The Inventory: Iron Fist by Andy Briggs (review with giveaway)

When Big was around 12 or 13 she read pretty much constantly, often books I was interested in – we’d rush to be first at a new YA, and wait impatiently for the other to finish so that we could discuss it.

Small is a different kettle of fish. Although he is an extremely competent reader, his first pleasure is gaming – anything with a screen. He does read, but it takes something a bit special to tempt him away from his games. Having said that, he goes to bed every night with an audio book, and discovering that we can borrow them from the library was a massive relief – there’s only so many times even the most ardent HP fan can listen to the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry.

This was how we found Andy Briggs (twitter and website) – via his hero.com and villain.net books. (Do authors get PLR on audio books? I do hope so!) Which meant that when I was offered the start of his new series for review I leapt at the chance, on Small’s behalf of course. The book’s arrival tied in beautifully with a weekend away at Kentwell Hall, which meant no audio books or gaming as we were caravanning.

Small employs a first chapter rule on assessing books – that’s the minimum he reads to decide whether he’ll go on. After a few minutes reading, I asked how it was going. “I’m on page 37” was the reply – first chapter rule passed with flying colours. He read the whole book in two evenings, and really enjoyed it.

Writing reviews isn’t his favourite activity – but I asked him to supply a paragraph anyway, so here you go.

I’ve read and enjoyed previous books by Andy Briggs, so when I was given The Inventory: Iron Fist I was definitely interested. The first thing I thought about it was that its concept is very similar to the SCP Foundation Wiki or Warehouse 13- A location or organization dedicated to containment of unusual objects. In The Inventory’s case, it’s made to store highly advanced technology deemed too much for the world to deal with (whereas Warehouse 13 is dedicated to practically anything weird and SCP Foundation by definition studies anomalous objects), which, as an occasional reader of SCP Foundation myself, I found slightly disappointing- The idea’s been done before, and it’s not massively outlandish on its own, so this book definitely doesn’t get many points for originality. The character types used aren’t particularly new either- super-genius, stupid bully, and popular girl. But whether or not it’s original it’s still quite an entertaining read and got several laughs out of me.

I’m going to go with that being a positive response 🙂 (He’s 12. Enthusiasm is not his middle name!)

So are you interested?

The blurb:

The Rules: if you find a secret inventory of utterly deadly battle tech.

1) Do not try it.

2) Do not tell anyone.

3) Do NOT let thieves in behind you.

What’s more secret than top-secret? The Inventory. Home to the deadliest inventions the world isn’t ready for. Invisible camouflage. HoverBoots. Indestructible metals. Plus a giant creature of chaos: war robot Iron Fist. No one has ever broken past the state-of- the-art AI security system. (Seriously, most bad guys have no idea this stuff is even there.)

Problem 1: the security robot wasn’t ready for a gang of kids wandering in.

Problem 2: they’ve ONLY brought the ruthless Shadow Helix gang in behind them. Seriously dumb, but it’s a bit late for ‘sorry’.

Say hello to trouble: the Iron Fist is in the wrong hands!

If you are, I’ve good news for you. I have a copy to give away! Entry via the rafflecopter widget below – good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you’re not lucky, you can buy via Amazon (affiliate) Iron Fist (The Inventory) or other on and offline retailers, like Hive.

Disclosure: we were supplied with a copy of Iron Fist for review, links may be affiliate links.

Listed with The Prizefinder. Find more competitions here: Competitions at ThePrizeFinder