Title: The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: Fantasy, Faeries, Young Adult, Iron Fey
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Rating: 5 stars
Review copy purchased through Book Depository.

Read my reviews for The Iron King, Winter’s Passage and The Iron Daughter.

At the beginning of The Iron Queen, we find Meghan and the love of her life, Prince Ash, both exiled from the Nevernever for following their hearts and falling in love with each other. Unfortunately for Meghan and Ash, their trials are not yet over, as the Iron Fey attack them even while on earth. Oberon and Mab – King of Summer and Queen of Winter, former enemies, and now forced allies, see no other choice but to pardon their wayward children and to request for them to save the Nevernever one more time. When Ash and Meghan agree, they do not realise that the perils that await them in the land of the Iron fey will be even greater than they have anticipated, and the disaster they will encounter will be something even they might not overcome. With the army of the Iron fey marching towards the territories of Summer and Winter, and the fate of the entire Nevernever on the line, Meghan must find a strength within herself she hardly knew she had.

As of now, I’m officially not Team Ash or Team Puck anymore. I’m Team Meghan ftw! The way that girl has grown from a regular, somewhat shy and insecure teenage girl into the single most courageous, determined, intelligent and honest creature walking the Nevernever, is simply amazing. Gone is the love-struck half-faery we see at the beginning of The Iron Daughter, long forgotten is the girl who had no money to buy decent clothes and was the laughing stock of high school. Meet Meghan Chase – daughter of King Oberon, Princess to the Nevernever, and the most dangerous opponent the Iron Fey could possibly face. She is willful, strong, independent, but without ever losing her charming personality, and all the reasons why she’s still human and only a teenage girl. She literally and figuratively kicks ass in this novel, and it was a pleasure to witness.

But Ash, my poor little Ash, what the heck happened to you? You just went from being one of the most interesting, charming, distant and icey Princes of the Faerie Realm and then you turned into a…love-struck teenager? I don’t know exactly why – I mean, I do support Meghan/Ash – but the latter just can’t play the role of Meghan’s boyfriend and still be an interesting character with a dark edge. Gone, dark edge. And that leaves him rather one-dimensional, flat, and not all that interesting. With the dissapearance of the love triangle, and Meghan’s firm choice for Ash, there was a huge romance plot missing in this novel. Ash and Meghan were interesting…until they started dating. Now I’m wondering whether or not they’ll watch a movie together sometime, snuggling in front of a TV screen and perhaps worrying about daily chores or homework. WRONG. That’s not what I want to think about when I imagine a Summer Princess and a Winter Prince! And yet, somehow I did…it’s like Meghan/Ash lost all their magic once they actually got together.

Once again, Julie Kagawa’s world-building is exquisite, her characterization brilliant, her writing style excellent. The Iron Queen pulled me in from page one, and left me breathless till I turned the last page and read the ending. Spellbinding, fascinating, amazing, and the best ending to one of the most magnificent, original and well-written young adult fantasy series currently available. Here I was, thinking it couldn’t get any better, and then it did.

Title: The Iron Daughter (Iron Fey #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Faeries, Young Adult
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Review copy purchased in through BookDepository.
Rating: 4 stars

The Iron Daughter continues the story where The Iron King left off (or Winter’s Passage if you will), with Meghan being forced to go to the Unseelie Court of the Winter Queen Mab, and possibly suffer horrendeous torture at the hands of her father’s enemy. However, Meghan soon finds out that the vengeance of Queen Mab is the least of her worries, as one of the Unseelie Princes betrays his own kingdom, kills the heir to the Winter Throne, and reveals to be working for the Iron King. On top of all that, it appears that the Iron fey have got their hands on the Scepter of Seasons. Naturally, Mab believes Oberon has stolen the scepter, and decides to full-on attack him rather than believe her youngest son’s theory about the existence of Iron fey. Now Summer and Winter are at war, and it’s up to Ash and Meghan – again – to retreive the Scepter from the Iron fey, to settle the peace between the two Courts and to prevent an upcoming attack from the Iron fey.

