 | Title: The Iron Witch
 Kissing My Rating:
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying. |
Description
Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.
When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.
Review
THE IRON WITCH throws readers right into the middle of the story using numerous vague references to The Incident that got her kicked out of school and a traumatic childhood experience that left her an orphan. Normally, I like stories that allow me to dive right into to the good stuff, but in THE IRON WITCH I feel like an opportunity was missed to tell what arguably is the most interesting parts of Donna’s story. Skipping past all that left me confused for the first third of the book and wrongly wondering if I hadn’t missed an earlier book/novella.
Another side effect of beginning THE IRON WITCH when it does is that there is a rather lengthy info dump passage that we have to trudge through that somehow makes what really is a very interesting alchemy society and fey mythology seem dull. The alchemy does become more interesting as the book goes along and I can see it taking on an even more captivating role in future books.
I was also surprised by the choice to primarily use 3rd person POV for most of the book. There are a few journal entries from Donna which are written in 1st person POV and are easily the best parts of THE IRON WITCH. The 3rd person POV left me feeling a bit detached from the main characters, a feeling that wasn’t helped by how prone they all were to wallowing in self pity constantly.
Despite the criticism above, there is a lot to like in THE IRON WITCH. Donna is essentially a magical bionic woman with her iron laced arms and the romance that sparks between her and Xan is genuine and sweetly romantic. There are a number of questions left unanswered at the end and plenty of hints dropped about possible betrayals and misplaced loyalties that should give this series life for several books to come. Bottom line, if you love Julie Kagawa’s The Iron Fey series, you’ll love THE IRON WITCH.
|
I'm not sure that I would like this one, but you did a great review!
ReplyDeleteNi e review. I have this one waiting on me so I'm still going to give it a read.
ReplyDeleteNice review.I'm findinf myself agreeing with everything.I was laso lost and i think that for such an interesting premise the actual story let me down a bit.
ReplyDeleteNice review! This book is on my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteI read and reviewed this about a week ago and I loved it! I guess you didn't like it quite so much. =)
ReplyDeleteThere are so many gushy reviews on this one out there, if was great to see an honest approach. Thanks
ReplyDeleteCheryl - It's a pretty short book, so if the concept appeals to you, you might want to give it a look.
ReplyDeleteTori - you might not get hung up on some of the things I did. The alchemy twist is still fun though.
Anna - Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one. Everyone else seems to love it beyond words.
Amanda - Hope you like it!
Slowest Bookworm - You're not alone. I seem to be in the minority here, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Spinecraker - I read probably a dozen rave reviews for this and couldn't for the life of me figure out what I was missing :)
Great review! I'm currently reading this novel (around chapter 15). I agree with your statement about the journal entries. They have been the best parts of the book so far. I wish there were more of them.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to add that I saw on twitter straight from the author a couple weeks ago that the release date for The Iron Witch was pushed up to January 25th at the last minute and most online retailers didn't get a chance to change the date. So everyone should be able to find it today. :)
Sara - I really wish the whole story had been told through her journal entires. I don't know what motivated the 3rd person POV. And thanks for the heads up about the early release date.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good review. Love the cover, but I've heard mixed reviews on this one. I think I will wait.
ReplyDelete