The Iron Thorn by Caitlyn Kittredge - ESSENTIAL

Caitlyn Kittredge will be guest posting on Kiss the Book on Thursday, April 28th.  She is our first ever guest poster - and I would have said NO if I hadn't adored her novel.  Join us then to see what she has to say.

Here is my review of her newest novel - her first for the YA audience:

Kittredge, Caitlyn The Iron Thorn, 492 p. Delacorte (Random), 2011.  $17.99.  Language: PG-13 (30+ swears, 0 ‘f’), Mature Content: G, Violence: PG (standard creepy creature fare, nothing excessively gory).  Aoife Grayson, 15, lives in a the city of Lovecraft, ruled by the Proctors who enforce Rationality over its denizens, in order to protect them from the necrovirus, which causes madness.  Though her mother is confined in a mental institution, her brother disappeared after her tried to kill Aoife almost a year ago, and her father has never acknowledged her existence, Aoife is still determined to toe the line and make a place for herself as an Engineer to the great Engine which powers everything in Lovecraft, including keeping everyone safe from the necroviruses victims.  But Aoife receives a plea for help from her older brother and jeopardizes everything she has held dear in order to run to his rescue at their family’s ancestral home.  Life-threatening danger may be the least of the evils that await Aoife – disillusionment, betrayal, treachery, a reversal of everything upon which she has built her hopes and dreams and her world view awaits.  The Iron Thorn is a thrilling book which could easily be read as a contemporary fantasy adventure, with a healthy dose of steam-punk and be enjoyed.  But an astute reader will know that there is much more to be gleaned from the pages.  Hopefully they will set off for the internet and explore the place names and objects and various peoples and learn all about a whole world that they never knew existed.  I am very curious to see what Lexile this one comes out as – it really may be worth exploring as a classroom text for the new Common Core.  MS, HS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher