Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publishing Date: 01/02/2010
ISBN: 9780373210084
Pages: 363 pages

Summary from GoodReads:

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.

My Review:
I picked up this book because I got an ARC from NetGalley for the third book in this series called The Iron Queen. I have to say the book started off good for me as the main character and I share the same name: Meghan (well, I spell mine with an extra "a" but who's counting). Anyhow, I just finished Tyger, Tyger recently and I was a bit disappointed with the lack of description in the fairy world. That being said, Kagawa really makes up for my disappointment in the other book. Kagawa made me feel like I was actually walking around in this supernatural world of fairies, goblins, elves and iron creatures. It only took me a day to finish this novel as I couldn't put it down. It was full of everything that makes a good novel: description, plot and character development. I loved the way the author developed Meghan's character. She starts off as a teen who felt forgettable in many ways. She felt this way not only about her peers at school but also around her family. The only person who really took notice of her was her friend Robbie. Then Meghan gets sucked into this fantasy world where she is actually the daughter of a mystical king. Now, all attention is on her and this is not quite to her benefit. The whole time I was reading I couldn't decide if I preferred her to be with Puck (also known as Robbie) or Ash. I have to say that I was leaning towards Puck but near the end Ash kind of had me. I guess I will have to continue reading the series to find out what happens. What I like about the end of this novel is that while the reader knows that there will be more to the story, there is still a part of the conclusion that has actually been resolved. I hate it when a book just ends and you have to wait and wait for the next book. This is not the case in this book; while I am looking forward to reading the next books I don't feel like I got scammed out of an ending. Lucky for me I have already started the second novel, The Iron Daughter, and I have the third waiting for me on my Kindle. Look out in the near future for those reviews. Overall, I give this novel 4.5 out of 5 and I highly recommend it even if you don't often read YA fiction.

2 comments:

  1. Great review! I agree with so much of what you said. I too love books about the fey and its always such a let-down when the magic of the world of faery doesn't really come to life for me in a book. This certainly wasn't the case with this one and I, too immediately went right into the second novel. I can't wait to see what you think of "The Iron Daughter"

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  2. I usually don't read YA fiction (historical fiction is my usual) but this one has interested me for a while. I think this is one to read in 2011 :) Thanks for the great review!

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