Review - Ironskin by Tina Connolly

by Tina Connolly
publisher: Tor
date of publication: October 2, 2012
format: hardcover
pages: 304
source: publisher
series: Ironskin

From Goodreads:

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have long been fascinated by tales of faeries and mythological creatures.  Those same people will also know that Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time.  When I learned of Ironskin and that it combines two of my favorite literary things, I knew I just had to get my hands on it.  Jane Eyre retold with the twist of faeries?  What could be better?  While I did see many of the elements that gave evidence to its characteristics as a Jane Eyre variation, Ironskin didn't quite turn out as I had thought it would.  It also didn't have as much of the steampunk element as I would have liked.  While it succeeded with an eerie plot surrounding the nature and dangers of faeries in the world the story is set in, Ironskin's incorporation of the story of Jane Eyre left a lot to be desired and proved to be my least favorite element of the book.

When compared to the basis of her inspiration, Jane Eliot is, at first, nearly unrecognizable as a version of Jane Eyre.  In fact, I would hazard to say that the only consistent characteristic the two share is their initials.  Where Jane Eyre is a young woman who deals with the traumatic nature of her past with a reserved nature and no-nonsense personality, Jane Eliot's personality is supposedly comprised largely of rage enhanced by a fae curse.  You will notice I say "supposedly," for Jane Eliot struck me more as an irritable character than an enraged one.  Even during descriptions of her rage burning hot behind her mask, her thoughts were more along the lines of being perturbed.  She wound up being less believable as a character because of it and I just couldn't connect with her at all due to the number of inconsistencies.  Edward Rochart is more recognizable as a counterpart of Edward Rochester, complete with eccentricities and sardonic sense of humor.  His presence in the story, however, was too little to distract from Jane's flaws as a character.  Instead, I found myself more fascinated by the butler (at least, I suppose that is what you would call her) that answered the door upon Jane's arrival than by the other two (precisely why I won't say, as that would be a spoiler, but there is more than meets the eye with her).  Character-wise, Ironskin just didn't capture my complete interest and I found myself wanting for some truly engaging protagonists.

The world-building is the one area that I truly found myself intrigued by.  There is just enough of the Gothic present to provide the settings with that sense of foreboding one would expect of a story about a world brought to the bring of destruction by homicidal faeries with horrific methods of warfare.  From Mr. Rochart's manor home to the dark wood just at its boundaries, there is a distinct sense of danger around every corner, which makes for the perfect setting to read about in a story such as this.  The woods themselves had enough presence to become a character in its own right, which always makes for some entertaining reading.  My only complaint is that they weren't incorporated into the story more than they were.  I think I would have enjoyed Ironskin even more if that were the case.

Though Ironskin fell short in its capacity as a re-telling of Jane Eyre, it still proved to have many entertaining qualities.  My best advice would be to approach this book as though it had nothing to do with Jane Eyre.  If you've read Jane Eyre as many times as I have this tactic may not work, but you might find yourself enjoying the story more.  This is where reading variations and re-tellings proves challenging, for if they veer too far from the original, it is very easy to become hung up on all those little details.  However, I can say that Ironskin still has much to recommend it.  Its world-building is fantastic and the background concerning faeries is truly eerie and, at times, frightening.  If you enjoy novels involving faeries, Ironskin is worth checking out.  If you are more interested in its qualities as a Jane Eyre variation or re-telling, however, proceed with caution.  It pays to be more open-minded.

Buy Ironskin at the Following Locations:

Amazon / IndieBound / B&N / The Book Depository

Obligatory legal statement: This digital review copy was provided to me free of charge by the publisher via Edelweiss. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.