The Iron Children by Rebecca Fraimow

I would like to thank Solaris for a copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Solaris

Published - Out Now

Price - £15.99 paperback £3.99 Kindle eBook

Asher has been training her entire life to become a Sor-Commander. One day, she'll give her soul to the gilded, mechanical body of the Sor and become a commander to a battalion of Dedicates. These soldiers, encased in exoskeletons, with extra arms, and telepathic subordination to the Sor-Commanders, are the only thing that's kept the much larger Levastani army of conquest at bay for decades.

But while on a training journey, Asher and her party are attacked, and her commander is incapacitated, leaving her alone to lead the unit across a bitterly cold, unstable mountain. Worse, one of the Dedicates is not what they seem: a spy for the enemy, with their own reasons to hate their mechanical body and the people who put them in it.

To get off the mountain alive, Asher and her unit will need to decide how much they're willing to sacrifice -- and what for.

War unsurprisingly is often a tale of two sides. Clearly diplomacy has failed and now own side is going to have to lose or at best both sides rediscover the power of communication. War in fantasy tends to aim for the epic; the heroic but so often that one side is right. In Rebecca Fraimow’s fascinating science fiction novella The Iron Children we get a tale of a single entry in a larger conflict and get to witness it from both side’s point of view in a unusual way.

The Levestani forces have been battling the Celesti for many years trying to regain part of their empire. What is stopping them is the Celesti’s skill with metal - they have Sisters whose bodies are entirely now metallic offering speed and resilience and the form soldiers are the multi armed Dedicates - humans transformed into a mix of metal and flesh that the Sisters can at times control with their minds. One such mission in the mountains though goes wrong. The Sister is damaged after battle and sent home leaving a young Human Novice in charge of her Dedicates troop and unbeknownst to anyone a spy is now in the camp.

I was really impressed with this story. The simple plot of new and inexperienced officer in charge of a troop is used to tell us a fascinating tale about this world, it’s technology, beliefs and politics as well as delivering thoughts on who is human. We get our views switch from watching our Novice Agatha learning to take command contrasted with the great character of Sergeant Barghest - a very experienced veteran who kindly shows Agatha the ropes but doing it subtly (which is impressive when you have no face, four arms and a metal body) their dynamic throughout the story is fascinating watching them learn to work together and Agatha building her confidence.

But the great addition to the story is having a spy in the ranks who is disrupting things for their own purpose. Their identity is withheld from us first we just get to witness their thoughts and their hatred for the Celesti; which we find they were part of and why they can hide as a Dedicate in plain sight. Stuck on a remote volcanic ice volcano allows our spy to work out how to stop Agatha and seek their own goals. But throw in eruptions and unexpected geysers it all gets unpredictable. it’s a fascinating game of cat and mouse with neither fully aware what the other is up to with interesting twists as Agatha has the technology allowing her to enter Dedicate’s minds.

The ultimately impressive part of Fraimow’s storytelling is no one is truly shown as the evil enemy. This is a war and we hear how both sides have treated the other. They are equally culpable and also can justify their actions. War is not a game or that honourable and the interesting element is can the cycle be broken. Fraimow gets us to show even under metal exoskeletons these soldiers are people suffering their own loss and carrying their own fauna so we never actively hate anyone which is an impressive type of war story. This single skirmish does end in the novella but with characters in very different places to when we first met them and raises questions about what can happen next. I would be fascinated to visit this world again.

The Iron Children is a compelling SF war story but with unique worlds, characters and view of war to make it feel a refreshing take on a familiar subject. Definitely an author I will keep an eye out for more work from. Highly recommended!