City of Iron and Dust

Praise

“A fantastic book, full of wit and sharp humor, City of Iron and Dust careens through a modernized faerie at a breakneck pace, full of verve and unforgettable characters. Oakes spins a smart, electric, and sometimes snarky tale, showing that the beating heart of modern fantasy is alive and well.”
—John Hornor Jacobs, author of A Lush and Seething Hell and The Incorruptibles

“I truly wish there were more fantasies written with this verve and steel. I don’t think I’ve loved a book this hard in quite a while.”
—T. Frohock, author of the Los Nefilim series

“A wonderful mash-up fantasy with a dash of Carl Hiaasen, a mad scramble through a burning city for the ultimate prize. Fans of Daniel Polansky’s Low Town or Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs will enjoy this one.”
—Django Wexler, author of Ashes of the Sun

“A hard-boiled, phantasmagoric fable of blasted myths and desiccated dreams exploding into bloody revolution. Epic, intimate and one-of-a-kind!”
—Dale Lucas, author of The Fifth Ward series

“City of Iron and Dust is a bloody, brutal and bold novel featuring all manner of fantastical creatures . . . but it’s really about being human. Oakes has crafted a tale that is as entertaining as it is wonderfully original.”
—Tim Lebbon, author of Eden

“Oakes delivers wit, grit, and magic in spades, all mixed together with a heap of heart-stopping action and relentless humor. Unforgettable.”
—Natania Barron, author of Queen of None

“I was sold on this ‘grim for all the cynical reasons’ fantasy novel by J.P. Oakes with the six words of the first chapter title. Well, two of the words weren’t that important. The point is that Oakes knows we’re tired of all the heroic and earnest and uplifting tropes, and that what we really want is something nasty and funny and thrilling to read.”
—Mark Teppo, author of The Cold Empty

“The Iron City is a singular dark fantasy creation that breathes with menace and decay. J.P. Oakes’ gallows humor and wit bring a sharp levity to the story that will leave you laughing, and then horrified at just what you were laughing about.”
—Paul Jessup, author of The Silence That Binds

“This darkly idealistic world offers lovers of the bloody and fantastical plenty to enjoy.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Ultimately, I’d dub Oakes’s lusty, brutal, philosophical excursion a subspecies of New Weird, one part China Miéville, one part Andrew Lang, one part James M. Cain.”
—Locus

“It pulls no punches with the horrors that can happen in a chaotic ruin, the devastation left in its wake for the ordinary people left behind. This is a fascinating read, full of twists and turns along the way.”
—Girl Who Reads