BOOK REVIEW - IRON KING by JULIE KAGAWA - THE IRON FEYS SERIES # 1

By: Julie Kagawa
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Released: Available Now
Details : Paperback , 363 Pages

RATING: 4 FANTASY STARS!!

Book Blurb : Taken from Goodreads:
Meghan Chase has never fit in at her small-town high school, and now, on the eve of her 16th birthday, she discovers why. When her half brother is kidnapped, Meghan is drawn into a fantastical world she never imagined--the world of Faery, where anything you see may try to eat you, and Meghan is the daughter of the summer faery king. Now she will journey into the depths of Faery to face an unknown enemy . . . and beg the help of a winter prince who might as soon kill her as let her touch his icy heart. The Iron King is the first book in the Iron Fey series.

BOOK REVIEW:

Julie Kagawa has a great imagination in her first book in the Iron Fey series. I will read 'Winters Passage' next the ebook novella, then go onto 'The Iron Daughter', book 2.

To me personally, there is the 'Alice in Wonderland' , possibly 'Narnia' and admittedly 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' characters/feel. I had to ponder if younger readers actually knew 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' , characters..I am a bit out of the loop so I didn't.


'Grimalkin', the invisible cat/side kick character I enjoyed but sometimes I wished Ash or Puck was in his place in some of the storyline. Maybe Ash more than Puck as I am a bit of Team Ash at this stage. I would have liked reading Ash definantly earlier on in the book. Looking forward to seeing where Julie takes us with the Iron King and his kingdom.


Loads of fey and creatures in this book, faerie Courts and well a smexi lad and a prankster/bff lad .

I had to laugh and seriously laughed at the Bluetooth wearing Iron King...hmmm..*giggle* ( Would it be okay to assume , that you would be out of range in another realm). I did enjoy the new court/kingdom that Julie made. I thought that was very clever to add to the modern world the Iron King and his subjects. Iron being the killer of fey. Very clever addition which will give this series life , hence the book titles.

This is an adventure that sometimes had you in and out of the mortal world. Ethan / Changeling..well Changeling was a hoot with his evil little ways..quite a crack up.


The Iron King is a great little read for the fey loving readers , sometimes it appears for the younger reader and then sometimes it appears for a marginally older crowd with the mortal getting groped in the club and the would be ermmm can't say what I want to call them..lets just say the group of fey lads that wanted to assault Meghan in the park. The 'f' bomb ( the one that rhymes with Puck) does get dropped once and a bit of less language for those who need to know.


The artwork on all the covers is gorgeous, well done!!! The Iron Queen due 2011.

THE IRON KING - IRON FEY #1 by Julie Kagawa

 
 

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - THE IRON KING by JULIE KAGAWA

Title:   THE IRON KING
Author:  JULIE KAGAWA
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publish Date: February 2010
Pages: Paperback, 363 pages

RATING:
4 STARS

Description taken from http://enterthefaeryworld.com/ironfey

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.

I will firstly admit that it took me a little bit to get through the first part of this book.  The use of characters from all different and currently existing fables and stories seemed a touch too much for me.  The hardest one of all was Grimalkin the disappearing cat - yep..... Alice in Wonderland style cat!!!  I am sure there would be plenty of other vanishing creatures or beings that could have been used.... but Julie chose the cat.  Nonetheless, Grimalkin turned out to be a handy character to have!

Being a YA series, I did wonder if the use of A Midsummer Nights Dream would have been understood by many.... though thinking this, by the end of the book Julie may just have stirred up enough interest in younger readers to pick up the original book and give it a chance - always giving more hope to the classics is great.

The forbidden love between Meghan and Ash is sure to give us some interesting reading in The Iron Daughter. Though I am sure Ash will be as cold as his Winter Court when required in the presence of Queen Mab.

The loyalty from Puck/Robbie is wonderful and I certainly felt the secret love he had for Meghan. Could this become something later on? - Who knows..... there must be a Puck - Meghan - Ash triangle in there somewhere... though at the moment there are no "teams" to choose - it is Ash all the way!

I may have struggled at first but the story unfolded and I was easily swept away into the faery world. I read through this book with imagery of a Tim Burton film translation and found it to be a wonderful read that I can so clearly see as a movie.

Julie has described the Nevernever  and it's occupants with such detail that it would be hard not to have a fantastic fantasy fueled vision.

Now on to the novella - Winters Passage......

Enjoy!

Marissa