familiar enough with both the Harbinger and Kingfountain worlds to drop all pretenses and world building fluff and tell the story.
Sera absolutely shines in this one. It is the growth and power I have been waiting for from her! Three years have passed since she was figuratively imprisoned at Pavenham Sky, and as much as we hate to admit it, Lady Corinne gave her the tools she needed to succeed at court. I was thrilled to see Sera at Kingfountain and I think Prince Trevon will be interesting going forward as well.
One exciting thing is that Wheeler tells us something about an old Kingfountain legend - the Maid of Donremy - that I won't share for spoiler alerts but it brings the entire war of hard feelings into perspective and raises a lot of thoughts too.
Cettie is powerful as well in this novel and I am both happy and sad for her. I think we all knew by now that Cettie was to be the Harbinger, that's not a spoiler, and it was joyful to see her stand up to her adopted siblings and come into her own as Keeper of Fog Willows. Towards the end though, was she losing her mind? It is entirely out of character for Cettie to ignore a prized possession going missing and someone clearly meddling with her business items. There is absolutely no way she wouldn't have confronted anyone about this or pursued it until she had answers, I just don't believe it.
Action wise - the book opens with a ghastly murder, contains the end of a war, a hunt for a Fear Liath, and some absolutely stunning duplicity towards the end. The cliffhanger is as equally alarming as the beginning and the book hardly slows down in between. This is what I expect from Wheeler, nothing less at this point!
Lastly I should mention the new residents of Gimmerton Sough, the manor next to Fog Willows - I can't say too much but the foreshadowing throughout the early part of the novel is obvious and real. You don't know exactly what the foreshadowing is pointing to but you know to be very, very alert for issues and when they start popping up, oh my 😭 I am so worried for my Fitzroy siblings that I'm going to start Prism Cloud today
Rating: really liked it
A few more years have passed since book 2 and the empire has been at war with Kingfountain. Sera is being held almost like a social captive in Lady Corrine's household. She is shunned. Sera isn't broken though; she has been quietly learning what she can by observation and biding her time for her release. Her chance comes when her father wants to try to resurrect the idea of a marriage contract with the Prince of Kingfountain, which will hopefully lead to an armistice.
Meanwhile, Cettie has been the Keeper at Fogwillows in Fitzroy's absence (he is off to war). As a harbinger, she has been feeding information to Fitzroy of the enemies movements, allowing him to be successful in battle. She also uses her strength with the Mysteries to help her new neighbors.
This series just keeps getting better. Now that the lands of Muirwood and Kingfountain are at war, there are a lot more connections being made between this series and the previous ones that I've read. It makes me a little giddy to see it all coming together, especially when old evil forces are beginning to gain power and one must try to figure out who is good and who is corrupted. I can't wait for the next book!
Rating: really liked it
What that cliffhanger pissed me off! I knew there was something up with that guy! Ugh, what is this big secret that everyone is keeping and why do they need Cettie so badly?
I cried tears of joy and sadness in this one, so many hurtful and happy things. I do wonder what the peace treaty will bring and how things can move forward with both lands.
I am soooo excited to see how Sera grows n0w that she is able to do the things that she wants to do with her life. I feel like she will bring so much more to the table than people give her credit for. Adam is such a sweetheart and I love the love that is blossoming!
Rating: really liked it
05/08/2019 warning: I didn't realize that it would be wise to read the Kingfountain series first! I got spoiled for some things in that series. Just a heads up here.
Storm Glass ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mirror Gate ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Iron Garland ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Newts
✔️Ancient runes, exceeded expectations: book written in past tense
okay I did
NOT see that plottwist coming
AT ALL. That ending made me gasp! Explained a lot of things, that's for damn sure. This is my favorite book in the series so far. So many storylines, so many secrets, so much politics. The romance I can do without (view spoiler)
[I'm not happy about Cettie accepting Adam's marriage proposal, this will for sure drive a wedge between her and Anna, and I hate when that happens. (hide spoiler)]Also: please stop killing off (or something else) characters that I actually like? It's no fun!
