6 Best Comebacks in Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

I'm a huge fan of Ilona Andrews, everybody knows this. Their first major series, Kate Daniels, is one of my most favorite Urban Fantasy books of all time. The series is 10 books long, with a couple of novellas written in between featuring side characters. Now, if there's one character in that bookverse that I was NEVER excited about getting his own book, it's Hugh D'ambray.

Hated him.

Hated him for trying to steal Kate from Curran. Hated him for killing Voron, Aunt B, and a whole bunch of faceless others. Torturing the previous Legatus, Christopher Steed, and Ascanio. He was just a cruel bastard and I couldn't imagine him as the hero of his own story.

When the first book of the Iron Covenant series dropped recently, my curiosity got the best of me. It was Ilona Andrews after all. I'd hate to miss any significant events that may have consequences in the upcoming final book in the Kate Daniels series.

So, yeah, I read it. And I loved it- unexpectedly.

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Iron and Magic

Funniest Lines from the Iron Covenant #1 by Ilona Andrews

Photo by ArtCoreStudios via Pixabay

Ilona Andrews is known for witty comebacks and funny dialogues. It's one of the reasons why I love reading their books. This book was no different. While there were a lot of really good lines from the book, I've managed to select the Top 6 that made me-- quite literally-- laugh out loud!

Here they are in chronological order:

1. Elara threatens Hugh after he teases her

"Try it. They won't even find your bones."
"Oh, darling, I don't think you'll ever have any trouble finding my bone."
"Sure thing. I think I packed a magnifying glass."

2. Elara chafes at Hugh telling her to stick by him 

"Worried about my survival?"
"Don't want to miss an opportunity to use you as a body shield."
"How sweet of you."
"Stay near me, Elara."

3. Ascanio meets Hugh

"The last time we met, he tortured me."
"You're still alive. Clearly my heart wasn't in it."

4. Elara wants Hugh to save Aberdine but he is being difficult

"How is it that Raphael made more hole in you than in swiss cheese, but your assholeness survived?"
"Raphael doesn't have a knife big enough to kill my assholeness."

5. Hugh shows Elara his secret weapon

"I told you I'd show you if you played your cards right. You should've tried harder last night, sweetheart. With more enthusiasm."
"If you impressed me with what you offered, I would've tried harder. But a woman can only do so much with mediocre equipment.

6. Nez captures Hugh and threatens him

"When I'm done and things quiet down, I'll come back here, and I'll kill every living soul in that castle. Every man, every woman, and every child. I'll make your wife watch. She will be the last to go."
"Good speech. I'd clap but I'm all tied up."

What I think Elara looks like. Photo by Photo by kudybadorota via Pixabay

Final Thoughts

I'm so happy with this series! I love Hugh and Elara together. I think they will be a great couple to follow for a couple more books. It makes me happy that I would still be able to revisit the bookverse even after the last Kate Daniels book is published.

If there's one thing negative I could say about the book, it'd have to be the side characters. Usually, the Ilona Andrews' side characters are interesting in their own right. But in this series, I seem to be unable to differentiate between Hugh's Iron Dogs and Elara's council folks. But this is just a minor thing and it didn't detract from my overall reading experience.

What I'm most curious about is what Elara is. Clues from the book: She's called the "White Lady". She can be prayed to. She devours souls. She can "manifest" after cows are offered as sacrifice. And she devours souls! It might be fun to investigate this in my next blog... stay tuned!