Ironhand

Once again, this is a sequel review. If you want to read the other review, click here





If you don't complete three challenges, a string of bronze will crawl up your arm and kill you. That is the main problem for thirteen year old George Chapman. When he decided to not to put the dragon head back on its body, he then chose The Hard Way. The Hard Way has you to complete three challenges that are going to be extremely difficult for George to handle. One of the challenges has George dueling a powerful knight, and another one pits George against the Walker. If he doesn't accomplish them in time, he will die. While this is happening, The Gunner is trapped by the Walker in a strange area. George will have help along the way in the forms of Edie, and a newly formed alliance with a cat.

In Stoneheart, I saw George as a whiny boy who seemed to have low self-esteem. Now George matures into a hero that you want to root for, and someone who could actually defeat the dark forces. I thought that this book focuses on using your skills to your advantage. In the book when George is getting attacked by The Celtic Knight, he states that he is one of the fastest runners at school; he then uses that skill to run away from the Knight which allowed him to live.

SPOILER!!! In the book, if a Spit (the good statue) is broken, they can return to their plinth to heal, if they don’t get back by midnight, they will never move again. So George has to use his epic running skills to get to The Gunner’s plinth, so that The Gunner can live again. END SPOILER!!!

This book is by far better than the original. It still maintains a balance of action and story while adding a new puzzle element to the book. This book also seemed to go by faster than Stoneheart. Overall, if you didn’t feel that Stoneheart was a great book, you need to try this one. A+