Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

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.



*****

Wow... Yeah, still trying to absorb all of that. SO MUCH HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK! Seriously, I don't think I've ever read a book where a plot twist lurks on the corner of every other page.

After the first few chapters, I thought "meh, this really isn't anything new, just another naïve teenage girl who is completely oblivious to the fact that her best friend has a crush on her." Then the conversation with Robbie happened and she found out about the fey, and I was still like "meh, read this conversation a thousand times before in some form or another (the most epic of those being "Yer a wizard, Harry.") And then they entered the Nevernever. And it was just like COLOR EXPLOSION.

Really, I love this world Kagawa has created. It's so alive and full of dangers lurking everywhere. Treacherous yet beautiful, colourful and wonderful (as in full of wonders) and there's always something in motion. I'd love to go there if it weren't for the fact that there's something waiting to kill you behind every tree you walk by. It's a brilliant world, one that I'm eager to revisit in the next book in the series.

Meghan was... well, I'm sort of torn. She seemed a bit naïve and immature at times, but then she was also wonderfully down-to-earth and direct at other times. All in all, I think I liked her. I looooved the two male leads, though. Ash is absolutely swoon-worthy. He's dark-haired, conflicted, and good at sword-fighting; three of my favourite things combined! And then there's Puck, who is funny and light-hearted and the life of the party. Scratch that, he IS the party. And then there's Grim, and I just can't resist a talking cat. He's cryptic and lazily sarcastic and does whatever he wants, as cats are wont to do. My inner crazy cat lady was just leaping with joy whenever he appeared in a scene. I loved to see Meghan, Ash, Puck and Grim all together, they make an awesome badass adventure team.

The romance was sweet and there was just the right amount of it, although it was rather stereotypically YA, as in, we can't be together but we're so in love and always have been from the moment we met. But like I said, I have a soft spot for Ash, so I generally enjoyed it.

To conclude, The Iron King is an adventurous, colourful, action-packed novel. It's a light, fun read that you can easily get lost in. I promise, you won't be bored.

My rating: ☆(☆)

2 comments:

  1. Ash is amazing!! :D Love his icy heart...
    I felt similarly torn on Meghan in the first book, but I'm glad to say that she grows a lot in the further installments (I've read the first 3)!
    Glad you enjoyed this one too :)

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    1. He is! And I'm really looking forwards to reading the next three books, although I've heard mixed reviews on The Iron Daughter.

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