Imperturbable Iron

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

*ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours 

This book gets a rock steady 4 out of 5 gnomes for having great characters with quite interesting backgrounds.  

Donna Underwood is not a normal teenage girl, she wears gloves everyday and is home schooled because of the incident she caused at her former school.  She lost almost everything when she was saved from a monster at the age of seven.  Her father died saving her, her mother is now insane, and Donna lost her hands and much of her arms.  She now lives with her aunt and continuing to learn about the world of alchemy that her parents played a large part in.

She's seen as a freak by most people at her school that she now only goes to for testing and special events.  Donna wears gloves all the time so nobody can see what her hands look like.  Her hands and part of her arms were fixed by Maker an alchemist using iron tattoos so it looks like she has silver arms.

I like the point of view that's used in this book.  Getting to read Donna's journal entries also helps flesh out the story some more.

It's great seeing the world of the alchemists and what Donna knows and what she needs to find out.  Everything starts to change when her best friend Navin talks her into going to a party.  While there she meets Xan who has a pretty big secret of his own that he's hiding from the world.

The wood elves are the bad guys in this book and they are a scary lot.  They are supposed to be confined to the woods but it seems that they moving more freely then they should be.  These elves are interested in Donna and seem to know more about her past then she does.

There's fighting, kidnapping, and even some kissing.  Donna has to figure out who to trust and what her future will hold.  The ending of the book leaves Donna's future with the alchemists in question.

Overall there is a strong story with some very nice fantastical elements that I know I can't wait to read more about.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see what happens next.