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Iron Hearted Violet (2012)

by Kelly Barnhill(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0316056731 (ISBN13: 9780316056731)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

review 1: Barnhill is the author of The Mostly True Story of Jack, which impressed with its depth and detail. She falls a little short in this tale of a princess whose ordinary, even homely looks make her a little self-conscious, since of course, princesses are supposed to be beautiful. But Violet is precious because her parents waited so long for her and could not have more children. She is wild and adventuresome and her favorite occupation is to listen to the stories told by the court storyteller, Cassian, whose sometime narration helps the novel along. Cassian hints at the start that this book is the story of how the world ended. Violet and her best friend, the stableboy Demetrius, love to explore the castle, and one day discover a very dusty, secret room, and in the room, a... more book. The book will be the start of something very, very bad, and the world is in danger. I thought the book went on a little too long, and in trying to portray the difficult-to-grasp notion of multiple universes the author oversimplified. Still, this is a decent fantasy with expected fantasy elements (though sometimes a little underdeveloped). There were good messages about body image and self esteem. 5th-6th grade.
review 2: I loved this book. It was charming and adorable. It would have been perfect for a younger version of myself. It had a kick ass princess with an amazing friend who cares for her no matter what. I pretty much liked everything about this book. There are even some pretty profound questions posed within the reading (and it's a kids book). The author did hit you over the head with the fact that Violet was not pretty, but that was really the only part I didn't care for about this book. I really enjoyed how real and relatable characters were. The characters reactions to the plot developments were reasonable and believable. I particularly enjoyed this as it avoided being cliche. The story wasn't groundbreaking but it was great fun and left me satisfied. less

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