Title: The Iron King
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publication date: February 1, 2010
# of Pages: ebook- 825
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
Barnes&Noble/Amazon/Goodreads
Good Reads Summary:
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.
My Review:
þ Magical world w/ faeries and new creatures
þ Action
þ A touch of romance
þ A great ending
þ A touch of romance
þ A great ending
I have a love/hate relationship with this book. It seemed like one chapter I loved it and then the next I was bored and had to reread the page. I think I preferred the scenes that had action and romance to the ones that were lots of description. Obviously there needed to be lots of description because this is a book with a new world in it, but I found myself fighting the urge to skip past all the description. The other thing that bothered me was that this world didn't feel original. This world, although ruled by faeries, was much like Narnia. First of all, they got to the world by going through a closet. Narnia they use a wardrobe, but still that's very close. The main character, Meghan, has a guide when she first gets the forest, much like Narnia also. Some of the faeries used ice and I'm pretty sure a queen in Narnia used ice as a weapon. This book also held a resemblance to Alice in Wonderland. Meghan meets a talking sly cat and as much as I tried I couldn't stop picturing him as the Cheshire Cat.
Aside from all the similarities I was able to enjoy it because the characters where interesting. Meghan is a very normal teenager. She's just trying to get through High School and get her drivers permit. At first when she is thrown into this new world she relies on others to save her, but soon she begins to realize her own inner strength. Robbie, her friend is kind of like a golden retriever. He's always there to save the day and he's funny and nice, a loyal companion. Ash is the prince of everyone's dreams. He's mysterious, charming, a good dancer, brave, and handsome. I enjoyed him the most I think. Although I don't remember the author describing him so I kept picturing him in a typical prince outfit (much like the once Cinderella's prince wore). Somehow I don't think that's what he was wearing, but I just couldn't picture him in jeans and a hoodie either. There were lots of new creatures that were fantastically scary. I would never want to encounter them, but I enjoyed reading about Meghan fighting them off in the woods.
The book ended with so many questions unanswered. The author definitely set it up well for a series. The second I was done, despite my apprehensions, I went on the library website and took out the next book of the series. I just needed to know how certain parts of the plot would be resolved. The author definitely succeeded in drawing the reader in with a cliffhanger type ending. I wouldn't recommend this book to all my friends, but I do suggest you add it to your to read list and read it when you have time. Read the rest of my review here.