It is hard to "retell" a great story like "Jane Eyre", but Tina Connolly gives it a valiant try in "Ironskin". You have your plain looking governess, your dark Mr. Rochester, the beautiful little girl and the crazy mom. However, the author also weaves fey and fey curses into the tale. The plot moves along very slowly and sluggishly. It might have been better had I never read Jane Eyre before, but I couldn't help but compare "Ironskin" to it. There was no mystery. No suspense. No heart stopping moments. It was just a book. A book about a governess falling in love with her brooding master and his little girl albeit with a steampunk twist. Jane is fey-cursed and hides her scars behind an iron mask. Her sister has found love and so Jane must find work to provide for herself - which is difficult since the "ironskins" are feared and considered the trash of society. She heads to the dark manor in the employment of Mr. Rochart to be governess to his daughter Dorie as he believes Jane is the only one who can truly understand and help his little girl. Dorie, is also fey cursed but in a different way. Her mother was inhabited/possessed by a fey when she was pregnant and the fey qualities transfered over to little Dorie. It is five years after the Great War between the fey and humans. Humans are trying to get back to "normal" without fey technology. Yet, the fey aren't truly defeated and there will be one more final battle that Jane has to fight to protect the people she loves and save humanity from the threat of the fey. How will this book end? Well, if you've read Jane Eyre, you'll know, but hopefully it will still be an enjoyable read to you.
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