The Jane Eyre plot couldn't save this book for me. I wanted to enjoy it, wanted to be swept up in the gothic romance elements of it, but could not be fully immersed in it. The original elements of it were frustrating. The world building seemed thin and insubstantial as the fae in this book and the characters never felt fully realized. Instead they hovered between cipher and caricature and never found their footing or connected with me. There were brief glimpses that this story could be more and that was the frustrating element. I felt at times that the story stuck too close to its origins and never spread its wings to become more. If a story is to be inspired by such a beloved piece of fiction than in order to become something other than a pale imitation it needs more than a few fantastical twists; it needs to be daring and confident. In many ways I felt the author constrained herself, much like the ironskin in the book, too tightly bound up in the restrictions she made for herself to fully realize the potential in the story. Which is a shame because I would have loved to have loved this book. Instead I felt a vague disappointment and not caring is the antithesis of a good book.
