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.


When Donna was little, her father died and her mom lost her sanity while protecting their daughter. Donna's arms are covered in iron tattoos that were put there to heal her after the attack. Now, teenage Donna must come fact to face with the same dark fairies that killed her father all those years ago when they start reappearing and eventually kidnap her best and only friend, Navin. Donna is a social outcast because of her weird arms and Navin is the only person her own age who doesn't know her secret who stood by her. Helping her rescue Navin is a hot new guy, Xan, whose got some fairy blood in him and would like to discover more about himself and his past. I think you can figure out the rest of the story from those totally unoriginal details I have provided.

I thought the whole thing was pretty cliche and pathetic. There are so many fairy books out there and I felt like this one didn't stand out. It was completely average. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but I wouldn't stop anyone from reading it. It wasn't horrible-just not as good as many other books I could have read in its place. It is very possible that this all stems from the fact that it is meant for younger readers, but even books meant for kids or younger teenagers can be appreciated by adults if they're good.

One would think that in a book where the characters know there are dark evil fairies running around wouldn't be that trusting. One would be wrong. Donna and Xan reveal their secrets to each other after knowing each other for around five minutes which is pretty quick, especially when you consider that it took her years to confess the truth to Navin. I don't care how good-looking he is-when you have a giant secret like that you don't give it away that easily! Donna acted like a know-it-all brat the whole book and her naivete was anything but charming.

Halfway through the book I looked up and realized nothing had happened yet. The action didn't start until the last couple of pages. The beginning contained some minor incidents, drama, and romance, but I wanted more action and fairies. I understand the need for an introduction-the reader needs to know what's going on-but I felt like I was being introduced to the story and the characters for most of the book.

When a girl and guy are best friends in a novel (and both are straight) it is practically a given that at least one of them must have romantic feelings for the other. I always thought that was typical and overused, but I actually missed it in The Iron Witch. While it can be annoying in books that are already stuffed with drama, I felt like a love triangle would have really added to the overall story. Just imagine Donna enlisting her crush's help to rescue her other maybe-crush. The emotional turmoil would have been tortuously amazing to read.

2.7