The Iron Witch (The Ironbridge Chronicles, #1) by Karen Mahoney

Title: The Iron Witch

Author: Karen Mahoney

Series: 1st in planned Ironbridge Chronicles

Pages: 300

Published: February 2011 by Flux

ISBN: 9780738725826

Source: ARC from Around The World Tours

Description: Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma. When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

I Give This ...

  

I think my expectations might have been too high with this one. The description was so promising and reminded me of The Iron Fey series (which I love).  But, I just never really got into the story.

I did really enjoy the characters.  Donna has an interesting background and she's trying to live as normal of a life as possible.  I enjoyed her connection to the Fey world.  And the idea of the iron tattoos was fascinating.  I also enjoyed her best friend Navin.  He learns the truth about Donna the same time we do, which I think was an interesting setup.  I liked Xan as well.  He comes across as the bad boy, but I don't think he is.  He connection with the fae world also makes the story interesting.

Oddly enough, it was the story itself that I just could not get invested in.  Things were explained, but I don't think it was enough.  I wanted to know more about Donna and who (or what) she was.  I don't think Xan was fleshed out as well as he could have been.  I liked the wood elves and their small world the inhabit, but I wanted more of it.  

I really wanted to love this book.  But, it fell a little flat for me.  It had potential though.  I could see the second in the series being awesome!  I'll look forward to it.