The Iron Daughter is a solid, fast-paced adventure which, once again, showcases Julie Kagawa’s phenomenal world-building skills and her ability to make likeable, funny characters with distinct qualities and interesting personalities. I have to say that, after reading The Iron Daughter, I am even more impressed by Julie’s world-building skills. She crafts the Nevernever out of basically nothing (although slightly based on century-old stories about the faerie world like Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or based on well-known faerie lore) and she does so in a most amazing fashion. The world she creates is interesting, innovative, vast and at all times surprising. From the gorgeous palace of Summer Court to the icy fields of Winter and the iron dominating the Iron Kingdom, her world is ever-changing and evolving, growing if you may, much like a real world. As as the world she describes expands and grows, so do her characters.

Whereas in The Iron King I thought Puck was often portrayed as being a one-dimensional character with an uncomprehendable interest in Meghan’s welfare (he loves her…but why?), the habit of causing trouble to the point of his occassional duels with Icey Boy, we now see a whole new side of him. We discover why Puck loves Meghan, and how far he is willing to go to prove that point, and to protect her. He grows from a rather one-dimensional character to a three-dimensional person with his own fair share of fears, emotions and hopes. There’s a scene with Puck and Meghan in this book, that nearly made me jump over from Team Ash to Team Puck. I think it’s safe to say though that Julie Kagawa prefers Ash, since he gets more pages, and a lot more love through-out the series than Puck ever does. However, although I do root for Ash and Meghan to be the ‘endgame’ couple, as you may call it, I would like to see Puck and Meghan happen sometime, and I would like Puck to have a fair chance. It’s about time that Meghan seems him for who he really is – he is, after all, the one who betrayed his Kingdom for her, whereas Ash is still obeying Mab’s orders like a sad little puppy in the beginning of this novel.

Thank god and all the saints in heaven, that Grimalkin is back. Always ready to make a sly remark, or to humor us with his witty sarcasm towards feeble humans and love-struck faerieis. Without Grimalkin, The Iron Fey series would definately be a lot less interesting. If Grimalkin was a human, Puck and Ash wouldn’t stand a chance, and I’d be Team Grimalkin all the way. Too bad cats cannot miraculously change into human shape, or aren’t disguises for ordinary, but very powerful faeries. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to find a very nice-looking, equally charming female cat to accompany our beloved Grimalkin. I can only hope that he makes an appearance in The Iron Queen as well.

Prince Ash was trying so hard to be as icey and cold as always through-out the first part of this novel, and failed miserably every time. As I already stated in my review of The Iron King, I would have liked it if the relationship between Meghan and Ash had not blossomed so soon, and if they had gotten a bit more time to get to trust each other first. Kisses, embraces and other snuggling could have waited till this novel, in my opinion – and to be honest, for a Winter Prince, Ash really isn’t all that icey, hard-to-get or distant. I thought the visit to the Winter Prom at Meghan’s old school was particularly hilarious, especially with all the human girls swooning over Ash, and Meghan’s old crush inviting her to a party – for the first time in her life! However, I thought it was quite ridiculous as well. Really? Prince Ash needs a lot of glamour and suddenly everyone thinks about the Winter Prom? Why not just go to a club, or something? And why those ridiculous costumes? When the book mentioned that Ash was dressed in white – yes, white, oh the horror – with a coloured tie (I forgot the color, but it seemed insanely ugly at the moment) I thought I was either quite disturbed to imagine such things, or I had been transported to a very horrible alternate reality. Unfortunately for me, neither of these assumptions were true and indeed, Julie Kagawa, makes Ash look like the mere representation of everything a Winter Prince is NOT supposed to be. Thank god my imagination skills were powerful enough to imagine Ash in something else – a black suit, for instance.

