The Iron Thorn [Paperback]

First of all the positives:
Incredibly well written
Great world building
Dark atmosphere

But.....
I hated Aoife (Ee-Fa)! She treatEd her friend Cal like dirt the minute Dean shows up. She was cruel to Bethany. It's hard to enjoy a book when on each page you hate the protagonist more and more,

Also I thought that this book was overwritten and almost too complex. It could have been edited down. I had to force myself to finish it. I will not be reading the next books in this series.

Ms. Kiittredge is clearly a very talented writer, I just hated Aoife and it ruined the story forme.

Caitlin Kittridge's book combines Lovecraftian, Orwellian and Masonic elements with steampunk to create a unique dystopian world in her first novel for young adults. Author of two urban fantasy series for adults, Kittridge is no stranger to the crafting of alternative universes, but this one is her most complex and imaginative. There are certain "Potterish" similarities that cannot be ignored, but Kittridge gains points by making her heroine a student of engineering, and creating a magic system that is an interesting blend of the supernatural and the scientific.

The prose is cleverly crafted to match the setting. While Aoife Grayson and her companions are still in the city of Lovecraft, the writing style reflects the steely mechanization of the city, as in: "his cheeks [were] twin combustions of red in the cold." Once the heroes leave the city and enter the more supernatural-tinged countryside near Aoife's familial home, the descriptions become more visceral.

The characters are something of a mixed bag. Aoife's friend Cal is the most solidly conceived, for reasons that make sense later in the book. Aoife herself is so guarded that it is difficult to ever gain a clear picture of her, and the personality of their guide, Dean, proves to be as amorphous as a shoggoth; he starts out as a cocky street ruffian who calls the heroine, "Miss Aoife" and speaks with British colloquialisms. Later, he loses his edge and instead develops a rat pack-style swagger, and habit of saying things like, "This is weirdsville, kid. Your old man's a spooky cat," and "You're a bright penny, kid." It seemed Kittridge was still getting a feeling for these two characters' personalities as she wrote them.

After a slowed-down middle section, the entire episode with the ghouls (including the description of their nest) is a delightful adventure and a nice change of pace. The final adventure is satisfying, and also nicely sets up the next novel in the series, which I look forward to reading.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

Reviewed by [...]

I feel so bad but I just could not get thorough the book. I forced myself to read through half of it and just could not continue to read it all and skimmed through to the end. It felt like every page was 10 pages long and everything was way over explained. The more I read the more I found that I just wanted the page to end and get on with the story. The plot was a good plot and the world building was fantastic, but uggh I really just could not connect with it at all. I was going to purchase the book and I'm glad that I decided to borrow it from the library instead.