Iron Hearted Violet

What I liked:

The conceit of having the palace storyteller presenting the story

The overall concept of the mirrored world

The possibilities of the relationship between Violet and Demetrius

The fact that the story didn't flinch from the necessity for a strong ending

What I didn't like:

This was very dark for a children's book, even taking the Nybbas' influence into account

I don't like it when the young heroine does stupid things (Inkheart, I'm looking at you!)

I'm not sure I can buy when Violet wises up

The Nybbas is appropriately scary and nasty and repulsive, but what is happening seems disjointed and inconsistent

The little people, although I like them a lot, seem simply inserted into the storyline

So, I had quite a bit of difficulty picking the book up and reading it for the middle third of the book. Although the last section went quickly, there were still sections that seemed too harsh for the children's book this seems to be (I could see a couple of scenes creating nightmares), and yet the book doesn't go beyond that into a broader audience. The story seemed to pull in disparate elements from children's fantasy and, although attempting to weld it into a new and original form, didn't succeed for me in creating a believable whole entity. It's quite possible others will like it more--I have become much more persnickety over the years in this genre.