The Stone Demon by Karen Mahoney

Series: The Iron Witch (bk. 3)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: Alchemy, demons, magic, witches, supernatural, fairies

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 320 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Flux

Summary/ product description: “After being tricked into opening the doorway to the Demon Realm by Aliette, the Wood Queen, Donna Underwood is faced with a terrible ultimatum from the newly released demon hordes. They demand that the alchemists deliver the Philosopher's Stone, or their reaper storm will plunge the world into a devastating modern-day Dark Age.
Donna is sent to London, England, where she must complete her alchemist's training and learn how to recreate the Stone. But time is running out. Between facing the vengeful demon king, Demian, and collecting the Stone's elements, Donna realizes she must give her own life in order to succeed. And this time, even braving death may not be enough to save the world.”

My Rating: êêêê

My Review: Yet another series comes to an end. So many series I like ended this year. Guess they all have to end at some point. This is the 3^rd and final book in this series. The first book was The Iron Witch, the second was The Wood Queen, in case you’re unfamiliar with it. It’s full of alchemy, faeries, elves and demons. The main character Donna is definitely a strong protagonist. My favorite character is Nav, because he’s the funny best guy-friend. The love interest is still Xan, the half-fey guy, but I feel like there wasn’t that much romance in this book. The world building is amazing. This whole secret society of alchemist is fascinating. It makes me think of Vampire Academy.

This final book was an adventure, kind of. Donna is forced to gather the ingredients to create the Philosopher’s Stone for Demian, and then make it otherwise he’ll destroy Ironbridge. The beginning of the book starts in London, where the last book left off. There’s a masquerade ball thrown by the demon king. Then Donna is back in Ironbridge, Massachusetts, and trying to figure out how she’s going to meet Demian two-day deadline. The fact that there’s a time crunch makes the story move a lot quicker. There’s even parts from Nav and Xan’s 3^rd person perspective because they actually help Donna retrieve an ingredient.

There’s a few funny parts, which are any part with Nav. And also Newton. He’s a demon with a sense of humor. There’s a little romance, and some action. The ending was kind of epic. I was a good ending, thank goodness. It was enjoyable overall. I recommend this series to fans of the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series, the Immortals series by Alyson Noel, the Iron Fey series, or is you are interested in Alchemy and faeries in general.

Cover Art Review: I know this is relevant to the masquerade ball that was in the beginning of the book, but it doesn’t work for the overall story. Not a fan of the face paint and the type of mask she’s wearing. It’s a bunch of stock photos. The masked face was just photo-shopped on and it looks like she has no nose. And the posture doesn’t fit the head. The angle looks wrong.

~Haley G