Tagged: the iron king
The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.
Worse, Meghan’s own fey powers have been cut off. She’s stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can’t help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.
Once I picked up The Iron Daughter and started reading it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop until I was done. Not only is it even more spellbinding than the first book, The Iron King, the characterization is brilliant and the plot is superb. Unlike many second books, it does not suffer from Book 2 Disease.
In the beginning, Meghan manages to frustrate me as she pines for Ash, openly displaying her feelings for him at court. Ash had told her emotions were a weakness at court, so she should have hidden them, but she did not. What stopped me from hurtling the book at the wall was the fact that soon she figured out how to hide her feelings. I can also forgive her because Ash is her first love and your first love makes you do incredibly stupid things.
Despite this temporary nuisance, there is really nothing much to complain about. The plot zips by and I flipped through the pages as fast as I could. There is something about Julie Kagawa’s writing that keeps you spellbound and makes you (quite literally) gasp for breath after you’ve finished the last page. And of course her true talent lies in leaving readers desperate for the next book, if only to find out who Meghan chooses: Puck, her best friend or Ash.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
(Cover picture courtesy of Julie Kagawa’s website.)
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she never could 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.
Meghan Chase, the main character, is a geek at school who just wants to fit in. But on her sixteenth birthday, strange things start happening. Her brother becomes switched with a changeling and her best friend reveals that she is a half-faery, the daughter of the King Oberon. Meghan goes on a quest to a secret world consisting of the Summer Court and the Winter Court in order to get her little brother back. It is this quest that will bring her both pain and happiness.
Now, The Iron King is pretty much your typical YA novel: young female protagonist, a slightly dysfunctional family, a love triangle and a super hot but icy guy the protagonist loves. But what is different about this novel is that Julie Kagawa’s protagonist has substance and real motivation. Meghan is a geek at school with a crush on the captain of the football team, something many readers are able to relate to. She wants nothing more than to fit in, but every time she tries, things go badly.
Some may complain that The Iron King is basically a bunch of old YA tropes mixed together in a soup pot. This is certainly true, but these elements mashed together work well or they wouldn’t be used in so much YA fiction. Julie Kagawa’s novel not only has an interesting (but admittedly clichéd) plot, but is well-written and emotionally resonating. I found myself actually caring about the characters because Meghan, Ethan, Ash and Puck are all well-developed archetypes. So if you’re looking for an excellent, slightly clichéd Young Adult novel, The Iron King is certainly the book for you.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
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