I've wanted to read a longer work of Mahoney's since first finishing "Falling to Ash" in The Eternal Kiss anthology. I eagerly waited for The Iron Witch and when the chance came I bought it and horded it and loved it and named it George.

It doesn't disappoint. In some respects I think it took a little too long to bring all the various plot elements together (Xan's secrets, the beast that attacked Donna, Navin's kidnapping, the shadiness of practically every adult in the book). Navin doesn't get kidnapped until about two-thirds into the book, leaving how Donna saves him and resolves some mysteries for the last third. Leaving a rather important piece of the book for the ending third meant a lot of what happened was dumb luck and plot convenience, especially when they found the secret room.

I really liked Donna, Navin and Xan, I think Donna's a little oblivious where Navin is concerned, but all three of them were likable and enjoyable to read about. Mahoney didn't make it easy for any of them, Donna's initial starstruck awe of Xan is gradually tempered with a natural concern for the fact she barely knows him. Navin, despite his feelings (or not) for Donna never becomes that guy who is irrational or confrontational. And Xan...he was a good mix of mysterious older cute guy and vulnerable victim putting up a brave front.

Most importantly, at least to me, Donna had a good head on her shoulders. She made some reckless decisions, but trusted in herself so those reckless decisions never became recklessly dangerous foolhardy decisions. She made valid points that despite what the Order says, given a choice between what Navin's abductors wanted and Navin (an ordinary human) they'd put their interests first. Which doesn't make them any better then the abductors. Blindly following what they tell her, with vague promises that one day it would make sense, was questionable at best.

Despite knowing there's a second book coming (next year :sobs: ) Donna's ending journal entry felt abrupt. It was like 'And so I got into trouble.' I hope that when the second book comes out it makes a bit more sense (maybe something happened to her that made her cut the journal entry off so abruptly?). I also hope that it doesn't lose the balance it has maintained between the three.

Rachel Vincent's post "Rachel on love Triangles" about love triangles in her books (Soul Screamers mainly with Nash/Kaylee/Tod) was timely because it put into perspective how I felt about Navin/Donna/Xan. Which is not a triangle because one piece of it (Donna) doesn't acknowledge that there is any other person she's interested in. She loves and holds Navin in affection, he's her best friend and they've been through a lot together, but that feeling is not the same as what she has for Xan.

I really hope the second book doesn't tip it over one way or the other.
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Maybe it was the elf and fairy thing but I just couldn't get into this book. I typically like fantasy books with witches and magic and I was hoping this would be a good one but it was just disappointing. I skimmed the last half of the book. The book is pretty short so it's a quick read but I think because it's so short there's not much character development and I didn't care about any of the characters at all. The plot really wasn't that interesting to me and it seemed predictable. Overall, just not my type of book. I will not continue this series. ( )

I found the main character so insipid and whiny that I could not finish the book. ( )

Being dragged to a party she never wanted to attend filled with people who don't want her there should have been the worst night of her life. It easily would have been too if not for the tall handsome guy she meets while hiding out on the roof. Suddenly with this one meeting she will realise that she is not the only one who is different, not the only one with secrets. But now her secrets are all coming out.

When a chance encounter with a rogue wood elf leads to the abduction of her best friend, a choice must be made. Either save her best friend and turn against the secret society that has raised her, or follow the rules of a society that she is beginning to question and allow the one person who was always there for her to be lost to the vicious fey that destroyed her family.

The Iron Witch brings a new twist to the fey genre introducing an ancient society of alchemists. Growing up amongst these alchemist Donna has many secrets, as do the alchemists who healed her after a childhood attack that took her parents left her marked as different and her arms tattooed with iron. Despite the distinct lack of dragons, this is a fast paced and fascinating story of an ancient secret society, a centuries old fey war, an elixir of life and a new romance with a handsome half-fey. ( )

When she was seven years old, wood elves tried to steal Donna Underwood away. Her father died saving her, and her mother's mind was broken. Donna herself was gravely injured, but the Maker, a member of a secret society of alchemists, saved her by infusing her injured hands and arms with a mixture of iron and silver. The swirls of metal give her greater physical strength (which is inconvenient when she loses her temper - she's now homeschooled for this reason) and mark her as a freak, so she wears gloves whenever possible.

When her best friend Navin accidentally learns that the fey exist, Donna's worst fear is that he'll shun her for her strange arms. It never occurs to her that the wood elves might try to use Navin against her somehow. After Navin is kidnapped, Donna attempts to save him with the help of Xan, a handsome and mysterious boy who has at least as many secrets as she does.

I'm trying to get through more of my old ARCs, but an annoying number of them are later books in series or trilogies. I own an ARC of the second book of this trilogy, The Wood Queen, and figured it would be a bad idea to just jump straight in. Interlibrary loan helped me get a copy of The Iron Witch...and now that I've read it, I've decided that it probably isn't worth the effort to read my ARC of the second book.

This wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't great, and it didn't help that I'm not generally a fan of stories involving the fey anymore.

The writing was clumsy, and the dialogue seemed off somehow. The book was set in the US, but there were times I could tell that the author was British - for example, at one point Donna tried to "ring" someone, which isn't phrasing I'd normally expect from an American teen trying to contact someone by phone. In general, I had a hard time believing Donna and Navin were the teens they were supposed to be.

The thing I most disliked about this book, though, was the "romance" between Donna and Xan. Xan was a cardboard cutout YA Book Boyfriend, there to be sexy, perfect, and powerful but also still vulnerable. Unfortunately, although Donna fell for him instantly, Mahoney never managed to convince me he was worth sighing over.

He had a tragic backstory (Donna was impressed that he didn't wallow in it and act emo like other high schoolers - hello, girl who's constantly afraid people will judge her for her "freakish" hands), and the scene in which he explained it all required him to strip his shirt off, because of course it did. I had to laugh when he explained how alone he was - in addition to his tragic backstory, his adoptive parents weren't particularly loving, so he eventually emancipated from them. This didn't actually result in him having to be self-sufficient, however. He lives in a house provided by his adoptive father, and his car is one that his adoptive father was supposedly going to scrap. I assume his adoptive parents provide him with money as well.

Donna drooled after Xan so much, for no particular reason other than that he existed and was good-looking, that I wondered whether he'd actually turn out to be a secret enemy. It wouldn't surprise me if he betrayed her later in the trilogy, but since I don't plan to read any further, I guess I'll never find out.

As far as I could tell, Donna knew a little about alchemy but didn't actually do any herself, so there weren't any interesting alchemy bits. Heck, there weren't even many interesting magical bits - a couple fey creatures here and there, a brief trip into the Elflands, and that was pretty much it. It's possible that the rest of the trilogy has more and better to offer, but again, I don't think it's worth the effort it would take for me to find out.

Extras:

"The Girl with Silver Hands: the Making of The Iron Witch," seven pages in which Mahoney discusses her research and influences.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )