Aoife Grayson certainly has not had the easiest life and when her mother and brother both went mad on their sixteenth birthdays, that didn't help. This trait seems to run in the family and Aoife can only hope that the madness will not claim her. She attends the School of Engines as a ward of the state, aspiring to work with the only things that have ever made sense to her: machines.
Machines play an essential role in Aoife’s hometown of Lovecraft: a great Engine functions as the heart of the city. In Aoife’s world, Proctors make the rules and guard the citizens from the necrovirus, which causes strange and dangerous creatures to roam the streets after dark.
All Aoife wants is to live a normal life; unfortunately, these plans change when she receives a letter holding a plea for help from her supposedly mad brother. In her quest to save him, Aoife discovers seemingly impossible things about herself, her family, and everything she has ever known to be true.
Caitlin Kittredge’s young adult debut The Iron Thorn is an incredible feat of world-building and originality. In this nearly 500 page novel, Kittredge completely immerses the reader in a world of machines, madness, and the necrovirus. Since the story is told from Aoife’s first-person perspective, some elements of the story are also left up to the imagination: I found myself wondering things like, “Wait, was that bird really made out of clockwork?” The eclectic blending of genres – mainly steampunk and fantasy, with some dystopian elements – made for a very interesting and original read and some unexpected plot twists.
I only have two complaints about the book, one minor and one major. Firstly, the main character’s name, Aoife, constantly threw me off while I was reading because I had no idea how to pronounce it. Secondly, the novel’s pacing made it difficult to get through: the first 200 or so pages were incredibly slow, and then the rest of the book moved a little too quickly without sufficient explanation of events.
The story and the amazing world-building and fantasy elements still made it a worthwhile read, though. I would recommend The Iron Thorn to anybody looking for an original, complex work of steampunk or fantasy, as long as they have the patience to stick with it through its long beginning.
- Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
- Date of Publication: February 22, 2011
