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A review by kblincoln
Copperhead by Tina Connolly
5.0
My biggest gripe with the first book in this series, Ironskin, was that I liked a touch more romance in my Fantastical Bronte-esque fiction.
Not so with the second in this series, Copperhead.
In Ironskin we are introduced to a society where the fey and humans have had a big war and now the fey seemed to all but have disappeared back into the forest from whence they came. Except for the startling beautiful faces of the Hundred Society women Rochart made out of fey-infused clay in the first book, Ironskin.
Now Ironskin's main character, Jane, is trying to replace the fey faces with the Hundred's original faces-- including that of her sister, Helen.
Helen wants to help, but what's a girl whose fooled everyone into believing she's air-headed and ditzy to do when fey bits start appearing all over town, Jane disappears, and a secret society begins constructing strange apparatus, making curfews, and taking over the town?
And what about that strange man in black who keeps appearing when Helen needs him most?
Although you could plunge into Helen's story without reading Ironskin, first, I recommend reading the books in order. I think Helen's discovery of her own powers-- with or without her fey face-- are made more poignant by having learned of Jane's story in the first book.
While I did get a bit tangled up when it came to the climactic Helen vs. the Fey King scene at the end to who was doing what with which bits of fey, Helen herself is so much fun to hang along with as she tries to reconcile the role she's played as the dutiful wife and daughter with the desires to protect her sister and the city, that it doesn't matter. The understated, quiet building of feelings between her and the man in black also kept the romance lover in me reading on.
A lovely addition to the series featuring a heroine just as plucky as Jane, but in her own way. (and still a lovely Bronte-esque society without the major borrowings from Jane Eyre that Ironskin had)
This Book's Snack Rating: Garlic Parmesan Kettle Chips for the solid crunch of Helen's transformation flavored with yummy bits of fey, period society, and hijinks
Not so with the second in this series, Copperhead.
In Ironskin we are introduced to a society where the fey and humans have had a big war and now the fey seemed to all but have disappeared back into the forest from whence they came. Except for the startling beautiful faces of the Hundred Society women Rochart made out of fey-infused clay in the first book, Ironskin.
Now Ironskin's main character, Jane, is trying to replace the fey faces with the Hundred's original faces-- including that of her sister, Helen.
Helen wants to help, but what's a girl whose fooled everyone into believing she's air-headed and ditzy to do when fey bits start appearing all over town, Jane disappears, and a secret society begins constructing strange apparatus, making curfews, and taking over the town?
And what about that strange man in black who keeps appearing when Helen needs him most?
Although you could plunge into Helen's story without reading Ironskin, first, I recommend reading the books in order. I think Helen's discovery of her own powers-- with or without her fey face-- are made more poignant by having learned of Jane's story in the first book.
While I did get a bit tangled up when it came to the climactic Helen vs. the Fey King scene at the end to who was doing what with which bits of fey, Helen herself is so much fun to hang along with as she tries to reconcile the role she's played as the dutiful wife and daughter with the desires to protect her sister and the city, that it doesn't matter. The understated, quiet building of feelings between her and the man in black also kept the romance lover in me reading on.
A lovely addition to the series featuring a heroine just as plucky as Jane, but in her own way. (and still a lovely Bronte-esque society without the major borrowings from Jane Eyre that Ironskin had)
This Book's Snack Rating: Garlic Parmesan Kettle Chips for the solid crunch of Helen's transformation flavored with yummy bits of fey, period society, and hijinks