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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
I picked up this book because 'Jane Eyre' is a favorite of book of mine and reviews noted the parallels between the two stories. While 'Ironskin' has many deliberate echoes of 'Jane Eyre', it also has unique and interesting story elements. I enjoyed the story, but I felt the fresh portions were overshadowed by the need to connect so much to 'Jane Eyre'. The Jane Eyre-ness could have been more subtle to allow more attention to the history of interactions between this world and the Fey and the impact on how these characters live. The end of the book felt rushed and the set-up wasn't developed as well as it could have been over the course of the novel.
I read Jane Eyre long ago and hated it. Perhaps it was the tiny type and thin pages, but the classic never pulled me in. But I was pretty excited to try IRONSKIN, even though it was supposed to be the Eyre tale with the fey. Masks and fey and forbidden romance...I had to see what this was like. I did end up enjoying the story, though some parts were predictable. There isn't as much fey interaction as I would have liked, but the fey permeate every bit of this society. Mr. Rochart (Mr. Rochester) has a talent that I didn't peg at first, but the reveal of certain secrets isn't quite as surprising as it could be. There are definitely twists and turns in this that are interesting even as they are squicky, and this alternate universe with fey-provided batteries and curses that project rage onto other folk is a well-imagined setting. There's not as much romance as there could be--there's even a hint of insta-love--but this is a case where love might not conquer all anyway. Our heroine Jane isn't too stupid to live, thankfully, though there aren't a lot of chances for her to stand her ground. The scenes between Jane and her fey-cursed charge, Dorie, are well done and seem real, even though this child is definitely not normal. The story wraps up at the end, but there's room for a sequel without it seeming contrived. I'll be looking for the next book in the series.
Received as a digital ARC via Netgalley.
Received as a digital ARC via Netgalley.
Tina Connolly’s Ironskin is set in a world where man met fey, loved fey (and fey technology), then (eventually) fought fey. Some of the survivors still carry the scars of that war, and Jane is one of them. Her bit of embedded fey, her fey curse, brings out rage – in her, and in others – so she wears a mask of iron to dampen its effect. A mask that reminds everyone she’s ironskin, that she’s not wholly human, and they treat her accordingly.
After losing yet another job to a non-ironskin, Jane takes a job as governess to five-year-old fey-cursed Dorie – and finds that not everything is as she thought. Dorie doesn’t have any scars, yet she can do things no human can. How can Jane curb Dorie’s use of her fey skills when there’s nowhere to mask? How do you persuade a five-year-old that she should be doing things the hard way?
Then there’s Dorie’s father, Edward. A skilled artist, Edward makes masks… and so much more. When Jane learns what Edward’s been using his skills for, she considers that even she could be beautiful again. Then she realizes how it plays into the fey’s plan, and Jane must decide if beauty is worth the destruction of everything she wants, of everyone she loves. Because this time, the fey are playing to win.
Jane is brave and stubborn and determined. She isn’t about to let the world tell her how to live, she’s going to make it on her own. She is wistful, remembering the life she had before the war. Hopeful that her sister has made a happy marriage. And longing for a chance for the same for herself, though she knows that will most likely never happen. I like Jane.
Edward is reclusive, and for a good reason – one of which we don’t really find out until close to the end. He’s broody and aloof, and has his reasons for that, too. We see more of Jane than Edward, so I don’t really have an opinion of him – other than I don’t dislike him.
Ironskin is a story about survival, about yearning for what’s lost, and about wanting more than you should. It’s a story about regrets. And it’s a story about love. All in all, it’s a pretty darn good first novel from Connolly. Check it out!
drey’s rating: Excellent!
After losing yet another job to a non-ironskin, Jane takes a job as governess to five-year-old fey-cursed Dorie – and finds that not everything is as she thought. Dorie doesn’t have any scars, yet she can do things no human can. How can Jane curb Dorie’s use of her fey skills when there’s nowhere to mask? How do you persuade a five-year-old that she should be doing things the hard way?
Then there’s Dorie’s father, Edward. A skilled artist, Edward makes masks… and so much more. When Jane learns what Edward’s been using his skills for, she considers that even she could be beautiful again. Then she realizes how it plays into the fey’s plan, and Jane must decide if beauty is worth the destruction of everything she wants, of everyone she loves. Because this time, the fey are playing to win.