Can't wait to see where the next one goes!!
Rating: really liked it
I'm so glad Sera and Cettie are finally getting a chance to make their way in the world. I can't wait to see what's in store for Corrine, Sera's father and all of the others that have treated Cettie and Sera abominably.
I didn't realize this series was going to be tied to the Kingfountain world and series. Had I known that, I definitely would have started with that series first.
Rating: really liked it
This author. He is incredible. The stories he tells, how he weaves them all together yet keeps them separate. I can’t say enough great things about him and his words.
Rating: really liked it
Well. Well. Well. How about that. I certainly did NOT see THAT coming!
ANOTHER great installment in this series! Jeff Wheeler has created this way-cool world that I am thoroughly enjoying being lost in. Throwing in some twists that I didn't expect and I love that. Moving straight into book 4!
Rating: really liked it
The next one doesn’t come out until March??? 😭😭😭
Rating: really liked it
Jeff Wheeler draws readers back into the magical world of Muirwood in the latest installment of the Harbinger series. Three years have passed, and the war with Kingfountain continues. Sera remains in isolated exile, yearning to be free and able to take her rightful place as Empress. Cettie fills her time as Keeper of Fog Willows, as well as making important (and secret) contributions to the war effort. Meanwhile, long kept secrets are at risk of being revealed, and a new threat lurks in the horizon.
Iron Garland kicks off with a shocking prologue that left me gasping and on the edge of my seat. Pretty impressive for five minutes worth of reading, right? Holy smokes! And you know what? It only got better from there.
I had no idea what to expect in this book, after the way book two ended, but I was surprised to see it begin three years later. Ordinarily, this is something that disappoints me—because I want to know every single thing that happens when I'm reading a series—but my disappointment barely had time to register before I was completely immersed in the book. It didn't take me long to decide the time skip was the perfect way to continue the story, as it gives readers a sense of urgency where the war is concerned. Great loss had already been suffered, and the need for the war to (finally) come to an end was omnipresent throughout, whether the war was actively being discussed or portrayed in any given scene.
Most of the characters went through changes, to some degree, but it was most gratifying to see how much Sera grew in wisdom during her imprisonment at Pavenham Sky. She knew what would give her the best shot at being released from exile, and made sure to make it
seem as if she was humbled by her punishment. Clever girl!
I won't mention all the things that stood out to me about this book, because there are SO MANY... and it would spoil things for those who haven't read it. Suffice to say that there more than a few surprising twists (particularly the one in the epilogue!), new locations to discover, interesting romantic developments, and someone's unexpected (though welcome) change of heart.
This book was simply delightful to read, and I can't wait to read
Prism Cloud (the next book in the series) because
Iron Garland ended with some particularly chilling words from a certain lady, making it clear she had plans that didn't bode well for Cettie.
If you haven't started reading this series, I do hope you'll give it a try! I think it's safe to say that this book firmly cemented Harbinger as my favorite young adult fantasy series. Perhaps it will be yours, as well?
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of 47North via Netgalley.
Rating: really liked it
Iron Garland marks the midway point of the Harbinger series. In most series, this is where the story slows down and not much happens as the author slowly moves pieces into place but withholds any sort of resolution in order to keep the tension for the concluding installment(s). I am so glad to report that Iron Garland does not succumb to that problem. It is not a stand-alone novel in any sense of the word, but enough of the story lines are given a sense of completion that it feels like a novel and not just a part of something bigger. But at the same time, Iron Garland stands as a great middle chapter in a much larger epic.
A full review of the story line would reveal too many spoilers, but I can at least say that Iron Garland continues the stories of Cettie Saeed and Sera Fitzempress. As the Kingfountain novels loosely followed the Wars of the Roses, so these loosely follow the early reign of Victoria. But having that knowledge makes the story even more enjoyable: Wheeler does not slavishly copy history with the names changed, but uses it as a springboard to create a complex set of events leading to climactic final chapters (and additional books in the series). Iron Garland opens with a shocking death and doesn't let up until the final surprises in the last chapter. I got to the end and had to remind myself that the next installment is still months away.
