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A review by mackle13
Ironskin by Tina Connolly
3.0
3.5
I'm comfortable with the 3.5 for this book, but I'm not entirely decided whether to bump it up to 4 or down to 3. (It's 4 at the time of writing this review, but may change in the future.)
First things first - there's a blurb on the cover of the copy I read that says, "A steampunk Beauty and the Beast tale, beautifully and cleverly reversed." It is none of these things.
There is tech, but it's magi-tech, not steampunk, and it's mostly not working by the start of the book. Also, as many of the other reviews have point out, this is a Jane Eyre retelling, not Beauty and the Beast - despite one or two BatB references. This didn't make the book bad, but I was slightly disappointed at first because I was wanting to read a BatB story, so... Luckily I was able to alter my expectations, and luckily I also like Jane Eyre.
Anyway -
So, yeah - Jane Eyre with magic, but definitely enough of its own story where you felt like you knew what was coming, but it was unique enough to stay interesting.
One of the big differences was that Jane's governess job in this is actually an important part of the story, and not just an excuse to get her to the house.
It was a bit slow at the start, but nothing out of the norm, really, and I wondered if it was going to be a solid 3, but then it picked up and I got really into the book, even staying up a bit late last night to finish it, though I can't really afford the lose of sleep - and at one point I thought I was going to give this a solid 4. (I'm a sucker, what can I say?)
But then...
Well, there was something about the ending which bothered me. Something about Jane, really. I disliked
Also - I had hoped for a sort of Picture of Dorian Grey reference at some point, with the, but the author never took that seeming logical leap in the story.
Anyway -
The ending felt a bit rushed and not entirely deserved, but the build up was good, after a somewhat slow beginning. Overall, I enjoyed it... but I'm not sure I'm sold on this as a set-up for a series. Yes, there are threads left dangling at the end of this... but I sort of wish it was just a standalone re-telling and be done with it.
(I'm also not overly thrilled with Helen being the MC in the next book, since she seemed so utterly useless in this one. I suppose I'll see how it goes, though.)
I'm comfortable with the 3.5 for this book, but I'm not entirely decided whether to bump it up to 4 or down to 3. (It's 4 at the time of writing this review, but may change in the future.)
First things first - there's a blurb on the cover of the copy I read that says, "A steampunk Beauty and the Beast tale, beautifully and cleverly reversed." It is none of these things.
There is tech, but it's magi-tech, not steampunk, and it's mostly not working by the start of the book. Also, as many of the other reviews have point out, this is a Jane Eyre retelling, not Beauty and the Beast - despite one or two BatB references. This didn't make the book bad, but I was slightly disappointed at first because I was wanting to read a BatB story, so... Luckily I was able to alter my expectations, and luckily I also like Jane Eyre.
Anyway -
So, yeah - Jane Eyre with magic, but definitely enough of its own story where you felt like you knew what was coming, but it was unique enough to stay interesting.
One of the big differences was that Jane's governess job in this is actually an important part of the story, and not just an excuse to get her to the house.
It was a bit slow at the start, but nothing out of the norm, really, and I wondered if it was going to be a solid 3, but then it picked up and I got really into the book, even staying up a bit late last night to finish it, though I can't really afford the lose of sleep - and at one point I thought I was going to give this a solid 4. (I'm a sucker, what can I say?)
But then...
Well, there was something about the ending which bothered me. Something about Jane, really. I disliked
Spoiler
her obsession with getting her "normal", beautiful face back. One of the things I liked about Jane Eyre is that whole "plain Jane" thing, but how she wouldn't tolerate being belittled even though she wasn't beautiful. I felt like parts of this got lost in the translation, with the focus on fey beauty. I guess that's the alleged 'Beast' part of the story from the blurb, but it just came off kind of superficial.Also - I had hoped for a sort of Picture of Dorian Grey reference at some point, with the
Spoiler
masks actually taking on the owner's sins, and that's why they were so deformedAnyway -
The ending felt a bit rushed and not entirely deserved, but the build up was good, after a somewhat slow beginning. Overall, I enjoyed it... but I'm not sure I'm sold on this as a set-up for a series. Yes, there are threads left dangling at the end of this... but I sort of wish it was just a standalone re-telling and be done with it.
(I'm also not overly thrilled with Helen being the MC in the next book, since she seemed so utterly useless in this one. I suppose I'll see how it goes, though.)