Books like Bound By Iron

It breaks my heart to have to rate an Eberron book so low, but given that this was another one written by Edward Bolme, I guess I shouldn't be too shocked. I've often maintained that you get one of two extremes with 90% of Eberron titles: either you have absolutely shoddy editing with an interesting story and well-written characters and dynamics... or you end up with a very nicely edited and polished book but the story is weak and the characters tend to be one-dimensional.This book definitely wound up among the latter.I think the concept was rather basic to start with, the characters felt very bland, and the pacing... dear God, the pacing. It took roughly over 60% of the book for the pace of the plot to actually get somewhere, and by that point it was like Bolme decided to rush and hastily throw all of the important plot development into the remainder of what he wrote. As was the case with his other Eberron book, The Orb of Xoriat, [which I plan to re-read and review in the future,] he seems given to the idea that if he throws a lot of excessively drawn-out fight scenes in the climax of the story it will make up for how slow the plot moves for the first half of the book.Let me just tell you, it doesn't. He also leaves a lot of loose threads dangling and questions unanswered, the ending is absolute and utter crap, and the most irritating thing (at least for me) happens to be the fact this book is part of the series The Inquisitives, and yet there is no Inquisitive in the entire story. I suppose if you really want to stretch the definition of the role of Inquisitives in the world of Eberron, then the main character of Cimozjen could be considered one. [For those unfamiliar with the setting of Eberron, the order of Inquisitives are sort of like private investigators/detectives of a sort, and they often specialize in cases involving missing persons or tracking down people who don't want to be found for some shady reason or other.] However, none of the characters are actually an Inquisitive or ever take on the role of one, and as such, this book feels very out-of-place in this particular sequence of titles set in Eberron.Truth be told, it was something of a chore to get through this book, and I am always disappointed whenever I have to say this about any Eberron novel. The story felt deeply lacking, the characters were left to be characterized by one trait each, and the mystery just wasn't compelling. I suppose if I can give this book something, I think it could be potentially a gateway Eberron novel for new readers as it doesn't go deep into world-specific concepts and not explain them with the expectation for the reader to just already know (unlike a few other Eberron titles I could name,) but I would still not recommend it even for that. The Heirs of Ash trilogy or The Dragon Below trilogy would be far better to use as a gateway.All-in-all, I don't really regret reading this book and I can't really regret the money spent on it, as I bought it dirt-cheap. It just wounds my heart to see yet another shoddy novel set in one of my favorite worlds, and written by someone who already penned one shoddy novel for the same world. I'd hoped that Bolme could have cranked out something that was better, more compelling, and didn't utilize the exact same lazy techniques as The Orb of Xoriat but I suppose I'll just have to live with my disappointment.