*CONTAINS SPOILERS*****TURN BACK NOW****I was prepared to love this book. I ordered it a week after I discovered it here on GR. I counted the days until it arrived and quickly sunk my teeth into it. But alas, 'twas not meant to be.IHV containes elements of Tad William's Shadowmarch series and the movie Dragonheart; but this book is not nearly as intriguing as either. It resembles Shadowmarch in that there are also small human-like fae (for lack of a better word), and IHV has a god who lives deep underground, under the castle while Shadowmarch has a god under Funderling town; both have live-in storytellers. Shadowmarch also has evil beings in mirrors (though not exclusive to Shadowmarch, it adds up with the other elements). It doesn't bear a resemblence to Snow White because the mirror was not inherintly evil; this one is. It is like Dragonheart for it's mumbo jumbo concerning dragons...and hearts. I won't go into depth, just watch the movie.The danger presented by the Nybbas is vague; everyone acts crabby or unhappy, and that's about it; the war was not directly caused by the Nybbas. It was a result of Violet's father crossing the border of the Mountain King's kingdom, and things snowballed from there. The Nybbas played a part, but that was after the fact. And just what was in those stories Violet spent so much time reading?And the children (13 years old or so) are so easily inclined to violence against the narrator, threatening his life with knives for telling his fanciful stories and not living up to their own expectations. Speaking of the narrator, what little we get to know about the narrator, at first, is that he is a powerful storyteller, loved by the court, and especially the princess; she seeks to spend every spare moment with him, and he is loyal to her in turn. BAM! He's a coward, the children (Violet and her friend) take turns menacing him, then the court turns on him and wants to send him to the dungeon. This is to illustrate how quickly emotions change. You COULD call him an unreliable narrator up to that point, saying that maybe he was lying about how much he was liked, but he didn't seem all that petulant or show other characteristics of someone trying to paint themselves in the best light; I think he was honest all along. Violet also hates the dragon and blames it, irrationally, for her mother's death and insults it to its face. They don't see each other for a while...then they love each other when they are reunited. Huh?And calling everyone 'beloved' because it's 'proper' just gets on my nerves. They call everyone that! They don't use names, they say 'beloved'; and these citizens can talk to animals while those of other kingdoms can't. The kingdom of Andulan is just so perfect I want to vomit. La-dee-fricken'-da.I could go on, but I'm writing on a smartphone, and writing this much has been a slow process compared to a laptop. Overall, this really amounts to a story written in the simple style of the Brothers Grimm, but stretched beyond the bounds of neccessity. Seriously, 300 pages, tops, would have been sufficient; my copy has 423 pages. Yeah. The novel is too long for the style it's written in, so who exactly is the target audience here? Whatever. Meh, I say!
My attention was immediately captivated by the synopsis of the novel. I mean, how could I or anyone resist an outspoken and plain princess, her best friend and a mean dragon?Iron Hearted Violet was a different book than I had imagined it would be. Oh it had all the elements I expected it to but it had something more, something that I hadn’t thought it would concern itself with. Substance. I thought it would be an adventure story that would leave me delighted, and it was, but there are heavier themes in the novel that kept me thinking long after I had turned the last page.The way the novel is framed distinguishes it from the rest of its coterie. The narrator of Iron Hearted Violet is an old man, the Court Storyteller (some might call him the historian, if you will) so you are always at a distance from the main characters of the novel and usually this would be vexing but Barnhill very cleverly uses this distance to draw attention to aspects of the main characters that the reader would not be privy to were we present in the main characters’ heads. We are with Violet and Demetrius from when they are born to their teens and through the storyteller’s eyes, we see Violet grow, devour stories, make up stories and make a friend: Demetrius. We see her parents who are actually properly present (some of the times and not throughout) and we see her growing up and beyond what everyone hoped her to be.The world building is solid and the characterizations are well done. The reader gets a sense of who Violet and Demetrius are even through the storyteller’s eyes. The fae folk are also fun and appropriate to the story. The setting works amazingly.Violet is born a princess in a world that has some very fixed expectations about what a princess should look like. Violet is not beautiful. In fact, there are those who would say that Violet is ugly and others who would argue that she is beautiful in her own way. Either ways, Violet does not feel beautiful and the villain of the piece preys on that insecurity of hers to manipulate her into a position that will facilitate her breaking out of the prison she has been held captive in for generations. There is this poignant scene when Violet realizes that she is not beautiful and this made the novel so much better and put it in context of the superficial society we live in. I loved the way the issue of her looks is resolved. Violet finds out that there is more to life than the way you look and really, there is something to be said for feet that actually do what they are supposed to instead of just looking pretty and small.If that was an enigmatic sentence, you should read the novel to find out what I’m talking about. Do I recommend it? Yes I do. The plot is intriguing, the characters likeable and the resolution believable. Villain slaying princesses, no matter what they look like, win the day. Read this. You won’t be disappointed.
