Free Download | Iron Company (Empire Army 2) | Chris Wraight Novel

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Chris Wraight's Iron Company marks the second entry in the Empire Army series and builds on the foundation established by Richard Williams in Reiksguard. Admittedly, I was a bit lukewarm towards Rieksguard; the narrative was a bit slow and uneven at times, there were a LOT of characters that were often hard to keep track of, and I had trouble getting a good sense of what Williams wanted the book to be (a political drama or a war story). However, Wraight takes a serviceable foundation set by Williams and improves upon it by leaps and bounds. Perhaps it's the characters, perhaps it's the narrative; whatever the reason, I found Iron Company to be a much more compelling and interesting read. The Iron Company of the title's namesake refers to the gunners and engineers of the Empire charged with firing and maintaining the lumbering artillery of the army. Here, the story focuses on Magnus Ironblood, a grizzled veteran, an alcoholic, a man on his last legs in the Empire army. Magnus is approached to lead the artillery of an Imperial force staked to overthrow a rogue margravine set to cause havoc in the Hochland countryside. Magnus begrudgingly accepts, gathering a small crew of engineers to help him lead the iron company to victory or ruin. Joined by Silvio Messina, a Tilean engineer with flair, Thorgad Grimgarsson, a dwarf with a secret motive, and his longtime friend Tobias Hildenbrandt, Ironblood sets of to siege the margravine's mysterious citadel, Morgramgar. What follows is an excited and tense narrative involving all manners of siege warfare, something that is exciting and really unique to a fantasy setting.