Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)
by Julie KagawaPublishing Info: February 1, 2010 by Harlequin
Source: Library
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: July 28, 2012
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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.
This was a really, really creative story and I loved how in depth the world of the fey was. But… I just don’t think faeries are my thing. I’m not a really big fantasy person and I think THE IRON KING unfortunately solidified that.
I really enjoyed Meghan’s character, especially her interaction with Robbie/Puck. I adored their friendship and Puck was hands down my favorite character with all his spunk and joviality (is that a word?) — They made a great duo and Puck was the perfect sidekick/bodyguard.
I started getting into the whole relationship with Meghan and Ash towards the end too. It was another “forbidden love” that I really rooted for.
Overall, I think the whole faery world just is not for me. Not to say it’s not a good book — I did enjoy it — but I think I easily get lost in what I can’t relate to. The faery world and all magic, eccentric and wild creatures… too many tend to bog me down and I just get confused with trying to use so much of my imagination to create the pictures in my mind. I really need something I already know to draw from in order to piece together the worlds that I read in books and I guess my imagination isn’t what it used to be when I was kid because I just can’t get there anymore!
I also had way too many things I was comparing this story to that I couldn’t pick up an original storyline to detach from the ones I already knew. I had The Labyrinth in the beginning (baby brother gets taken by the faery realm (okay, so the Labyrinth was the Goblin Kking — And isn’t Toby a half-brother in that movie too?) and the packrats), Alice in Wonderland with Grimalkin as the Cheshire Cat, Harry Potter (some magic, I pictured the mermaids/lake creatures from the Goblet of Fire challenge), Narnia with all of the doors leading to different realms, City of Bones (glamour and the supernatural hidden in plain sight) and of course the whole thing is based off of A Mid Summer Night’s Dream. So between all of those old stories rolling around in my head, I just couldn’t separate them from this one and make it original and new to me.
Really creative, I enjoyed the writing — especially the humor and the sarcastic/witty remarks — but I just think I’m not the intended audience unfortunately.
Try it
Lots of good stuff coming out of the book. Just not for me though.
BOOKS LIKE THE IRON KING
10 thoughts on “The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) – Julie Kagawa”
You know, when we moved I looked for my copy of this and I must have given it away…WITHOUT READING IT. What was I thinking?! As you know I have been leaning toward reading this one because PUCK. Yes, I LOVE HIM. I am sorry that you didn’t love this though I am glad that you still commented on the witty humor. Plus…SHAKESPEARE. Yeah, I need to own this one.
I do wish there had been more Puck! He was more interesting in the sense that Ash’s character seemed to be to pretend he was heartless and had no character. But I’m looking forward tot hat changing as the series progresses.
I love fey books, so I will probably really enjoy it. Nice honest review, though! I will hopefully be picking it up soon since it is one I am reading for one of my reading challenges.
Thanks! I really hope you do enjoy it. I think it just helped me conclude for sure that I’m just not the kind of person who enjoys fairy stories. Since you like fey books, I think you’ll really like it! I really enjoyed the writing – I just had a hard time getting my head around the characters and the concepts 🙂
Hmm, this sounds interesting. I haven’t yet read any of Kagawa’s book and I think I like the high fantasy stuff, but I know what you mean when there are too many new, different, strange characters that you can’t relate to, it ends up a muddle! Great review.
Hmm I actually have a copy of this one and have yet to pick it up because I have been hearing so many mixed reviews…I am sure I will get to it but it has fallen to the side of my TBR for sure.
Yep, I hear ya! I actually heard mostly good reviews, but I think I’ve just come to realize that really deep in the fantasy world is not for me! I can only handle things that are closer to real life and less magical/dealing with creatures that aren’t human.
Thank you for writing this review! I read this book a awhile ago on my old blog and I thought I was the only one on the planet that didn’t love it. It’s so funny you say all those comparisons, because that’s exactly why I didn’t enjoy it as much. You should try Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa if you haven’t already. It’s completely different and really good. If you want to read my review of Iron King to see how much we think alike here it is:https://sites.google.com/site/bookblogeannucci/the-iron-king
Thanks, I’ll definitely check out your review as well! I really had high hopes for how many people love this series. I haven’t read Immortal Rules yet, but I would still like to try it! I liked Kagawa’s writing but I just didn’t catch on to the fairy concept, so I think I’d really like to try it!
I actually just checked out your review, and funny how much I agree! We picked up on a lot of the same similiarities 🙂