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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Book Review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

There was a lot of hype around this urban fantasy trilogy.  Beautiful cover, beautiful fae mythology... I knew I had to read it and I was all prepared to be absolutely blown away.
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.

And probably, I should have been completely wowed.  It kept me up late reading, I loved the romance and potential love triangle (which wasn't fully exploited).  The only thing I can figure is that it was too much fantasy and not enough urban.  One thing I loved about Melissa Marr's books was how the fairy realm lay right on top of the mortal world, you just couldn't see it.  The same is sort of true in this series, but the fae kingdoms (where the vast majority of the action happens) are in a realm called the Nevernever.  The Nevernever is SO different that it felt to me more like an Alice in Wonderland fantasy than urban fantasy -- assuming that makes any sense.

That's really my only gripe.  The characters were interesting, the plot full of twists, and the writing was excellent.  As I was reading along, I wasn't sure that I'd pick up the second in the series, The Iron Daughter, because I wasn't loving the world.  But with an ending like it had (and I won't give away any spoilers, but it was good), I'm pretty sure book 2 will make its way into my TBR pile.

Anyone think something different about it?  Will I be disappointed by The Iron Daughter or is it a must read?

5 comments:

Legacy said...

I read the Iron king. It was good, but I have yet, to get the second book. I think I will, but I will have to reread Iron king first.
The stuff with the little brother gets kinda crazy I think at times. I'm not going to explain I'm sure you know what I mean Jessie. I don't want to say too much. Nice post!

Unknown said...

I've really enjoyed the whole series so far. While Kagawa's interpretation of Nevernever is very different than I expected, I liked how she made it work with the different factions of Fae. Read on, I say!

Mary
The Book Swarm

Golden Eagle said...

Thanks for the review! I want to read this book--I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Jessie Harrell said...

Thanks to you for weighing in! Looks like The Iron Daughter will make its way to my TBr pile after all.
And Legacy - welcome!

Justine said...

Darn, I must start this series soon! It seems like I'm missing out.

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