Iron Will is a captivating monster hunter book that just keeps going. I did not realize that is it the second in a series because it stands alone quite well, until I got to the end and was left wondering "What happens next? Does Haydeez manage to over come Pandora?" I will definitely read Book 1 and Book 3 in the series. The action in this book never stops, and Flynn's descriptions of scenes, countryside, battles and characters was so vivid I could see them. And believe them. Haydeez is quite a character, tough as nails and her own person - she belongs to no one else. As her battles became more intense and complicated I could only keep reading to see what would happen - knowing that she was capable of winning but not sure how. Great read. ( )

Iron Will by Rebecca Flynn is the second book of the Pandora Chronicles. It shows this is a 2-book series. I had not read the first book, so I decided to read that one first to get the foundation of the book, characters, and world building background.

This series is a fantasy novel that combines Greek and Celtic mythological creatures into a “save the world” adventure. Haydeez is a hunter who has supernatural powers. She is not aware of how or why she has these powers, but she hunts creatures that threaten earth inhabitants. She is ultra-rich (has planes, crew, etc.) and has access to all kinds of resources. There is never any explanation of how she got her money. In the first book, “The Wild Hunted,” Pandora has been released and her goal is to destroy all men.

The second book continues the story of trying to stop Pandora after she has released additional mythological monsters. For me, the writing and pacing is all over the place. It seems to stutter and slow down in parts, but it has some areas which are exciting.

My biggest gripe is the heroine. Haydeez is kick-ass in confrontations, but she seems juvenile and obtuse in other ways. For example, Haydeez or someone else is CONSTANTLY rolling their eyes. Literally, 24 times in this book (I did a search and counted). Is this some kind of “love play” I don’t know about? LOL. She seems to not know, ignores and declines to discuss with Linx (like an adult) his obvious pining for her. It is addressed later in the book. When most of these mythical creatures basically tell her she is different and “like them”, she either blows them off, denies it, or ignores what they say. She is all about the research, so to ignore this seems out of character.

There is a love interest (Steve) in this sequel. I happen to like a kick-ass, smart, and adult woman as a heroine so a lot of the verbal and physical interactions seemed young adult (YA) to me. The fighting between the two male characters was tiresome.

I am a big fan of Greek mythology, but don’t have any knowledge of Celtic mythology. It was great learning about the Celtic creatures. It made me want to read more about them. I am not sure why the author decided to mix the two, especially with Pandora being a Greek character, but it just didn’t ring true to me. The concept is interesting, but the execution is just average. I also think the first book was better than the second, even with all the eye-rolling.

The ending was abrupt without a conclusion. This leads me to believe this is going to be more than a 2-book series. I give this book a 2.5 star.

I received a free copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewer program in exchange for an honest review. ( )