BEA'S BOOK NOOK "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." C. S. Lewis “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

Monday, December 26, 2011

Review of The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Release Date: February 1, 2010
Series: Iron Fey #1
Buying Links: Amazon     The Book Depository

Book Blurb:

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 never 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 cares 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.


Teaser:

"Me? I'm a human." The moment I said it, I wished I hadn't. In the old fairy tales, which I was remembering more and more of, humans were always food, playthings, or the tragic love interest. And as I was quickly discovering, the inhabitants here had no qualms about eating a speaking, sentient creature. I held the same rung on the food chain as a rabbit or squirrel. It was a scary, rather humbling thought.

My Thoughts:

I love fairy tales, have ever since I was a little girl, so I was eager to read this series. I enjoy myths and fairy tales from all over the world. For this series, Kagawa draws from classical western European fairy tales for her inspiration and world building.

The fey are divided into two courts: Winter and Summer. They barely tolerate each other and frequently battle or engage in war with one another. Meghan, though she doesn't know it when the story starts, is the half human daughter of the Summer Court king, Oberon. There's a lot that she doesn't know and when she discovers the fey, her world changes forever.

She discovers that her lifelong friend Robbie is not what he seems, nor are some of her family members. Once in the fey realm, she makes both allies and enemies, rather quickly. These fey are true to their origins - cold, distant, capricious, manipulative, powerful, and terrifying. They are not friendly and helpful nor are they fun loving and light-hearted. They are however quite intriguing.

The story ran a little long at times, and although we see Meghan's attraction to Ash, the feelings of love seemed, to me, to happen suddenly and without sufficient development. I liked Meghan's ordinariness throughout the story and her determination to remain human. Kagawa's addition of the Iron Fey to the fey pantheon is brilliant and I look forward to seeing where she goes with it.

One of my favorite characters is Grimalkin, a cat who is a member of the Cait Sidhe. True to form, for both cats and fey, he is mysterious, enigmatic, capricious and rarely acts without an ulterior motive. He also has a dry sense of humor that I find appealing.

I borrowed this book from my local library.

5 comments:

  1. I love fairytales and mythology, too! I have been wanting to read this book for ages and from your review it sounds like it has a lot of positives going for it. I enjoyed your review and I cannot wait to read this book! I have to get it soon!

    ~Jess
    http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/

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  2. So I just finished reading this book yesterday. I totally agree with the romance part. I don't think I'll have the review up till after new years, but I still can't wait to read the next books in the series.

    Ning @ Reading by Kindle Fire

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  3. Fairday, I liked Kagawa's version of the fey very much. I hope you like it.

    Ning, so many people have raved about the romance, that I kept wondering if I was missing something. It's good to hear that I'm not the only one who felt it was underdeveloped. Overall, I enjoyed the series but I thought that the third book and the second novella were by far the best.

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  4. I've only read the last book in this series, but I was impressed enough that I plan to go back and read the others. Kagawa has a beautiful writing style.

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  5. While the first three books in the series were told from Megan's point of view, The Iron Knight is told from Ash's perspective and picks up shortly after the events in The Iron Queen. Megan is now queen of the Iron Realm but Ash cannot be with her there because the iron would kill. To be with the woman he loves, Ash embarks on an epic quest to abandon his life as a faerie and become mortal.

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