The Iron Maiden is in part as raw as the popular Games of Thrones series; though a tale for a mature audience (for that reason I have marked the book for reader 18+), this is much more than a fantasy with sexual encounters and battle scenes. This is Voltaire's satire against religious hypocrisy and war. This book, written more than 250 years ago, combines comedy with tragedy with a storyboard that could have been borrowed from Candide, Don Quixote, Games of Thrones, Shrek, Paradise Lost or Divine Comedy; but much more humorous. No work of art can ever be created in a vacuum, and this story has in many ways been written before or since; but Voltaire did it best. For those who might think that Voltaire is merely chanting the glories of war, think again —Voltaire was totally against war; even at the cost of losing Canada to the British— Voltaire is not celebrating war here but rather fleshing out the various degree of stupidity that often leads to war. The ultimate irony shadowing this story of French valor is that this war fought with a woman in the front has been the only war France ever emerged victorious.