Veena’s review of Blade Dance (Cold Iron, Book 4) by D.L. McDermott
Urban Fantasy published by Pocket Books 21 Sep 15
This series fascinated me when I first discovered it, and I devoured the books as fast as they were published. This story, unfortunately, does not generate the same breathless awe of the earlier books.
While this is a solid story which advances the arc, there is no thrill and newness from a reader standpoint. We get a lot of background into characters that we’ve met before, as well as an introduction to a couple of new characters who will doubtless be featured in the next book, but I definitely miss the edge of the earlier stories that kept me riveted from beginning to end.
Ann Phillips is a school teacher in Boston. We met her in the last book when her passion and love for the little ones she teaches takes her into the world of the Fae and Finn MacUmhail. Now another half-fae child needs her help and when conventional methods won’t work, she finds herself back on Finn’s doorstep seeking his help.
Finn was fascinated with Ann when he first met her, but circumstances at the time did not allow for a pursuit. Now that she’s back he’s determined to pursue his interest in her. Before long it turns out that Ann might actually have fae blood in her ancestry, and Finn is positioned to help her discover her gifts while advancing his own agenda with her.
The momentum builds as the little boy from Ann’s class is kidnapped and a host of characters, old and new, come together to effect the rescue. As these characters gather together, putting aside old hostilities, to save the life of a little boy into which we get significant background that influences today’s relationships.
The one interesting note in this series is the depiction of the druids as evil characters who enslaved the fae and experimented on them, while banishing the queen and her court into a different dimension. Of course, we’ve met some powerful good druids so far in the series, and it looks like we’ll meet more as the series evolves, if the hook in this one proves true.
Grade: B
Summary:
Boston schoolteacher Ann Phillips knows better than to trust the Fae, but when one of her second graders turns up to class with both arms covered in magical tattoos, she has no choice but to turn to Finn MacUmhaill, the dangerous and charismatic Fae crime lord who controls Charlestown, for help.
Finn MacUmhaill, leader of the Fianna, has had his eye on Ann Phillips for months, but a recent showdown with an old enemy has left his house broken. Between the crippling blow dealt to the Fianna and his son’s recent defection, he hasn’t had time to woo the pretty redhead. When she turns up on his doorstep asking for his help, he thinks he’s found the way to win her, but before he can act, the child goes missing, kidnapped by a rogue Druid who has discovered the key to destroying the wall between worlds.
Now, Finn and Ann must ally themselves with an old adversary—the treacherous Prince Consort—to save the boy, or risk the destruction of the wall that keeps the corrupt Fae Queen and her Court at bay…
No excerpt available.
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