The Steele Wolf by Chanda Hahn

   The Steele Wolf is the next book in The Iron Butterfly Series.  Thalia is going back home with her father
and things are much different than when she was in Calandry.  Her father is the clan leader and the clan hates the Denai.  They are not allowed to live on the clan's lands and are not welcome there.  Before she even reaches her home, an attack upon them shows some of her family as well as a man named Fenri (her almost "intended" before she was captured by the Septori) that she has powers like the Denai.  But she is not supposed to use them or even hint that she has these powers when they return home.  And to keep the other clan members from questioning why Thalia has changed so much, her father decides to announce she will be marrying Fenri.  She is not happy about getting married to anyone right then so they decide to hold a tournament.  As all of this is unfolding Thalia finds out that there are those within the clan that would like to take hold of its leadership whatever way they can.  And the kicker is that she is related to them!  During the tournament Kael shows up again disguised as a member of another distant clan.  And at the end of the tournament Thalia is kidnapped again to be drug back to the Septori.  After she is rescued by a few unlikely heroes, she finds out Joss's sister is missing and they decide to go after the Septori.
   There is so much going on in the second book you would have to read The Iron Butterfly to be able to understand what is going on.  As in the book before, she has love interests, but now we have thrown in a third.  While she is still torn between Kael and Joss, Fenri shows up into the picture as her possible intended.    It really is almost too much having so many love interests in the story.  But Chanda Hahn works around it somehow.  While there are still so many questions looming in your mind when you finish this book, you do get to find out who Thalia's mother is and what happened to her.  Her story is extremely vague and could have done with a more detail.  Perhaps in the next book we will find out more about that.  Not to mention Thalia's now full fledged feelings for Kael are showing, but Joss is being very forward as well.  (SPOILER ALERT:  They never get to the Septori at the end of the book.  In fact, they are back on their way to Calandry with a member of the Septori who had been a member of Joss's own household.)  So, so much not answered.  And yet you still want more with this series.  Who can help but wonder who exactly will Thalia end up with and will they succeed in destroying the Septori?  (one more SPOILER ALERT:  It has been hinted that one of the Denai are actually the ring leader of the Septori.)

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*image via Chanda Hahn

The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn

 
Waking up in a dark, dank prison cell is disturbing enough.  But to do it for months on end while being tortured on a daily basis is more than most people can stand.  But Thalia is different than most.  She has a strong will to live, and a dark hidden power she knows nothing about.  But even after she escapes the dark prison of a group called the Septori, her months in captivity follow her.  Her providential escape came about by a man named Kael, a dark and mysterious warrior who has no choice but to follow her wherever she might be headed, which happens to be a place called Calandry, where many Denai with different gifts live.  Because of the drugs she was given she no longer remembers who she is or where she is from.  Along the way she meets a handsome young Denai with the power to heal, named Joss, who also saves her life.  He and Kael seem to spend a lot of time saving her life while she tries to find answers about her past.  And to make matters worse, she develops feelings for them both.  One she is more willing to have feelings for than the other, who seems to hate her more than like her.  As the book progresses she finds out about the power she has rather unwillingly came into all of the sudden.  It is when Joss tries to help heal her that she almost kills him by accident and finds out some of the power she has is very dangerous.  Although she needs someone to guard her constantly from the feared Septori who are after her, more than anything she needs to be saved from herself.

    The title The Iron Butterfly comes from the machine Thalia was strapped to while being experimented on and tortured, which was in the shape of a butterfly.  While the character of Joss was rather carefree and not very deep, Kael was just the opposite.  There is a lot going on with that guy that slowly reveals itself.  He is dark and scary, so it seems.  But there is more there.  The idea that someone had found a way to bring about unnatural powers through experimentation and torture may seem shocking and barbaric, but it serves its purpose well in this story.  There is also many things suggested in the first book that are not carried out in this first book.  Like how it is suggested that someone close to Thalia was the one to kidnap her because she went missing so easily.  It helps to round out the story, but it can also leave the reader frustrated to a degree.  But that is probably because I am one of those readers that like all the ends tied up neat and tidy.  This is not one of those books.  The ending was quite a surprise to me.  You do find out where she belongs and who her family is!  But it's a shocker!   And the book seems to end rather abruptly, making way for another in the series.  For those that love to read fantasy, this book is a pretty good read!

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*image via Chanda Hahn