Julie Kagawa The Iron King Iron Fey, Book #1
Brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz
Synopsis:
“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.”
Review:
I am a fan of all things fairy related and have been thrilled at the many new books coming out to do with fairies since I am thoroughly exhausted of reading about vampires! The Iron King had sounded like it would be a very interesting and fun read . . . to a certain degree it was.
The story itself is lacking depth and heart. The author attempts to create tension and suspense but manages to do neither since she so quickly cleans up whatever messes Meghan finds herself in. The plot was full of clichés and was too predictable. The descriptions were either too bland or too over dramatic. I often found myself skipping whole chunks because I was bored or needing to reread certain descriptions of setting in order to better grasp what the world of the fairies was supposed to look like. I did like the pacing of the novel. It wasn’t dragged out and the book was an easy read but at certain points the pacing went too fast causing the plot to flatten.
The main character, Meghan Chase, was a HORRIBLE female lead which is surprising since a female author wrote the book! She was so incompetent and weak I felt insulted as a woman! She continuously allowed herself to get caught, tortured, and needed rescue from the other three main characters who were all males *rolls eyes*. She continuously made the SAME mistakes over and over again ending with the SAME result. The plot for the most part was constant repetition due to Meghan’s inability to ACTUALLY do something SMART.
Grimalkin was by far the BEST character out of the book. He reminded me of the cat from Alice in Wonderland except with a bit of a darker side. I loved how often he looked down on Meghan for being a human because she kept making such stupid mistakes. He was one of the only well written characters and he was one of the reasons I had even bothered finishing the rest of the novel. Ash was also a character I liked. He was gorgeous, elegant, dangerous, and dark. He was a bit predictable as the bad boy who really had a good heart but I still liked him. Puck was a great character. He was so mischievous and sarcastic. But Meghan’s parents were really annoying characters and I had no sympathy for nor did I care about having them involved in the story at any point. They just seemed to take up space.
The ending I did happen to like. I am curious to know what happens between Ash and Meghan since technically they are forbidden to be together because their parents are mortal enemies. I also enjoyed many of the fights scenes, espeically, between Ash and Puck.
As a whole, I did not like the story because it was too repetitive and the romance between Ash and Meghan was not developed well. I had also felt deflated when I found out the real truth of why Puck and Ash have sworn to kill one another even though they had once been best friends. I had thought the reason would have been more devastating because of all the hype the author placed around it and left the readers hanging until practically the end of the book. The reason was sad, yes, but not as powerful as I would have thought. Ash and Puck really should just get over it and move on already.
One of the premises I did like about the plot is the Iron Fey. That was a new concept I have yet to read anywhere else and I thought it was very clever of the author. I will actually be reading the next installment. More so out of sheer curiosity to know what happens with Grim, Ash, and Puck than for the actual story itself. I hope Meghan’s character has improved *crosses fingers*.
All in all, The Iron King was a pretty decent beginning to a series. For all you fantasy fans, especially all you fans of the world of fairies, you should read the book for Grim because that cat is pretty dang cool!
