Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Genre: fantasy
Series and Book #: The Iron Fey Series #1
Pages: 363
Summary:

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.

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I thought that Kagawa would take this into a typical Faerie myth setting, giving us the usual Summer and Winter characters (I guess I was thinking along the lines of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely Series, except less dark and with iron faeries). I loved that Kagawa used the characters from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: Puck, Oberon, and Titania! This added a unique spin to Kagawa's story.

Kagawa's incorporation of the Iron Fey was extremely clever. I don't think many people would have even thought of an idea like that. Kagawa's writing is also very flavorful. She uses so many different vocabulary words to describe Faery. She created this magical, vibrant place with grace and beauty. It captivated me from the beginning.

Meghan's transition into Faery and her and Ash's love was very well written. Meghan didn't suddenly wake up ion Faery and be like "Yes, this is who I'm destined to be, princess of Summer". No. She completely rejected it at first and then slowly accepted and loved the world her father and friends lived in. Her relationship with Ash wasn't love-at-first-sight, either. Though it was forbidden (I don't really care for forbidden romances) Kagawa didn't make that extremely apparent and she gave readers (like me) enough so that I got a romance fix without the frustrations of forbidden stuff.

Overall, this was an exciting, imaginative read into Faerie that was exceptionally unique. Kagawa's loose ends at the end added a nice bit of mystery for the next novels, but doesn't create a gnawing need for them right now. An adventurous thrill ride without the agony of forbidden romance while also being a forbidden romance! Hallelujah!

The Cover: Dark, metallic, with twining script and a model that looks like Meghan. One of my favorites

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