Title: The Iron
Witch
Author: Karen Mahoney
Series: The Iron Witch #1
Published: February 2011 by Flux. January 2011 by
Corgi
Length: 312 pages
Warnings: fantasy
violence, 12+
Source: Library
Other info: The
sequel, The Wood Queen, came out
recently. The Stone Demon should come next year.
Summary : 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: Donna
Underwood has iron tattoos over her hands and arms. Because of some magical
thing has been performed, these give her supernatural strength. And now Wood
Elves from the Land of Faerie are coming and Donna has to make a big, big
choice.
We first find out that Donna’s father is dcead, and that Donna
suffers from nightmares that may or may not shed light on how he died. It then
switches perspective, to third person, and a party which her friend Navin
forces Donna to. There she meets Xan, a mysterious boy with something not quite
right about him. Then various things happen, involving alchemy, and faeries,
and Donna has to choice between saving her best friend, or handing over
something priceless.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was given this to read.
So I just read it with an open mind.
Donna was your typical outcast heroine, with the very
untypical tattoos that mark her as different, make her inhumanely strong and
have given her many many questions. Xan, well, he wasn’t the normal love
interest, taking into account the fact that he is, er, not entirely human, but he didn’t really capture my attention.
The plot developed at a nice pace, but the third person
narrative didn’t work as well as it does in some books. I just didn’t connect
at all with Donna, which would have been nice. It definitely picked up the more
it went on, so if you can get past the first third, you’ll be alright.
The mix of paranormal things in this was great. Faeries and
alchemists, well, they’re only the start of it.
It’s also an unusal mix, but I loved it, because it’s different and new.
I can’t wait to see if there’ll be any more creatures cropping up in later
books. I also wish that the alchemy had gotten a little bit more prominence.
I’m not sure if this is good or bad, but the thing I lilked
most was the author’s note. Seeing where Karen Mahoney got her inspiration from
was fascinating, and it made me think about different mythologies that I’ve not
really read or heard of. It’s added a
lot to the list of things I should look up some day.
Overall: Strength
3 tea to a nice blend of magic and alchemy that you should read if you’re a fan
of this kind of stuff.
Great review! It's a shame this book wasn't a little bit more enjoyable, but I'd still like to check it out. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review even if now I'm not sure when I'll read it. I've got this book in my to-read list since few weeks but I'll not put it on top. I'm still curious though with the mix you pointed out with faeries and alchemists. :)
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