Jane is brave and stubborn and determined. She isn’t about to let the world tell her how to live, she’s going to make it on her own. She is wistful, remembering the life she had before the war. Hopeful that her sister has made a happy marriage. And longing for a chance for the same for herself, though she knows that will most likely never happen. I like Jane.
Edward is reclusive, and for a good reason – one of which we don’t really find out until close to the end. He’s broody and aloof, and has his reasons for that, too. We see more of Jane than Edward, so I don’t really have an opinion of him – other than I don’t dislike him.
Ironskin is a story about survival, about yearning for what’s lost, and about wanting more than you should. It’s a story about regrets. And it’s a story about love. All in all, it’s a pretty darn good first novel from Connolly. Check it out!
drey’s rating: Excellent!
A little uneven in the writing. The best parts, IMO, were when the author followed more of her own storyline, rather than staying too close to Jane Eyre. I also would have liked a little more backstory about the war and Jane's past.
Spoiler
I found the part where Jane insisted on a new face to be a little out of character--even though she had talked about wanting to be the "Jane she was supposed to be," her insistence on wanting a new face even after she discovered the fey curse seemed incongruent with everything else about the character and felt like a gimmick to move the story in a certain direction.
I thought that a fey/magic retelling of Jane Eyre would be cool, had some potential. But the whole secretive "Bertha" plotline (in this, the Fey Queen) was actually nonsense that tried too hard. I love a mystery, but this was like the sad single sheet of paper that pretends to be a mystery.
And look, I gotta say it, then people started tearing their own faces off and I just really wasn't here for that level of weirdness and gore. This book should have a warning: Weird magical plastic surgery IS the main plotline.
And look, I gotta say it, then people started tearing their own faces off and I just really wasn't here for that level of weirdness and gore. This book should have a warning: Weird magical plastic surgery IS the main plotline.
I really enjoyed the world, but I don't think I'm the intended audience for this novel. Not a fan of Gothic stuff, not a fan of romance novels, not... this straight.
I gather this is intended as a Jane Eyre riff in the same way that Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamour novels are Austen riffs. I have no problem with paying homage to a classic and old favorite - in fact, the way in which Kowal uses Austen's language and milieu conveys a great deal of information in the most delightful way possible - but you need to understand your material and find a way in which it's relevant to the new setting you're exploring.
So...no. Not so much.
One of the reasons that Jane Eyre is such a profoundly sympathetic character is that we're with her from the beginning. We see how hard her life is, and the extent to which her status as an orphan puts her at a disadvantage. In the case of Jane Eliot, the protagonist of Ironskin, we're introduced to her harrowing and traumatic story via flashbacks. I'm sure this supposed to have an effect on me. It did not. Burying the protagonists experiences and motivations in flashbacks only works if the story being told in the present is engaging and coherent. It wasn't. It would help, in fact, if the protagonist was likable, but it feels to me as if we're denied even that.
I can't bash this novel too hard - as problematic as I found the plot, characters, themes, and parallels with Jane Eyre, the writing itself is passable, and I was able to get all the way to the end without throwing the book. So I guess there's that.
So...no. Not so much.
One of the reasons that Jane Eyre is such a profoundly sympathetic character is that we're with her from the beginning. We see how hard her life is, and the extent to which her status as an orphan puts her at a disadvantage. In the case of Jane Eliot, the protagonist of Ironskin, we're introduced to her harrowing and traumatic story via flashbacks. I'm sure this supposed to have an effect on me. It did not. Burying the protagonists experiences and motivations in flashbacks only works if the story being told in the present is engaging and coherent. It wasn't. It would help, in fact, if the protagonist was likable, but it feels to me as if we're denied even that.
I can't bash this novel too hard - as problematic as I found the plot, characters, themes, and parallels with Jane Eyre, the writing itself is passable, and I was able to get all the way to the end without throwing the book. So I guess there's that.
Oh, alas and woe is me that I did not enjoy this more. I TRIED to love it. I WANTED to love it. I did not love it. In the end, I didn't even like it. I didn't care a single bit for any character. I didn't care if they lived or died, were happy or sad, or whatever. NOTHING.
