Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of Ironskin
Publisher: Tor
Date of Publication: October 15, 2013
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy's Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars - "The story and world were both interesting, but I loved the characters most of all in this book about using one's wits and power to take a stand against the enemy and oppression."
So when I received the sequel
Copperhead for review, I saw it as the perfect opportunity
to check out this author and series, especially after finding out it continues the story in Ironskin but shifts its focus to the
protagonist's sister. This means a brand new chapter to this tale, told
from the perspective of Helen Huntingdon. It has been six months since
her sister Jane uncovered a nefarious fey plot to take over the city,
and society is still recovering from the aftermath. It is too late for
Helen, who has already traded her old face in for a beautiful
fey-charmed one, and now has to wear an iron mask to protect herself and her identity from being possessed and erased by the bodiless fey.
Jane,
however, is determined to help Helen and the other women of The Hundred
(society's richest and most priviliged who have opted for fey faces)
get their old faces back. As it turns out though, not everyone is so
eager to give up their new beauty, and it is up to Helen to try to
convince everyone to accept her sister's help. But then Jane goes
missing during one of the face-switching procedures, and becomes implicated in a murder to
boot. Helen begins her search for answers, leading her down the path
towards a confrontation with Copperhead, a group that has risen in
recent months with their aims to rid the world of everyone but humans -- even
if it means destroying their allies the dwarvven.
What
I liked most about this book are the characters. Helen's narration was
perhaps the strongest point of the story, and I was sorry not to have
gotten to know her before this in Ironskin, because it would have been
interesting to see the growth and development of her character over the
course of the two novels. Mind you, not that I was disappointed with what I got to
see in this book; Helen is an impressive example of female strength, though
she is not without her foibles, such as her impulsive nature and her streak of vanity. Reading about her led me to many questions --
the good kind, which reflected my desire to find out more. It made me think that perhaps I should
pick up the first book to see how she ended up with her fey face in
the first place, or to find out more about the events which led her to marry the aloof and
temperamental Alistair. It was clear based on Helen's personality that
she was never meant to be with a controlling husband like him, and I
liked how she stood up to him in her own various ways, even when she
couldn't defy him openly.
Beyond Helen, I also
really liked a couple of the other characters. Jane, for example, takes
on a supporting role in Copperhead, letting her sister shine instead.
But she and Helen are so different, and once again I am curious to go
back to the first book and find out more about their relationship. Jane spends much of this book in the background, but it
was enough to make me want to get to know her better. Another character who
stood out for me was Frye, the forward-thinking actress who is so funny, full
of life and unbeholden to societal conventions. She wasn't featured in
the book as much as Helen or Jane, but she quickly became a favorite.
On
the downside, with so much context built around the characters, I did feel it
overshadowed the setting and the world behind these books somewhat.
The world building was admittedly a bit on the lighter side, not as
robust as I would have liked. It took me a while to get a good feel for
the fey threat, and I couldn't grasp the full extent of their impact
with the limited information I was given about them and their origins.
Despite including flashbacks and explanations, the world also never felt
truly fleshed out for me. I was aware that the setting is that of a
magical alternate Victorian-era England, but details about it were
sparse, making it almost feel removed from everything else while events played out on the page. Perhaps the world building simply felt so
much lighter because I'm comparing it to the character development, which I thought was given a lot more attention.
In the end
though, this was a great story about an individual taking a stand, of using one's own
wits and power to rally support against both a supernatural enemy in the
form of the fey, as well as battle a more societal concern, that of
oppression and control. I love these characters, and I look forward
to checking out Ironskin at a later date so I can fill myself in on
rest of the story.
3.5 of 5 stars
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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