Review of The Nightmare Garden

Goodreads Summary: "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."

After having finished The Nightmare Garden it feels as though The Iron Thorn was merely a set-up novel in a lot of ways, a novel I liked but didn't love. Having read The Nightmare Garden I see now why it had to be that way. There were tons of concepts, characters and settings that had to be set up for the reader in just the right way for the story as a whole to fall into place. A sort of having all of the planets align in just the perfect order kind of thing.

The Nightmare Garden just wowed me with its insane brilliance. Caitlin Kittredge, in her writing, reminds me of the fates that weave the tapestry of life. And man, is her novel one hell of a complicated pattern. Her Weird is obviously weaving together insane plots.

I can finally say now that I love Aoife. I began to understand her towards the end of the first book and even went so far as to say that I loved her but I didn't really, I understood her and could relate to her. With The Nightmare Garden under my belt I now love her. I love her strength, her devotion, her determination to make things right and the great love that she has for her family and friends and a certain someone. I feel as if she has grown so much as a character over the past two novels to become someone that you could truly count as a heroine.

I loved all of the various motivations that characters held; no one was evil simply because they were evil. Back-stories are gradually being revealed, insane truths are being made known, and things that previously confused are finally being made sense of.

The end of this novel broke my heart. I cannot say a lot about it without giving away two books full of secrets but just know that is amazing and worth reading through. I can honestly say I'm excited for the final book in the trilogy now, I want to know how Aoife manages to make everything right or even if it is possible at this point for her to.

Rating: 4.5/5