Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Release Date: February 1, 2010
Source: Purchased
MEGHAN CHASE HAS A SECRET DESTINY--ONE SHE COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED...Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school...or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.But she could haver have guessed the truth--that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she care about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face...and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.
Once again I picked up The Iron King because of all the great things I had heard about it. It seems that these days that’s the only thing that comes into play when I choose what book to read. And like for many of my recent reads, I am glad I picked up the book. It was a really good read and yet another take on the Faerie world, this time adding some new elements. The fact that I am a sucker for Faerie stories probably makes me biased but it was a really good book.
Meghan Chase has always been the invisible girl in school, sometimes even at homes. The only people who really know her are her best friend Robbie and Ethan, her four-year-old half-brother. But on the day of her sixteenth birthday weird things start happening. Ethan who was afraid of monsters essentially becomes the monster and Robbie reveals his true identity as he takes her on a trip to the Nevernever, the land of the Faerie. Between being shot at by the Winter Prince and abused by the Queen of Faeries, Meghan discovers a whole new world she may be closer to than she thinks.
Meghan slowly grew on me. At first I wasn’t really sure about her but then when the action really started I began liking her more and more, especially her determination in finding Ethan. There is just something about someone doing whatever they need to do in order to save someone she loved. I also liked that she wasn’t too quick to accept the whole Faeries exist thing, for the longest time she was denying her origins. What really got to me was how much she was willing to give to help those she cared for, even if she had only known them for a short period of time. By the end of the book, I was totally sold on Meghan and I was rooting for her all the way.
The other characters had me highly amused. Robbie and Grimalkin had me laughing throughout the book. Robbie was always playing tricks on everyone and in a cheery mood regardless of the situation. He would be in the middle of a duel with someone and all of a sudden cracking jokes at the same time as he was attempting to stab his opponent. Grimalkin’s humor was more subtle but there all the same. There is just something about having every word that comes out of a cat’s mouth being ironic, he had me smiling and laughing many times. And then there was Ash. Like for Meghan, I wasn’t too sure about him at first but then you realize that it’s all just a front he’s putting up. By the end of the book, I wanted him to be mine, let’s just leave it at that.
I have read so many Faerie stories and it was fun to see one that added a court that had never been talked about before. What made it even better was that, a totally logical explanation for its existence. The only thing I have to say about the story is that at first it sort of drags on. As much as I loved the book once I was done reading it, it took me a while to get into it at first. Once it picked up, I couldn’t put the book down and the story moved at an incredible pace. Like I said, when I finished reading, I loved the book.
The Iron King was an amazing read and such an interesting take on the Faerie world and how it came to exist. Now I’m (im)patiently waiting for the second book, The Iron Daughter, to arrive in my mailbox.
Also, can anyone tell me how the actual Faerie courts work and who rules what. I’ve read so many different stories with so many different combinations of rules and courts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Emilie! So glad you liked THE IRON KING, and like you, I can't wait to get THE IRON DAUGHTER in the mail! I kind of had an opposite reading experience though: it started out really exciting for me, then about midway through I thought it was a little hard to keep reading...but then it got better :D
ReplyDeleteThe iron daughter is even better. I admit with Iron King, at the begining of the book I thought it was quite young and not so original, but by the end, my ideas had changed. Iron daughter is awesome
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