The Iron Thorn - Caitlin Kittredge

Title: The Iron Thorn
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Pages: 493
Genre: Steampunk/Young Adult
Publication Date: 2/22/2011

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.

Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.

Before I go on with the review I would just like to say that the main character's name is pronounced EE-fah. I had to look it up after a few pages because I knew without a doubt that I was pronouncing it wrong, so I figured I would save you the trouble. I had started out with something that sounded more like Oy-f.

This was my first venture into the steampunk world (and yet it still mixes in a little dystopia) and I have to say that I was quite impressed. At almost 500 pages long (hardback version), it was quite a long read, but well worth the time put into it. The Iron Thorn has an intricate plot, filled with mystery, secrets, and lies.

Aoife is fifteen years old and is dreading each day that brings her closer to her sixteenth birthday - the day she will surely go mad, the same as her brother and mother before her. Until she starts receiving mysterious letters from her brother that is. Aoife soon discovers that her whole world may not be as it seems.

There was so many twists and turns, background information, new information to take in, that it was like I was living in a different world while I was reading this and I loved every bit of it. Ms. Kittredge paints such a vivid world - from Lovecraft to Arkham - that it is easy to lose yourself in it. There was a lot to discover about Aoife and her friends Cal and Dean that it would have you hanging at the edge of your seat just waiting to see what on earth could possibly happen next. I am not giving away any secrets because I would have never have guessed the truth that was in the pages of The Iron Thorn.

The second in this series, The Nightmare Garden is to be published in February 2012. So here I am, yet again, waiting for 2012 to get here and give me my sequels!

What I give this book: