The Iron Thorn

"The Iron Thorn," Caitlin Kittredge, is worth it's weight in gold, even though it's a decently heavy book.
      Aofie Greyson is going to go mad when she turns 16 years old.  It happened to her mother and it happened to her brother.  They say it's because of a necrovirus that came into the world years ago.  It creates such creatures as the nightjars and the shaggoths . . . and for some unknown reason, it's going to drive Aofie mad.  But when Aofie gets a cryptic message from her mad brother that takes her on a journey beyond all that she ever imagined knowing, she realizes that there might be more to the madness than a simple virus.  A journey between the dimensions forces Aofie and her companions that what is rational may not be what's right.

If you know me at all, then you know that my three literary loves are steampunk, Faeries, and creepiness.  Believe it or not, this hits three out of three. On the head.  It's really quite extraordinary, the way that first two are woven together, with the third as a result.
     There are three main characters:  Aofie, Dean, and Cal.  Aofie is a well-defined character.  She has her edges and her ripples, and even though she's constantly changing you know where she is, in the metaphorical sense, all the time.  I would've liked it if we were shown that Aofie is good with machines.  I mean, yes, she is in engineer school, and it says about a dozen times throughout the book that the only thing that had "ever felt real to her were machines" or the whatnot, but we don't really see her in action until she's fixing the clock.  Maybe show her fixing some clockwork before she drags Cal off to the night market or something.  I don't know.  But it's always best to show, not tell, in the story sense, and this story does a bit more telling than strictly wanted.
      Dean Harrison is to "The Iron Thorn" as Jack is to "The Blood Red Road."  The lovable rouge who comes in the nick of time, always manages to find a way out of scrapes, and manages to win the tough maiden's heart (even though it's never that hard, as seeing they have little to none competition).  Yes, I know this is a stereotypical character for the adventure genre, but Jack and Dean could be the same exact person, save for the name.  Not that that's a bad thing.  I like rouges.  If I was a character in an adventure story, I would be the rouge.  But, you know.  Every genre has it's stereotypes, so, I was just pointing that out.  Playing devil's advocate over here.
      Cal . . . *sigh*.  Cal.  Um, well, let's just say that Cal is an interesting character.  I am not pleased with how he was built up, but I am pleased with the problems he presents.  You won't follow me until you read the book.  And I can't tell you until you read the book.  Because I'd hate to ruin the surprise of it all.
      Now . . . The plot!  The real gold of this endeavor!  Oh, I can't gush enough over the plot.  There are things you don't see coming, things you do see coming and cringe when they do come, and things that are so inevitable, but so well done.  There is the romance plot, of course, which you can spot coming from a mile off because it's like "duh".  That one is pretty well done, but it's not the best.  I like the Faerie plot the best.  Of course, they don't call them Faeries, exactly, but if you've ever read a contemporary fiction book, you can tell what they are.  And of course, you know what's going to happen just after the people close their mouths', but it's like a train wreck.  You can't stop yourself from reading it, even though you know it's going to be horrible.
       Also, I love the steampunk world.  Love, love, love.  It's a completely believable world, one where they live and love and breath and it's all too real.  The detail is incredible, and what detail you aren't given isn't hard to fill in on your own.  The politics of cities and the rules of life are completely relatable, even though they don't apply at all to real life.  It takes true talent to make a make-believe world real, and this one has it all.
     There are also several things that have been given a new face.  Most importantly, Weirds.  In most books they're called 'affinities.'  Or, at least, I would call them affinities, but then again, I do live in my own special universe.  So, I guess I wouldn't know what they are called, generally.  But this, again, is one you can see from miles away.  I'm just glad that she doesn't make some sort of big deal out of it.  Because if it was half the book, just trying to figure that out . . . that would be boring.  Half a book spent doing anything, really, is pretty boring.
        This one might be the first one in the series.  Something about the "Iron Codex" was in the author's bio, but I'm not so sure.
      Aofie Grayson:  Torn between the iron and the wild.  She must figure out where she fits in before it destroys her and everyone she's ever cared about.  And even though her tale might be one of tragedy, she and her folk will always survive and prosper in my heart.
     
www.caitlinkittredge.com   She generally writes adult books, that's my impression, but it might be worth a shot.  Uh, and her "books" page isn't up and running, so go to the "blogs" tab, then go to "caitlin's books."  Not a lot of information there, but just if you were wondering.

Planesrunner

Planesrunner by Ian McDonald combines my two favorite science-fiction elements:  quantum physics and steampunk. 
       Everett Singh is a decently happy kid.  His mother and his father are divorced, and even his father often has his head in the world of quantum physics while his mother spends most of her time with Victoria Rose, Everett's little sister, Everett has plenty of friends owing to his superior skill as a goalie and a gamer.  But his life is shattered into a million pieces when his father is kidnapped . . . and the police try to cover the whole thing up. 
        After receiving a map of all the alternate realities in every universe, Everett has definite proof that things really are fishy.  He meets up with the people who control the gates that lead to the other universes, the Planitplatories, and, against their wishes, jumps into and earth that hasn't left the steam age yet.  With the captain and crew of the Everness, a flying steamship of sorts, Everett must race against time to reunite his family, save his new friends aboard the Everness, and escape from the members of the Planeplatory who want him gone. 

For starters:  Excuse me if I spelled anything wrong.  I don't have the book in front of me while I'm typing this, and I don't really know how to spell Planitplatories. 
        Now, I don't believe I've mentioned this, but steam punk is my favorite genre.  It involves Victorian-era clothing and flying steamships.  In this book it also includes a United States that has been divided into three parts:  Amexica, The Confederate States, and the United States, a race of people who are widely discriminated against, the Airish, the people who fly the ships, and a lot of age-old customs and traditions. 
      Quantum physics is the next best thing, because I love to imagine all the possibilities and 'could've happens' that could be represented in an alternate universe. I try not to, though, because it would drive me mad. 
      The characters in this book don't meet any of their alternate selves, and for the better, because that would've complicated the plot line a bit more than it needed to be complicated.  It is funny, though, when Everett brings out the different types of technologies he's brought from this world, an iPad, a bluetooth system, and shows them to his new friends who don't really know what to make of them.  I also love the mix of old and new:  the people on E3 have elevated trains and flying ships, but they've never heard of a telephone. 
       I do love the characters in this book as well.  Sen, the captain's daughter, is a bit of a devil, but you love her all the same.  Everett is passionate about his heritage and his family but he, like any other kid of his age, is exhilarated to find himself in a place where no one from his world has ever gone before.  Captain Anastasia seems hard and cold at first, but as the story progresses you come to see that she might just be a woman who loves what she's doing, but who might be trying to balance too much at once. 
        This book was written in England, so there are some terms and punctuation differences that I really had to think over.  It a part of a planned trilogy, but it was published in the states in 2011, and I haven't been able to find any other of the books yet, so I don't think they've been published.  But they better be . . . the ending was a real cliff-hanger.  :)