The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Title: The Iron Witch

Author: Karen Mahoney

Publisher: Corgi Books (Random House)

Published: Jan 2011

ISBN: 978-0552563819

Author website: http://www.kazmahoney.com/

Rating 3.5/5

The cover on this is luscious, with bronze metallic scroll detail to match the ornate title and frame of the front cover. Sadly the bronze metallic on my copy wore away really easily after one reading and being on my bookshelf, so the cover doesn't look as great now as it did originally.

I'd been patiently waiting for this to come from Amazon, it's a book that I'd been waiting for since hearing about it and seeing other WoWs about.

This is Donna's story.  Donna is a freak - she is branded with tattoos and has powers that she has to suppress most of the time to prevent others finding out about her.  She has been kept in the dark about much of her history and that of her family's past.  She has a close friendship with Nav, and it's clear to outsiders that Nav really wants to take their friendship onto the next level, he's a really sweet endearing character. (Hands up - I liked Nav out of all the male characters). Donna tries so hard to fit into Nav's world, but she is so very different, so she has been taken out of school and is homeschooled by 'the order'. 

The Iron Witch gives alchemy a new meaning, and makes it less about science, and more about magical works and ways of life.

The book has some terrifying bits in, especially in the build up to the beasts of hell which are the crux of Donna's repeated nightmares, which she will get to face again.  There are questions which are raised in the book which aren't answered, which will be settled in the next book, according to Karen Mahoney's 'The Making of The Iron Witch' at the end of the book.

Overall I enjoyed the unusual nature of the book, having been a homeschool parent it's lovely to see homeschool brought into books.  Whilst I enjoyed reading it, it wasn't a page turner up until almost the very end, so didn't rate as highly as I thought it was going to.

Book synopsis:

Freak.

That's what they call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood at Ironbridge High School. A horrific fey attack that killed her father when she was just a child left Donna branded with iron tattoos that cover her hands and arms - and magically enhanced strength, that she now does all she can to hide.

Now, after ten years of wishing for a normal life, Donna finally accepts her role in the centuries-old war against the darkest outcasts of Faerie - the dark elves. Aided by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout, Donna must save her best friend's life - and that means betraying one of the world's greatest secrets and confronting the very thing that destroyed her family.

Source - bought.