YA Fantasy Review: The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn

The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty good book. I finished it up in a couple of days.

The Iron Butterfly is the story of Thalia, a young girl who has no idea who she is. She awakens in a dungeon to torturous experiments by an evil cult and narrowly escapes with the aid of a warrior. When she finds herself alone, she's soon taken in by a couple of men on their way to the Citadel, where the younger of the two, a denai (or magic user), is going to be a student. The leaders of the Citadel allow Thalia to stay as a servant while they investigate the cult and try to find her family. This is when Thalia learns that the Septori are not interested in letting her be, and their experiments were more successful than they had imagined.

This is a pure fantasy, featuring magic, evil cults, warring clans, a benevolent council, and a magic school. I enjoyed the character arc of Thalia, as she goes from terrified, weak prisoner, to confident warrior. She is the epitome of a strong female character as she meets (or attempts to meet) each challenge thrown at her, but she's still flawed. Despite her strength, the forces against her are immense. She tries and fails, over an over, but she never gives up. This is why I consider her strong. The fact that she is not all-powerful or all-knowing, as some fantasy heroes are, is what makes her relatable.

In addition to the good vs. evil plot, there is a budding romance (or two) as well. I'm not sure whether it will become a love triangle in later books, but it seems to be going in that direction. Still, Thalia seems steadily attracted to the main love interest and acts accordingly, even though that love interest just happens to have competition. She doesn't flip flop between them, which I found refreshing.

The only thing I didn't especially like was the catty denai girl who tries to rile up all the students against Thalia, but I think that was intentional. She's jealous, snobby, and mean-spirited, an archetype I've seen in many stories set in schools. I was reminded a little of the rivalry in The Masterharper of Pern and in the Harry Potter books. Outcast, young prodigy put upon by heartless, overindulged enemies, it's not exactly a unique feature of stories like these.

Overall, the story left me satisfied, but eager to read more. This is the second Chanda Hahn book I've read, and both have been like this. I must say she's a great storyteller. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of YA fantasy.

I found this book for free on Amazon.



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Fairy Tale Review: Unenchanted by Chanda Hahn

UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nothing unfortunate about this book.

Unenchanted is about Mina, a young girl who finds herself the target of a family curse. The premise is simple. She must live through real-life fairy tales until either she survives them all or one of them claims her life. And, she must succeed or her disabled younger brother will become the next target of the curse.

I found this to be an excellent story. The flow is natural and the book is difficult to put down. I kept hoping for Mina to win, despite the ominious title of the series, and really felt a connection to her and the other characters. It helps that Mina has a noble soul and a likeable personality.

In places, the plot advances a little too easily, but not so much that I didn't enjoy it and want to read more. I also noticed some wrong-word errors, particularly near the end. These are the kind of words that spell check would miss, because they aren't misspelled, they simply don't mean the right thing in context. Still, I think many readers wouldn't even notice them. I just happen to key in on those things.

Anyway, Mina experiences the first terrifying and dangerous fairy tales of what is likely to be hundreds of them and the book ends with a glimmer of another of them. I look forward to reading more, but I wonder if this will be one of those neverending series. It seems like it could be.

Overall, I really liked this book, particularly because I related well to the characters and also because I enjoy twists on traditional fairy tales. I would recommend this story to people who like stories where fantasy invades the real world. The story is appropriate for middle-schoolers and up.

I found this on a free promotion on Amazon.

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