YA Fantasy: The Nightmare Garden by Caitlin Kittredge

Series: Iron Codex #2
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date: February 2012
Format: ARC
Acquired: from Random Buzzers
Read: because I absolutely loved The Iron Thorn
Pages: 418
Reading time: one week


From GoodReads: Everything Aoife thought she knew about the world was a lie. There is no necrovirus. And Aoife isn't going to succumb to madness because of a latent strain—she will lose her faculties because she is allergic to iron. Aoife isn't human. She is a changeling—half human and half from the land of Thorn. And time is running out for her. When Aoife destroyed the Lovecraft engine she released the monsters from the Thorn Lands into the Iron Lands and now she must find a way to seal the gates and reverse the destruction she's ravaged on the world that's about to poison her.

My review: Ugh, what a letdown! I loved The Iron Thorn, which I thought was fantastic for its worldbuilding, writing, characters, and epic fantasy house. Not so for the sequel. Honestly, I was confused for a lot of the time. The plot seemed to meander, flitting between different events mostly as a bridge between books. Aoife was an incredibly annoying character, not listening to anyone, beating herself up over the same mistakes, and repeating herself. She just seemed whiny, impulsive, and unintelligent in this book, and I usually wanted to smack her. The other characters were inconsistent, and the ever-changing plot appeared incohesive and put me in a fog for most of the read. Maybe the next book will be worthwhile.