Book Review: The Iron Admiral: Deception by Greta van der Rol

cover image copyright Greta van der Rol

Listen carefully. Hear that? That's the sound of my professionalism flying straight out of the window. Why? Because my fangirl hat is very firmly on my head and we're going to talk about Greta van der Rol's The Iron Admiral: Deception.

First of all, you should know that this is the sequel to The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy. If you haven't read that one yet, read it first, because while just enough of the first part is explained in this one to get you through it, you need to read both to appreciate the full awesomeness that is the story of Allysha Marten and Chaka Saahren. I reviewed the first one here.

Second of all, the book has been out for a month and I only finished it in the last week because it was so good I just didn't want it to end. I did not want to click the last page and be all ~angsty~ that it was over and I had to read something else. I didn't want to read something else.

Let's discuss Allysha Marten, our heroine. A lot of sci-fi heroines--hell, a lot of romance heroines--tend to fall into the Mary Sue category. Allysha has a slightly unusual backstory, is astonishingly talented, attracts some seriously eligible bachelors, ends up in the middle of a galactic plot, and still is probably--Sorry, Chaka!--my favorite character. I love her. She is nowhere even close to a Mary Sue. Allysha has a very realistic, nearly fatal flaw: she's hopeful. I absolutely love that she just doesn't believe people are as horrible as they prove themselves to be time and time again. She trusts, and she loves, and she gives people the benefit of the doubt, but she isn't stupid about it. When she makes mistakes, she owns up to them and she fixes them. She is a complete, full, three-dimensional character and if we had gone through the whole story without even a hint of romance, I still would have read and loved these books because she is just. that. awesome.


Then we have Chaka Saahren, the Iron Admiral himself. In these modern times of feminized men and soft, yielding heroes, his unwavering, unflinching, unapologetic manliness is swoon-worthy. He is every micromillimeter a military officer. He's authoritative. He's cunning. He's respected and respectful. He knows exactly what he wants and he acts to acquire that which he desires. Chaka isn't without his softer side, which makes him the sort of man a woman can fall in love with, but his softer side is something he shows only when the timing is appropriate. In Deception, we learn more about him as Chaka, not as Brad Stone or as the Iron Admiral, and, like Allysha, he is a complete, full, three-dimensional character. He has his flaws, and one of them is so dangerous it's terrifying. Like Allysha, if we had gone through the whole story without even a hint of romance, I still would have read and loved these books because Chaka is exactly the kind of lead man I love in my sci-fi.

But we don't go through the whole story with one or the other. We, lucky readers, get them both.

Deception picks up shortly after where Conspiracy leaves off. We're thrown immediately into the story, into the conflict between Allysha and Chaka and into the mess Sean has made. The whole book is one breathless riot of action, scene after scene, with lulls only when it is necessary. (As in, when Ms. van der Rol takes pity on us and allows us to breathe.) There were times when I actually had to sop reading because I was too tense to keep going.

Readers who are easily triggered by discussion of rape, or readers disturbed by it, should be warned.

Chaka's backstory is heartbreaking and explains a lot about why he is as hard and authoritative as he is. It also explains the dangerous-and-terrifying aspect of his personality that is part of what keeps Allysha away and, I'll be honest, scared me, too. Grand Admiral Saahren is not a man to mess with. His single-minded determination to be married to Allysha is overwhelming. He loves her. That's clear in every interaction he has with her and in every conversation he has about her. Toward the end of the book, though, he proves that he is a man of duty and a believer in "what's best for the most," which I actually thought made him an even better character. It would have been too easy for the author to let Chaka slip into the "my wants and my woman before all else" mindset, but he didn't. It was perfect.

Allysha is still recovering from the hurt her husband caused and from the lies Chaka told her. She works through that as the story progresses and she does it in a completely reasonably, real way... but there were still times I wanted to shout at her to just admit to herself that she loved him already.

Things look especially dire near the end, but each conflict--the Chaka/Allysha romance, the politics, and the mess with Sean--is resolved absolutely beautifully. Each conflict is resolved in ways that could easily happen in the real world.

Basically, this whole story is handled masterfully. Common science fiction pitfalls--plot holes, unrealistic conflicts/resolutions, incomprehensible technology, one-dimensional alien species, one-dimensional support characters--are completely avoided. In fact, I would love to see an entire series of books based in this universe. I'd love to read about Butcher. (Okay, I confess that I've developed a bit of a crush on Butcher.) Or Admiral Leonov. Or Chief Werensa. I'd love to read about Xanthor. That, to me, is the mark of excellent science fiction. I care about the "minor" characters. I care about the world they inhabited. I care about the ships, the technology, the planets, the politics, the history, the culture, the customs.

Best of all, the end of the story is so perfect.

Buy this book. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and OmniLit. If you like science fiction, if you like good stories, if you like your heroines just as strong as your heroes, read this book. You won't be sorry.

Then come back here and be a fanperson with me.