The Iron King (Iron Fey Series, #1)

Click Here to read Ch. 1 Excerpt 

"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."

(From Harlequin Teen's official IRON FAE page, EnterTheFaeryWorld.com)

I'm a big fan of all things faerie and really wanted to absolutely love the book, but the novel just didn't do much for me. The Iron King had been on my watch list for a while and since it received good star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads I figured I would give it a shot. With all the good reviews, I imagined this book would blow me out of the water and get me out of my recent reading slump. Also, with fan girl's all around the world gushing about Prince Ash, I thought I needed to find out about what all the hullabaloo was all about.

After a few distractions, I finally forced myself to concentrate and just read the book. To be honest it took me quite a few pages to be fully engaged. And when I say a few pages, I mean exactly 160 pages well into the book before I was fully invested. The novel is only 393 pages! If you're into numbers, I had to read almost 45% of the book before it had me "hooked". (You are more than welcome to correct me on that calculation. I'm not a math geek.) As a reader, that sure is quite a long ways to read before being hooked. There were parts early on that were great scenes but not enough to make me want to finish reading the book in one sitting. I did find myself putting the book down a few times and picked it back up when I had bother better to read or do.

Julie Kagawa

I don't know why it seems like I'm one of the very few people who've read this book and didn't absolutely love it. I don't think it had anything to do with Kagawa's writing. The story flowed well and she did a fantastic job of painting a bright and descriptive portrait of Nevernever, Tir Nan Og and the Seelie and UnSeelie Courts. Kagawa did a great job in providing enough fae mythology background to bring a non-fairy story reader up to par in basic fae mythology. She weaves in some very familiar faces from classic fae mythology into her series such as King Oberon, Queen Titania, Queen Mab and Robin Goodfellow/Puck.  The whole premise of why Meghan had to go into Nevernever was  clever, the use of iron and the introduction of a new enemy (which I won't delve into too much without giving away any spoilers) was a refreshing change. But even with all the great pieces Kagawa had going for this book something just didn't "click" for me.

Dakota Fanning as Meghan

All the characters were likable. Meghan didn't totally annoy me. She is a bit naive but also kind hearted and extremely loyal to her family and friends. She tackles her newly found background fairly well. I mean honestly, how many of us would not freak out if we found out we were something other human? Can't blame the girl for having a few freak out moments and tantrums. If you're familiar with Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, then you should know of Puck. He's the mischievous mythological fairy who's also been using glamour to pose as Meghan's childhood best friend. He brings a few comical moments and stays very loyal to Meghan. I'm just worried that Puck's reputation as the prankster could get annoying. I'm hoping Kagawa can rein in some of his annoying habits and give us a viable character who'll swoop in and win out hearts. Then we have mysterious Prince Ash. The dashingly handsome Prince of the UnSeelie Court who has been sent to kill Meghan. He's your typical storybook Prince, cold exterior and all. But as we all know there's always something hidden under that cold exterior just waiting to be revealed. But out of all those characters my favorite was Grimalkin, the Cat. I mean who doesn't love a smartass talking cat? He's a little shady and arrogant but turns out to be a great aid to Meghan and her quest.

And of course, we have to get to love triangle. You can't have a YA novel without the love triangle an in this case Meghan is torn between her longtime best friend Puck and UnSeelie Prince Ash. Hmmm….having to choose between your best friend and the beautiful but mysterious Prince who has been sent to kill you shouldn't be a hard choice for Meghan right? I'm still scratching my head as to why so many girls are hardcore Prince Ash fans. Maybe I missed something in between the lines but I wasn't gushing over him. I mean the story did get more interesting as his presence grew but I think it was due more to the natural progression of the story.

Xavier Samuel as Puck

Ben Barnes as Ash

To be honest, after reading the book I wasn't totally swept away by either potential love interests. Which is fairly odd for me since I tend to be the type of person that jumps on a "Team" bandwagon pretty early on in a story. Both guys have some attributes that a girl could definitely appreciate. Puck is the witty and humorous but a loyal best friend; while Prince Ash is breathtakingly gorgeous, cold and mysterious but would still make a lot of girls hearts stop beating. Neither made me love them instantly but I didn't hate them either. Ash does have the upper hand being that he has the whole tall, dark and handsome thing going on. But this is only the first book and both guys are more than willing to battle it out for Meghan's heart; so we shall have to wait and find out who comes out victorious. I just have a very strong feeling it'll be Ash at the end, I mean how many stories do you know of end with the loyal guy best friend winning the heroines heart? Not many, right?

Aside from the Hunger Games and Hush, Hush series, I really haven't submerged myself into the YA world in the past two years. I'm pretty behind on the YA reading curve but I have a feeling lot of tweens and teens really enjoyed this book. The hundreds of good ratings on various sites is a testament. If you're into fae and young romance then you'll probably like the Iron Fey series. Even though I wasn't totally won over by the first book in the series, it won't deter me from reading the rest of the series. The Iron King ended on a somewhat cliffhanger and I definitely learned that Meghan has quite a ways to go before she reaches her happy ending in this fairytale world.