The Nightmare Garden

February 15, 2012
This second installment in the Iron Codex series is as inventive and as bloated as its predecessor. Spoiled, inconsistent, often-thoughtless heroine Aoife Grayson nearly destroyed the world when she broke the Lovecraft Engine and sundered the gates between the worlds of human and Fae. But she's not going to let a little thing like that stop her, so she sets off on an exhausting, somewhat episodic adventure through the steampunk-horror '50s nightmare that is her world. She meets Erlkin, spends time with her estranged father, travels in a sub with Russian pirates and tries to play off her many enemies against one another. In so doing, she awakens a much greater threat with little regard to consequences. And she experiences love and loss, but her first-person narration sometimes strains credulity. Aoife states things she cannot know, says contrary things repeatedly (about her own emotions, the behavior of others, even the setting) and provides exposition at moments of high emotional tension, lessening the impact. Secondary characters exist only to move the plot along and then conveniently fade into the background, much like aspects of Aoife's personality. Even so, the unusual world stands out. There is a fan base that loved book one and will clamor for more of the same, which this certainly is. The ending promises even bigger adventures to come. (maps) (Steampunk/horror/fantasy. 12 & up)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 7-11-This title picks up where The Iron Thorn (Delacorte, 2011) left off. Aoife and company are in The Mists. The teen, who is half human and half Fae, is fixated on the devastating repercussions of her destruction of the Lovecraft Engine. She is determined to return and rescue her mother from the wreckage. After a close escape from the Proctors and the Erlkin, they are able to return, only to find the Old Town section of Lovecraft overrun by Ghouls. In another near-escape, they are rescued by Aoife's father's zeppelin. Aoife's dreams tell her that she must find the Nightmare Clock to save her mother so she decides to head north to the Bone Sepulchre and the mysterious Brotherhood of Iron in search of it. More adventures and near-escapes ensue. Like the first installment, The Nightmare Garden is rife with action. Unfortunately, character motivations are unclear and world-building is awkward. For example, it is difficult to understand why pragmatic Aoife is so willing to trust her dreams to guide her actions. In addition, readers can't help but wonder why the shogoth venom in her shoulder alerts her to the presence of supernatural beings, but is not triggered by her friends Cal (a Ghoul) and Dean (a half-Erlkin). The action is fast paced, but it feels as if each incremental near-escape is inserted to extend the narrative of a paper-thin plot. Purchase where The Iron Thorn is popular.-Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH

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