But the book's strengths come not just from the action (which is well paced and frequent) but also from the various characters and their relationships. We get to see Cettie and Sera grow into even stronger protagonists, as they deal with one problem after another. Wheeler is one of the leading proponents of clean fiction, but that doesn't mean boring or flat characters: both Cettie and Sera face tough moral questions throughout and do not always respond like Polyanna. But it's still a morally complex story that gives the reader more than just an action buzz.
This may be a cliche, but I honestly am looking forward to the next installment, more than I have found myself doing in a long, long time. In general, I've gotten tired of the 'grimdark' storytelling that a lot of fantasy holds to these days, but Wheeler's fresh and exciting storytelling has given me renewed hope for the genre. We need more of this.
(Disclaimers: (1) I received an advance copy of the book in exchange for this review; (2) I was the book review editor on the original run of Wheeler's Deep Magic magazine, and so I have counted Jeff as a friend for more than a decade. My enthusiasm over this book comes not from any desire to help him get sales -- he has managed that well enough on his own -- but because this is one really good book!)
Rating: really liked it
Another Wonderful Work by WheelerThe third book of the Harbinger series by Jeff Wheeler is another testament to the author’s ability to draw you into a story. While the book is good on it’s own merit, you really need to read the previous two installments to fully appreciate it. The book starts off with an unexpected twist that, for me, confirmed some suspicions but left many more questions unanswered. Cettie and Sera continue their disparate adventures, and as a reader you are able to start to piece some things together.
While in the previous novels I felt that Cettie had a richer character development, this book was Sera’s time to shine. As a reader, it was fun for me to see Sera discover herself while she went through a crucible. From spending time in Pavenham Sky to traveling to other worlds, I felt that Sera really began to figure out who she wants to be, and what she must do to get there.
I found myself vacillating on how I felt about certain characters introduced in this novel. Could I trust them or not? Whether I could or not, should the protagonists trust them?. Again Jeff Wheeler masterfully keeps you guessing as to where true loyalties lie as the fate of both individual lives and that of empires hang in the balance.
If you enjoyed the other books, keep reading. The story just gets better and better. I anxiously anticipate the next book. I feel like this book was a pivotal piece to the story and that it has set the stage for some exciting developments ahead.
If you want a good story that is fun, intense and engaging, and have not started the series yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. I would personally advise that you read some of Jeff’s other series first. While not necessary, knowing more about the worlds of Muirwood and Kingfountain add depth to an already wonderfully woven saga. I am excited to continue the the adventures in Prism Cloud when that book is released in a few months.
Edit: I initially gave this book 4 stars, but now that some time has passed I have found that whenever my mind has a chance to wander, it is returning to this world and analyzing the twists and turns and postulating what may be coming next. To captivate the mind and fill it with anticipation is the sign that Iron Garland needed that fifth star. While I am done reading the book, the story keeps me lingering in the world that has been created in the mind of the author and conveyed by simple ink on a page.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
Rating: really liked it
I think plot and vibes-wise this is my favourite installment in the series so far, however there is a lot of criticism I have for this book.
This series still continues to be a sweet family-friendly series for all ages to enjoy, but I found that it had less
"Wow, I need to contemplate it as an adult" commentary than the first two installments had.
I've been thinking about the
authorial intent a lot while reading this novel. In culture there's a dialogue of
Authorial Intent VS Death of an Author - does the author, their experience and their intent matters when judging their work or does it only matter what the avg modern consumer thinks of it?
I hold the opinion that the authorial intent matters although I'm still allowed to judge "the intent" and how well the author achieved what he was trying to do.
Jeff Wheeler by his own admission is very big on the Roman concept of
Virtus (from the author's site):
It was a trait that the Romans respected, but it did not mean just virtue. It included other qualities too: prudentia (prudence), iustitia (justice), temperantia (self-control), and fortitudo (courage).