What do You think about Iron Hearted Violet (2012)?
Iron Hearted Violet is a recently published middle grade fantasy. It is the story of Violet, the intelligent but not-so-beautiful princess. When she is thirteen, her world begins crumbling. Nybbas, the thirteenth god, has risen again, and is bent on the destruction of everything that Violet loves. She and her best friend Demetrius, and a scarred dragon who's afraid of his own reflection, may be their only hope of saving their kingdom and their world.Interestingly, the book is narrated in the first person- by Cassian, the court storyteller. I guess, it makes sense, if you think about. He's the storyteller, and he's telling this story. Violet herself loves to tell stories; she learns from Cassian and often sneaks away from her lessons to learn from him. It's one of those cases of the student surpassing the teacher. She's even better at telling stories than he is.I liked Iron Hearted Violet; it was a fresh and easy new fantasy. A lot goes on in the book; there's the dragon hunt, there's the Mountain King who's bent on invading their kingdom, and of course, there's Nybbas, the central evil in the story.Kelly Barnhill creates an interesting world. It's mirrored, so there are two suns, the Lesser and the Greater. They rise at different times of day. I would imagine there are two moons too. This book has a fairly original plot, though obviously the un-traditional princess card has been played often, like Cimorene from Dealing With Dragons. But Cimorene actually is pretty, just not in the traditional blonde empty-headed way. Violet is not pretty all (though actually, in the drawings in the book, she looks pretty good).Iron Hearted Violet was fairly suspenseful. It certainly kept me reading, and went by quickly. The characters are all well portrayed, and the setting well developed. I'm glad I checked this out of the library, though I don't think it's worth buying, until you see if you love it.www.novareviews.blogspot.com
—Cleo
Pug nose, blotchy skin, mismatched eyes... meet the ugly princess. Now that's an interesting premise. Ignore the illustrations that make ugly Princess Violet look cute. Obviously, the artist didn't get the theme in this enjoyable fantasy. Violet has a strong personality, quick mind, and mouth. She's likable and strong-willed with a best friend, Demetrius, whom she explores the castle with on a daily basis. The castle is alive and has corridors that grow, shrink, and move making their adventures exciting. When the two stumble upon an ominous painting they release an evil into the world that threatens to destroy humankind. They must look within themselves to save the world.I couldn't put this book down. Kelly Barnhill writes with a lot of action and tension. Her plot points aren't always clear, but overall I find her stories quite different and entertaining. The narrator tells the story in first person omniscient and then there is a switch to 3rd person with other characters. The narrator is the court storyteller and he weaves the story with humor, self-deprecation, and foreshadowing. He disappears in the middle of the story but he's a coward and it takes him longer to find courage than Violet and Demetrius so it didn't bother me. Some might find it jarring when he jumps back into the mix after an absence.Themes of friendship, loyalty, heroism, love, internal strength versus looks, kindness, importance of stories and more are sprinkled throughout this novel. There is plenty to discuss and the creation story is unique. The dragon steals the show with its wisdom and humor and I wanted him to whisper in the king's mind the wrongness of enslaving him. I understood that the Nybbas used mirrors to control people but I didn't quite understand why the queen got sick and how she knew the future. There was no mirror involved with her so it wasn't clear how the Nybbas was working his magic. I also wanted more of an explanation of the creatures that came out of the Mountain King's mirror and their history with the Nybbas. The story with the old gods and the Nybbas needed more hashing out, but it didn't keep me from reading the entire book in one sitting. A fun fantasy.Reading Level 6.5
—Barb Middleton
Violet, the not-so-pretty princess, is soaring through the air on top of a dragon with an arrow in her chest. They are on a mission to break the mirrored edge of the world before the Nybbas regains its heart. What's a Nybbas? Do they accomplish what they had set out to do? You'll need to read it for yourself!This book was pretty good. I felt like it was kind of draggy until it reached the end. There was definitely a build up to the climax and I feel like I wasn't that disappointed. The pacing was medium, there's a good amount of characterization and detail in the story. Three words I would use to describe this book are: adventurous, whimsical, brave. I would hand this book over to fantasy-lovers or kids who like books with a strong, young female character. Target audience is probably 4th-6th grade.Read-a-likes:The Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland because of the dragon element and they are both fantasy."Dragon Rider" by Cornelia Caroline Funke because they share the subjects of dragons, fantasy, and good vs. evil.
—Amanda Harris
