DEAD IRON is set in a world grown out of the American frontier where the iron rails creep westward but instead of commerce and new residents they bring a potential for danger beyond imagination. The Strange need only one small chink in the door to come over in their thousands. They will stream through in full hunger mode ready to lay waste to those who stand in their way. Their shadowy presence has been noted but any signs and portents have been relegated to fireside tales and not given credence by God-fearing folk. That time of disbelief is set to end.

Cedar Hunt and his brother wandered onto Pawnee land where their god sat up and took notice and seized the opportunity to put a hunter or two in the way of the darkness to come. Cursed with the form of a wolf at full moon time, Hunt has fulfilled the blood-urge to destroy any Strange he comes across, even though the curse has already cost him his brother. Desolate, he has given up hope of a life beyond the hunt when the impossible happens. The scent of his brother, injured but alive tracks to the head of the railroad, Shard LeFel.

Monk has crafted a brilliant and gritty world rife with elements drawn from Steam Punk, blended with dark fantasy and a glint of glamor. She draws back the dusty curtains of a typical 1800's western town to reveal the secrets hidden behind the faces of its residents and enmeshes the reader in a fantasy adventure that keeps them on the edge of the seat, up all night unable to sleep until the fates of the main characters are determined.

Already known for her Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series, Devon Monk has made a strong foray into steam punk-based fantasy with DEAD IRON, the first in her Age of Steam series. She is currently working on the second and I can't wait to read it.