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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
I wanted to like this.... And for about 160 pages I kind of did. At that point I believed that it was an ok story that needed some fine tuning and a lot of back story or world building really. It was hard to imagine what I was reading. Then the last of the book came and my head hurt. It was so hard to follow and so clumsily mashed together. The premise is relatively solid, just poorly executed.
Spoiler
Ironskin was a listopia find that caught my attention. The plot is based off of the classic, Jane Eyre, as well as a few references to Beauty and the Beast. I was sucked in right away but as I continued reading it became a little too dark and strange for my tastes. I liked how Jane was cast as this brave heroine who fought in the fairie wars, and I also liked how towards the end she took off her iron mask to embrace who she really was. However, she was a hypocrite at times because she constantly thought about her "ruined" face and longed for, demanded, and eventually got a new one from the surgeon AKA her Rochester-esque love interest. That's essentially why I gave 2 stars instead of 3. Also, peeling off someones skin and pasting a magical mask on isn't cool at all, it's just freaky.
I really liked Ironskin despite that it was a convination between Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights...
I mean, what's not to love when we have Fey, magic and a great villian?
I also liked that our heroin mantained her cool when she's about to be possessed by the evil Queen of The Fey...UPS!
But she was a total jerk when it came to beauty...I know that vanity is everything,especially when we feel self conscious of the way we look and of our flaws, when we're around other gorgeous people, but to lose our convictions just because we want to be something else?
I mean, what's not to love when we have Fey, magic and a great villian?
I also liked that our heroin mantained her cool when she's about to be possessed by the evil Queen of The Fey...UPS!
But she was a total jerk when it came to beauty...I know that vanity is everything,especially when we feel self conscious of the way we look and of our flaws, when we're around other gorgeous people, but to lose our convictions just because we want to be something else?
This book is not anything like Beauty and the Beast as the quote on the cover promises. It is a poor fantasy re-imagining of Jane Eyre (a book that I absolutely adore). I really wanted to like it but it just fell short.
Jane Eliot wears the scars from the Great War on her face...marked by the fey when her brother died. She wears an iron mask covering the marks, hoping to stop the fey curse from infecting everyone around her.
She travels to Silver Birch, to be the governess in a "delicate situation", of which she correctly guesses the child is also fey cursed. Jane is hardly prepared for what she discovers, and what the master of the household is hiding.
A twist to the Jane Eyre story, there's no crazy, demented wife hiding in the attic in this tale. There are a couple of points where the author repeats words and a couple more when it's unclear exactly what's happening, but overall the story is well constructed and crafted. An interesting twist on Charlotte Bronte's well-known story.
She travels to Silver Birch, to be the governess in a "delicate situation", of which she correctly guesses the child is also fey cursed. Jane is hardly prepared for what she discovers, and what the master of the household is hiding.
A twist to the Jane Eyre story, there's no crazy, demented wife hiding in the attic in this tale. There are a couple of points where the author repeats words and a couple more when it's unclear exactly what's happening, but overall the story is well constructed and crafted. An interesting twist on Charlotte Bronte's well-known story.
Ironskin is one of the more different fey stories I’ve ever read. Instead of focusing on the fey the book focuses on the humans after the Great War with the fey. This alone makes the story stand apart from other stories featuring fey. The main character, Jane, and the child that she is governess to are both cursed in different ways and these are a unique feature to this book.
There is some mystery surrounding Edward, the father that hired Jane, as he disappears for days at a time and has a long line of women after him for his time. Not to mention that Edward creates these ugly masks that are hanging around his home. The secrets start to spill out and with those secrets chaos ensues.
While there isn’t much in the way of fey characters in this story, the entire book features the fey’s previous presence and what they have done to the humans and the world they live in. As the fey had cursed some humans it also caused issues with their emotions, such as Jane experiencing Rage due to her scars. This makes it hard to tell where the characters emotions end and the fey’s curse begins. I think that may be why I was never able to fully connect with Jane.
One of my favorite characters was Poule and while we hear only bits and pieces of who she is - it is always interesting, entertaining, and enlightening. I would have loved to read more about her character and her family as well.
Book Received: For free from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Reviewed by Jessica for Book Sake.
There is some mystery surrounding Edward, the father that hired Jane, as he disappears for days at a time and has a long line of women after him for his time. Not to mention that Edward creates these ugly masks that are hanging around his home. The secrets start to spill out and with those secrets chaos ensues.
While there isn’t much in the way of fey characters in this story, the entire book features the fey’s previous presence and what they have done to the humans and the world they live in. As the fey had cursed some humans it also caused issues with their emotions, such as Jane experiencing Rage due to her scars. This makes it hard to tell where the characters emotions end and the fey’s curse begins. I think that may be why I was never able to fully connect with Jane.
One of my favorite characters was Poule and while we hear only bits and pieces of who she is - it is always interesting, entertaining, and enlightening. I would have loved to read more about her character and her family as well.
Book Received: For free from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Reviewed by Jessica for Book Sake.
3.5 but I rounded up. Fascinating take on fairy lore and alternate WW1 history AND Jane Eyre! I still can't believe the author didn't realize the Jane Eyre comparisons at first... she must be full of it. This book screams Jane Eyre, down to the setting, the plot, and the character names! Despite that, it felt very original. I loved the idea of ironskin and Jane was a strong character that was easy to empathize with. The country setting along with the insidious fey gave it a really melancholic, creepy feeling. The last third of the book was particularly unsettling and gruesome at times. I really liked how it ended though and thought the romance was developed well- nice and slow. While I appreciate that we had to see Jane struggle with teaching Dorie so much, it felt like it lasted an awfully long time. It was a moody and enjoyable read overall, I'm interested in finding out about the sequel!
