Review: I wanted to like this book, and I did in part, but there were just so many things that I felt were flawed. For starters, I could never identify with the characters and their feelings and motivations; there seemed to be a curtain between me and them, because there isn't enough development to make me care for them.
The use of 3rd person didn't help - between chapters there where those entries from Donna's journal written in the 1st person point of view, and when I continued to read another chapter with the 3rd person, I felt it was hard to reenter the story. I also felt that the writing was leaning too much in the telling us things part, instead of showing us those things.
In the first two thirds of the book it seems like nothing happens. Donna hangs around with Navin and meets Xan a few times, but not enough foreshadowing and hints are introduced for the third third of the book, when some action actually happens.
I honestly thought Donna was a bit distracted or dumb, because a couple of times there was something shady going on and she pushes her suspicions to the back of her mind and keeps doing whatever she was doing. I also thought she should have asked for help from the start to someone that knew what they were doing (adults do exist for more than annoy teenagers, you know).
But then, at some point in the book it is told that Donna doesn't trust the Order anymore - because of some shady behaviour that Simon, the secretary of the Order, displays, and also because of some other things that happened before but that we aren't exactly told by the writer, which annoyed me to no end.
This is turning into a review of things I felt might be so much better; although I enjoyed a few things. I liked Donna's personality, for instance - she doesn't dwell in the tragedy that happened with her and her parents, for example. And she bullies back a girl that tries to bully her. Not that I condone threatening people around, but it was fun to see someone stand up to a mean girl for a change.
I was curious about the boys, Navin and Xan, and I hope they are better explored in the following book, as they have quite some potential; I am even willing to endure the dreaded love triangle I see looming in the horizon. Someone on Goodreads pointed out they were a bit like Ash and Puck from the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, and I wish that Navin and Xan will be a bit of the awesomeness pack Ash and Puck are.
I liked a lot the tying between alchemy and the fey world, and I am extremely interested in seeing more about the beliefs and the things that alchemists do, as they didn't get explored much; it seems like a rich universe. I also appreciated the text in the end written by the author, explaining where the ideas behind The Iron Witch came from.
Long story short, I was quite disappointed with this book, but opinions seem to divide about this one, so I'm still undecided whether I should read the next one in the series. I'm leaning towards giving it a shot, though, as it had some fun and appealing points (and I loved the cover), though its flaws may keep away many readers.
Pages: 304
Publisher: Corgi (Random House UK)
This book was VERY disappointing. The same thing happened to me, I wanted to like it, but I couldn't, really. (º_º)
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