★★★★½Slipping back into this utterly captivating world has been long – much too long – overdue. Kittredge’s otherworldly yet familiar Steampunk creation is tragic, broken, dark and sinister, while it is also bewitching, complex, and mysterious. Equally captivating is Aoife’s character and her growth since first meeting her in The Iron Thorn. She’s always balked a little at the repressive, submissive role her society has forced her into, but Tremaine’s manipulation of her which results in the destruction of Lovecraft’s engine has become the catalyst for some major realizations and changes for Aoife. In The Nightmare Garden, she’s a bit older and wiser, more discerning, less trusting, more independent, less interested in fulfilling society’s ideals of womanhood, and more focused on righting her wrongs, saving her family and friends, and figuring out her place in the larger picture, but still a little reckless. As for everything else, except for a slight lull in the middle, the story is extremely fast-moving and very exciting, the romance (i.e. – Dean) was as fantastic as ever… and that ending! Be still my heart and say it ain’t so! {wink}
