Review: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey #1
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
Rating: ★★★
Pages: 363
Published by Harlequin Teen on February 1, 2010
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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.

Meghan Chase is just an ordinary girl. But wait. That's not right, is it? Every book starts out like that! No, Meghan Chase is not an ordinary girl. She's half fey, which basically means she's half faery. Faeries thrive simply off human imagination, which is an interesting aspect. I haven't read more than one or two faery books, and The Iron King is definitely a nice start. Meghan and her best friend Robbie go on an adventure after Meghan discovers that Robbie's a little more than just her typical, red-haired best friend that likes to prank and joke around. He's actually Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck. And Robbie's true identity isn't even touching the base of what this book has to offer.

Don't let my star rating fool you! I wish I could give this book five stars; it's just that based on my rating scale and all the problems that I have with The Iron King, it wouldn't be fair in comparison to my other reviews and ratings. This book was enjoyable to an extent, and I'm glad that I finally got around to reading it. I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have read this book for another year or so if it hadn't been for the email recommendation that I got from a viewer of this book, which I was ecstatic about. I'm sorry I don't have that much nice to say about the book that this person recommended to me. I wish I liked it more than I did!

Julie Kagawa is one of my favorite authors after The Immortal Rules series. The Immortal Rules and The Eternity Cure are beautifully written and the characters are amazing and the plot and everything is just great and the romance was done amazingly and just that series is so good. So naturally, I thought that The Iron King would be just as great. Yeah, well, it wasn't. I think that there are three components in this novel that convince people that they're in love with it.

1. Ash and Puck. (Do not mistake this with Ash and Meghan.)

2. Grimalkin.

3. Action.

Notice that Meghan Chase is not on that list. That is because Meghan Chase is an annoying little brat that only cares about herself. In short, I think Meghan Chase is stupid. Her actions may seem valiant at first, but then when I really think about them, they're stupid. She refuses to leave Ash behind just because he's fighting for her when she's supposed to be saving her brother? Like, ohmygodno. How stupid can she get? I mean, Meghan, your brother might be dying! You've traveled all this way to kill the Iron King! And then you get close--so close--and oh god the hot prince is dying you must give up your whole quest just to watch him die because you can't do anything to help him because you're helpless.

Yeah, not buying it.

And this leads me into my next point. (I'm not even going to talk about how she completely disregards Puck the entire book. Liiiike, bitch, no. He's amazing, okay?) Ash and Meghan's relationship. They don't deserve a ship name. And I ship everyone! Anyway, Ash and Meghan's relationship was so fake. I honestly thought that Ash was going to be the sexy one out while Meghan made out with Puck. I would've been totally fine with that. But instead, after days of knowing each other, Meghan is already sucking face with Ash.

And that kiss? What was that? It was so...random. I didn't feel anything for the two while reading it. I had no desire for them to kiss. Their relationship--or lack of--seemed so inconvenient for Kagawa, like she forced it or something because, hey, YA needs romance. I would've liked this book a lot more if Kagawa just used this book to build tension between the two rather than rush them into things. That's what series are for--to gradually build up, not to rush into with a blindfold on.

Grim, Ash, Puck, the action, and the imagery is what saved this book for me. The plotting was okay, I suppose. Things were way too predictable for me. All the "plot twists" were clear as day even without foreshadowing. The "twists" that Kagawa added were just basic plot twists that every knows to avoid. The other thing that I liked about The Iron King was the dialogue. It was realistic in my opinion, which is a big deal to me. And Puck. He was hilarious. I'll show you one of my favorite lines (from Puck, obviously).

"Oh, we're playing nice now?" Puck remained seated, looking anything but compliant. "Shall we have tea first? Brew up a nice pot of kiss-my-ass?"

Gotta love Puck!

In conclusion, this book was worth the read. I may seem like I'm bashing it, but really, I'm not the best at pointing out a book's strengths without raving. I'm better at finding the things I don't like and complaining about them, which is pretty much what all my reviews consist of. Like I said, I liked Grim, Ash, Puck, the action, and the imagery; I just didn't like Ash and Meghan's relationship and the predictability of the plot. It's not a waste of money, if that's what you're thinking about reading this review. I just don't have many strong feelings about this book other than ASH AND MEGHAN, LIKE THAT WAS JUST SO WRONG NO.