The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

 

     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.

The Iron Witch was a kind of bittersweet book to read. There were a lot of things about it that I liked and a lot of things that I didn't. I like the history and the story that is told about Donna and her past. Her tattoos are definitely and important part of the story and the story on them is kind of vague. That was one of my dislikes. The book was a bit chatty in places that didn't really matter and skimpy in places that I wanted to know more about. There were times were I found myself just scanning the pages instead of reading them.

     One thing I really liked was Xan. Him and Donna's meeting is just textbook perfect and the rest of their relationship seems rushed. I think that they are a good couple, but you can't help but suspect some triangle troubles in the future with Navin. He doesn't show it in the book, but I was hoping that Navin was a girl name so that I could erase that possibility.

     The Iron Witch is a wonderful story with a lot of potential to be extravagant, but I think that it should have been longer. I think that if the book was longer, the facts and history could've been spread out more and I wouldn't gotten bored. I have a good feeling that the books will get better, but I will just have to see in the second book.