The author tries to write a clean, could-be-enjoyed-by-all-ages (as long as they're not so desensitized to only be able to enjoy "real adult" pieces of work with violence and sex), Dickens/Austen-esque Fantasy. Wheeler doesn't try to write some big epic, his novels don't go too deep into the worldbuilding and logic of events, and the word count is fairly small for a fantasy - the author really just wants you to not look too closely and just go with the vibes
The opposite comparison I can think of is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which by author's admission was supposed to be like "The IT work" of her entire life, it's 500-pages long, and the author tried to describe the logic of the curse a great deal - so in that case it was a very negative "authorial intent" experience for me cuz it did go a great deal into explaining the logic and technicalities behind the curse YET logic/technicalities didn't make sense and the book was too long and word-y to not explain stuff and at the same time you got an idea from the text "look how deep it is, this is real modern literally thing right here" when it really wasn't - all of that would had been forgiven if it was a novella which didn't try to explain the curse that much (and then the assumption would be "it's too short, just go with the vibes") and if there wasn't any elitist vibesAnyway, back to Wheeler's authorial intent.
I think the author did a great job for what he was trying to do, it's a very enjoyable piece of work even though sometimes I wished to know more about the worldbuilding, and the book definitely had inconsistencies, and I was frustrated with the usage of female dress (complaints of tight undergarments - which is a stereotype based on a false narrative - and mentions of maids helping to dress yet one of the characters just quickly changes her dress on her own at some point...
I digress, there're inconsistencies and bad research) and a few other issues (which I'm not as passionate about as clothes so I chose to ignore it) that could have been easily resolved by the author simply looking more into it.
At this point in the series I've also noticed that the author is trying to tell more than he shows. So far every book had a forward-jump in time. Second book ends with the start of the war. Third book is taking place 3 years later and one of the main goals was signing an armistice
which is a fancy new word I've learned from this book which means "truce". Every book so far seems to have a relatively small main goal it tries to achieve while most of the big events are happening in the years passing between the books. I still feel like it goes very well with the authorial intent and that's why these books are so short and readable - every time you finish a book, it feels like only a few chapters have passed. However, even within the books' time period some events/conversations you'd think are important, but are actually completely glossed over and only mentioned afterwards in a dialogue as "this thing happened". Again, I think overall it goes with the authorial intent and the series is quite enjoyable for me to read so far, but
sometimes it can be frustrating in a
"Huh? What did the characters do? How did they do it?" fashion. It's especially frustrating when it happens with the two main POV characters, but it's fairly understandable when it deals with broader world as, although the main two POV characters are important players in this world, their status doesn't allow them to know everything and be there when every single world-altering event happens.
Besides that, another main complaint I have for this series is juvenile dialogue. I think in this book it was better than in the previous installment, but the constant
"Thank you! You're the best!" dialogue gets annoying. I am choosing to think the author just wants us to practice gratitude, BUT in that case there would be more praise from POV characters of secondary characters (which is present but not as much), and not have the constant praise from secondary characters of POV characters.
It would've been more annoying if the POV characters weren't actually great - but both of them are good and smart girls.
However, this gets especially annoying in the
Tell not Show instances, where some important event/conversation would be skipped in narration but then I'd see praise
"You're so good you did/said that! Thank you!" and I am just here like
Yes! Great! It is indeed great! I wish I'd get to see any of it, though Also in this series Series overview:
15.5/25 stars
1. Storm Glass ★★★★
2. Mirror Gate ★★★
3. Iron Garland ★★★★
4. Prism Cloud ★★.5
5. Broken Veil ★★
Rating: really liked it
This is an excellent story, one that is much improved by the protagonists having grown beyond being naive youth. I would have considered a five star rating but the end felt a lot like a fish hook for the next book, which is a pet peeve. It's the first one in the series that has left me feeling that way, but since these things happen at the end of the book it's the thing that is most fresh in my mind. Hence, it touches on my rating.
Rating: really liked it
This series is still solid. I'm completely invested in the characters and the introduction of a new world had me thirsting for more!
