Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.




Book: Ironspark




Author: C.M. McGuire




Book Series: Standalone




Rating: 4/5




Diversity: LGBT characters (f/f and love triangle, ace male), anxiety rep




Recommended For...: fae lovers, revenge story, ya fantasy




Publication Date: August 25, 2020




Genre: YA Fantasy




Recommended Age: 16+ (death, anxiety, anxiety attacks, parent with mental illness, violence, slight gore, arson, kidnapping)




Publisher: Swoon Reads




Pages: 336




Synopsis: For the past nine years, ever since a bunch of those evil Tinkerbells abducted her mother, cursed her father, and forced her family into hiding, Bryn has devoted herself to learning everything she can about killing the Fae. Now it’s time to put those lessons to use.

Then the Court Fae finally show up, and Bryn realizes she can’t handle this on her own. Thankfully, three friends offer to help: Gwen, a kindhearted water witch; Dom, a new foster kid pulled into her world; and Jasika, a schoolmate with her own grudge against the Fae.

But trust is hard-won, and what little Bryn has gained is put to the test when she uncovers a book of Fae magic that belonged to her mother. With the Fae threat mounting every day, Bryn must choose between faith in her friends and power from a magic that could threaten her very humanity.




Review: For the most part this was a good book. The plot was intriguing and the world building was really well done. I also liked the pacing of the book. I really liked the anxiety rep and I'm genuinely intrigued by the mythology.




However, the characters were a bit off in my opinion. The fae were.... kinda lackluster and the other characters flat. I also had issues with the "father cursed with mental illness" thing. It felt kinda offensive to me because I have a mother who has anxiety and I had to grow up trying to figure out why my mom would sometimes go off on me unexpectedly and why sometimes she would lock herself in her bedroom for the rest of the day. I never felt like I was cursed or she was cursed by whatever her health though, it was just something I had to learn and adapt to. I got the vibe the author was going for but it kinda hurt. I don't like books where the author uses mental illness as the punishment for a curse or uses it to explain away why people don't believe they're actually seeing the supernatural. It really rubs me the wrong way when mental illness is used as a villain. And while this book wasn’t doing that intentionally, it gave off that vibe.




Verdict: It was well done and I liked it overall.