Monday, January 7, 2013

The Iron Thorn

The Iron Thorn
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Page Count: 492
Release Date: February 22, 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers 
Series: Iron Codex #1 
Source: Purchased

Read the summary here on Goodreads.

 

My Review:

I've heard a lot of different opinions about this book; some good and some bad. In my opinion, it was an excellent book.

There were a couple of times were the pacing was slow and a little draw out, but other than that, The Iron Thorn was a very well paced novel.

The characters were amazing. You think you know who they really are, but as the novel progresses, you learn that the characters are not really who you thought they were. They all have their secrets, but those secrets eventually come to the surface. Aoife is a strong female character who sticks up for herself and doesn't listen when others try to tell her what to do. While I didn't agree with her attitude all the time, I still like her as a character and thought she grew throughout the novel. Dean starts out as her guide, but eventually becomes much more. He is also not who he seems to be. Cal got on my nerves a bit during the novel, but all-in-all, he's a good guy and Aoife's best friend. No one's secret shocked me more than his.

The storyline of this novel was very intriguing. The novel takes place in an alternate version of the 1950s in Massachusetts. Aoife lives in a world where belief in magic and such are forbidden and condemnable by death. Her family suffers from an illness that causes them to go mad. Her mother is locked in a madhouse and her brother disappeared. Aoife attends the School of Engineers and is a ward of the state. After she receives a strange letter from her brother, she and Cal escape from the school and set off to save him and enlist the help of Dean, who becomes their guide. There is a lot the happens in this book from the time the set off to the end. There is hardly ever a dull moment.

You definitely get the steampunk aspect in this novel. It takes a little getting used to. I had some trouble with the lingo that it used in this novel because I had no idea how to pronounce some of it. Other than that, a great steampunk novel.

My only really big problem with this book was that I could not figure out how to pronounce Aoife's name. I finally just pronounced it the way I thought it was supposed to sound and went on. I found out once I finished the book that it is pronounced "EE-fah". Maybe I should have looked it up before I read the book.

The end is most certainly a cliffhanger and leaves you eager to read the next book.

While The Iron Thorn is about 500 pages long, I thought every page was worth the time I put into reading it. I look forward to reading The Nightmare Garden.

Rating: 5/5

Review also posted on Goodreads. 


 

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