Gah.
I hate it when that happens, even more so when it's a book that I had such high expectations for. It's partly my fault too, for trying to push off my expectations onto a book. I took one look at that fantastic cover and thought, "Jane Eyre meets Phantom of the Opera...WIN!" There were elements of Jane Eyre present, which I thought were almost well done. (No Phantom of the Opera, but I don't subtract any points for that...the book was never billed as a retelling of PotO.)
It started out strong. I was immediately sucked into the story and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. I had a pretty good framework for events that needed to happen, based on Jane Eyre. With the strong start, I expected it to be fantastic all the way through. Sadly, it was not. I started losing interest about 1/3 of the way through, but I'd promised to read it and give an honest review. So I slogged on. There were many times I would have rather set it aside and not finished, but that pesky little voice kept telling me that I was obligated. So I finished.
I'm afraid that the first few chapters were the only things I liked about this one. After that, there was no connection. Jane was weak, Edward was creepy, Dorie was...well, odd is the kindest word I can think of to describe Dorie. When I started cheering for the bad guys to just come in and wipe the humans out, I knew it was over for me & this book.
With the story, it felt a little disjointed to me. Nothing quite fit. Maybe that was the point, and it's some sort of metaphor for how Jane doesn't really fit in. OOOHH. I actually quite like that idea, and if that's the case, the bravo to Ms. Connolly because it works. (and if you wanted to know, that was not sarcastic.) If it wasn't a metaphor, then it falls flat for me.
In all honesty, I felt like this a lot of the time:
And this:
In the end, it turns out that I'm just not meant for a relationship with some books. I would never say that this was poorly written, because I don't think it was. It just wasn't for me. It might be just the thing for someone else, so before deciding to never pick it up, give it a shot and see. I'd LOVE to see someone else absolutely love it, because it would just prove us all right when we say that every book has a home.
Ironskin was a 1.5 Eiffel Tower book for me, because I really did enjoy those first few chapters.
Content Advisory:
Language: Mild
Sexuality: Mild
Violence: Moderate
Gah.
I hate it when that happens, even more so when it's a book that I had such high expectations for. It's partly my fault too, for trying to push off my expectations onto a book. I took one look at that fantastic cover and thought, "Jane Eyre meets Phantom of the Opera...WIN!" There were elements of Jane Eyre present, which I thought were almost well done. (No Phantom of the Opera, but I don't subtract any points for that...the book was never billed as a retelling of PotO.)
It started out strong. I was immediately sucked into the story and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. I had a pretty good framework for events that needed to happen, based on Jane Eyre. With the strong start, I expected it to be fantastic all the way through. Sadly, it was not. I started losing interest about 1/3 of the way through, but I'd promised to read it and give an honest review. So I slogged on. There were many times I would have rather set it aside and not finished, but that pesky little voice kept telling me that I was obligated. So I finished.
I'm afraid that the first few chapters were the only things I liked about this one. After that, there was no connection. Jane was weak, Edward was creepy, Dorie was...well, odd is the kindest word I can think of to describe Dorie. When I started cheering for the bad guys to just come in and wipe the humans out, I knew it was over for me & this book.
With the story, it felt a little disjointed to me. Nothing quite fit. Maybe that was the point, and it's some sort of metaphor for how Jane doesn't really fit in. OOOHH. I actually quite like that idea, and if that's the case, the bravo to Ms. Connolly because it works. (and if you wanted to know, that was not sarcastic.) If it wasn't a metaphor, then it falls flat for me.
In all honesty, I felt like this a lot of the time:
And this:
In the end, it turns out that I'm just not meant for a relationship with some books. I would never say that this was poorly written, because I don't think it was. It just wasn't for me. It might be just the thing for someone else, so before deciding to never pick it up, give it a shot and see. I'd LOVE to see someone else absolutely love it, because it would just prove us all right when we say that every book has a home.
Ironskin was a 1.5 Eiffel Tower book for me, because I really did enjoy those first few chapters.
Content Advisory:
Language: Mild
Sexuality: Mild
Violence: Moderate