I am a firm believer that there are some stories that just shouldn't be messed with. It's why I'm still dragging my feet on reading [b:Pride and Prejudice and Zombies|5899779|Pride and Prejudice and Zombies|Seth Grahame-Smith|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320449653s/5899779.jpg|6072122]. And, to me, [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639] is one of THE great literary love stories. So, when a book compares itself to that one, I go in skeptical.
At first, I was certain I wasn't going to like [b:Ironskin|9860837|Ironskin (Ironskin, #1)|Tina Connolly|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333049212s/9860837.jpg|14752133]. The first several chapters seemed much too heavy-handed in bringing out the comparisons to [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639]. It so obviously seemed that Connolly was trying to rewrite it, that when she thanked someone in her acknowledgements for telling her the story was trying to be [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639], I was surprised. I thought that had been her intent all along.
Thankfully, once the book got over trying to be something else, I found that I enjoyed it immensely. It's fast-paced and interesting, although I didn't find the chemistry to be as palpable between this Jane and her employer as in the original. The romance felt one-sided most of the time.
What I really enjoyed was that it was a new take on the world of the fae. Although many stories feature fae that are violent and twisted, the focus is still on their beauty.
Visit my blog at Bums & Bellybuttons.
At first, I was certain I wasn't going to like [b:Ironskin|9860837|Ironskin (Ironskin, #1)|Tina Connolly|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333049212s/9860837.jpg|14752133]. The first several chapters seemed much too heavy-handed in bringing out the comparisons to [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639]. It so obviously seemed that Connolly was trying to rewrite it, that when she thanked someone in her acknowledgements for telling her the story was trying to be [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639], I was surprised. I thought that had been her intent all along.
Thankfully, once the book got over trying to be something else, I found that I enjoyed it immensely. It's fast-paced and interesting, although I didn't find the chemistry to be as palpable between this Jane and her employer as in the original. The romance felt one-sided most of the time.
What I really enjoyed was that it was a new take on the world of the fae. Although many stories feature fae that are violent and twisted, the focus is still on their beauty.
Spoiler
In [b:Ironskin|9860837|Ironskin (Ironskin, #1)|Tina Connolly|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333049212s/9860837.jpg|14752133], the fae are portrayed as violent, malevolent creatures, whose beauty is not just unnatural, but fake. It is an interesting perspective, as is the fact of their having no bodies of their own, so they take over human corpses. Usually we hear of the fae manipulating humans to act as their puppets, but [b:Ironskin|9860837|Ironskin (Ironskin, #1)|Tina Connolly|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333049212s/9860837.jpg|14752133] takes that idea much further.Visit my blog at Bums & Bellybuttons.
Ironskin is my first experience of what I guess I would categorise as a Steampunk novel, and the promotional literature advertised it as a sort-of Jane Eyre story. Certainly the character names – Jane, Mr Rochart and Dorie – take their inspiration from that novel, but although certain circumstances in Ironskin loosely resemble Jane Eyre, to sell it like that does it a bit of an injustice, as it stands very well on its own merits.
Jane is an engaging character, strong, an outsider and with a streak of vulnerability because of her fey curse and the death of her brother, she is determined to help Dorie Rochart escape her own fey curse which, unlike Jane’s does not have any outward signs. She believes Dorie can live a normal life, among ‘normal’ people, if she can just master her powers.
There are elements of the gothic novel in Ironskin – the Rochart mansion is a bleak place, on the edge of a deep, dark forest. There are wings of the house that are forbidden, and some that have been partially destroyed in the Great War. The staff, including a half-dwarf who doesn’t believe for a second that the fey have been beaten, and a hearty Irish cook, become Jane’s solace as she tries to find her place among them, and deal with her growing feelings for Mr Rochart.
The world of Ironskin is very well described, with descriptions of fey technology blending with descriptions of things that we would find everyday. In particular, Connolly’s descriptions of Mr Rochart’s women and their cackling society one-upmanship are a pleasure to read.
Although I was sent a copy of Ironskin to review, I was pleased to find that the second book in the series, Copperhead, was imminent and in the intervening period, the third and final instalment, Silverblind will be out in October. Both titles are now on my ‘Want to Read’ List and Ironskin itself is highly recommended.
Jane is an engaging character, strong, an outsider and with a streak of vulnerability because of her fey curse and the death of her brother, she is determined to help Dorie Rochart escape her own fey curse which, unlike Jane’s does not have any outward signs. She believes Dorie can live a normal life, among ‘normal’ people, if she can just master her powers.
There are elements of the gothic novel in Ironskin – the Rochart mansion is a bleak place, on the edge of a deep, dark forest. There are wings of the house that are forbidden, and some that have been partially destroyed in the Great War. The staff, including a half-dwarf who doesn’t believe for a second that the fey have been beaten, and a hearty Irish cook, become Jane’s solace as she tries to find her place among them, and deal with her growing feelings for Mr Rochart.
The world of Ironskin is very well described, with descriptions of fey technology blending with descriptions of things that we would find everyday. In particular, Connolly’s descriptions of Mr Rochart’s women and their cackling society one-upmanship are a pleasure to read.
Although I was sent a copy of Ironskin to review, I was pleased to find that the second book in the series, Copperhead, was imminent and in the intervening period, the third and final instalment, Silverblind will be out in October. Both titles are now on my ‘Want to Read’ List and Ironskin itself is highly recommended.
Elements of Jane Eyre, Beauty and the Beast, Deerskin and other faery tales are paid homage, but with a knowing smile, some steampunk technology and body-snatching Good Neighbours.
Yes, you read that correctly. Zombie fae.
This is after The War, though, and polite society tries to forget about such unpleasantness.
I found it a gripping daydream apart from a reality full of blueprints and technical manuals. A little bit if romance certainly didn't hurt.