This book is a strong follow-up to the previous two novels in this series (Resenting the Hero and The Hero Strikes Back), as engaging and unpretentious as its predecessors, though not, in the end, as good as either. I have to say, though, now that we’ve hit the third novel in the series, that it feels like the story is floundering a bit. Or maybe that’s my frustration talking.

I say that because the author is letting several tantalizing hints of a potential overarching plot slip in every novel, and it feels like they’re either coming to nothing, or she’s just teasing us in preparation for a big reveal later on. I sincerely hope it’s the latter.

If it was possible to give Iron Kissed higher than the highest rating, I would have. I loved this book. As one reviewer said, this series just keeps getting better and better. Before reading this series, I wouldn’t have counted Briggs among my favorite authors, but her masterful execution of this novel has ensconced her firmly within the upper echelons of my personal hall of fame.

This book has it all: fiercely engaging characters, tight, tight plotting, and a breakneck, hold-your-breath-till-the-last-page pace. What I love best of all is the way she is weaving the complicated tapestry of a bigger story from seemingly disparate threads without ever letting up on the tension of the immediate narrative (something the Heroes series does not do nearly as well, though it has the potential to). This kind of skill is something I had previously only associated with epic fantasy, with authors like Michelle West and Guy Gavriel Kay and George R.R. Martin, and this series of books is not only the best example of urban fantasy I’ve ever read, it’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite series ever. It’s that good.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Big surprise here. But what can I say? Huston is scarily perfect and delivers again. He aims for the jugular and never misses.

Had I ever harbored any doubt that the Joe Pitt casebooks were horror stories, those doubts have been laid to rest: Half the Blood of Brooklyn is violent, bloody and glorious. Huston ratchets the tension impossibly higher—never forgetting to give the story as much heart as it has pyrotechnics—and by the end of the book you’re all wound up waiting for the shitstorm that will descend in the next installment. So good!