I disliked Meghan in this novel. I liked her throughout Iron King, I liked her progress, how she gradually changed from an insecure and scared teenage girl into a real Summer Princess, filled with enough courage and determination to withstand even the Iron King. However, she seemed to have temporarily lost all her wit, charm, intelligence and courage in the first hundred-or-so pages of this book. Rather than worrying about her own well-being, or about finding a way out of the Winter Court – or anything to escape, for that matter – she is constantly weeping over the fact that Ash is treating her badly. What do you want the guy to do? Admit to the entire Court that he’s in love with a half Summer Princess, half human, most probably making both himself and Meghan the subject of Mab’s wrath by doing so? Although it sounds ridiculous, that appears to be exactly what Meghan wants. She’s even surprised when he calls her the ‘half blood’ or ‘human’ or says he doesn’t want anything to do with her, although he warned her time and time again in the Iron King and Winter’s Passage that he would have no choice but to treat her this way. Really Meghan, are you dense? Or have you watched too much Twilight, and decided to take on the role of Bella Swan for a change?

Luckily for us, Meghan loses her Bella Swan attitude gradually throughout the second part of the novel. The suspense rises as the trio (yes, of course Puck is back) and charming Grimalkin go on another journey to retreive the Scepter of Seasons. From that point on, the pace picks up, the chase is back on, and Meghan slowly becomes an interesting, relatable and intelligent heroine again. As she did in her previous novel, Julie Kagawa once again ends in style, leaving her readers to anxiously anticipate her next novel in the series. The Iron Daughter is a worthy successor to The Iron King, although I must admit I liked the latter more.

Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: Fantasy, Faeries, Young Adult, Supernatural
Buy this novel: Book Depository.
Rating: 5 stars

The Iron King focuses on the persona of Meghan Chase, a sixteen-year-old girl whose father dissapeared years ago, and who now lives in the country with her Mom, stepfather and little brother Ethan. With her ragged clothes and her parent’s pigfarm business, Meghan is the laughing stock of the entire school. Fortunately, she has one friend who supports her through all of this: Robbie Goodfell. On her sixteenth birthday however, weird things are starting to happen. For instance, Robbie is behaving strangely, her younger brother Ethan seems possessed by some alien creature, and she sees images of a tall and handsome boy on a horse. It is only when Robbie explains to her, that Meghan realises what has truly happened. Her younger brother was kidnapped by the faeries, and they put a changeling in her home instead. And her best friend since forever, Robbie Goodfell, is in fact no one other than Robin Goodfellow aka Puck, the famous and mischevious fairy from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Determined to find Ethan and return him home safely, Meghan and Puck travel to the Never Never. But like travelling to the wildfey area isn’t hard enough, they are being chased by the tall and handsome stranger, who turns out to be none other than the Winter Prince, Ash. He and Puck have an old feud going on, and unfortunately for her, Meghan is stuck in the middle of all of it.

Like that isn’t bad enough, something else is threatening the Never Never as well. Something dark, powerful and destructive. Something that took her brother. And it will take all of their combined forces to find out what, and to defeat it.

I have to admit that I’m not usually one to jump on the big-hype-bandwagon. I’m not the kind of person who likes something simply because everyone and their pet chihuahua likes it. If anything, the more hype there is about something, the more reluctant I am to join in and add my own fangirlness as well. I felt the same way with the Harry Potter books, until I read them and fell in love. I also felt the exact same way about the whole Twilight issue, until I read the novels and made my own opinion – I’m still not very fond of them, but I can see their appeal – and I had the exact same problem with The Iron Fey Series. I was curious to read the series because everyone talked about it, the covers looked gorgeous, and faeries were a new and foreign supernatural species to me. I wasn’t all that much into faeries when I was younger, and even in my teenage years I couldn’t possibly imagine anyone could write a novel aimed at a young adult audience themed around fairyworld. Apparently it can be done, and it can be done in such a fashion that I’m totally swept off my feet and impressed beyond belief.

To my utmost shame, I must admit that I’ve never read Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream before. I did watch a TV movie based on it once, but that’s a far distant memory as well. Had I perhaps read faerielore before indulging into this novel, I would have realised that there’s a great difference between Tinkerbell, Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother and the actual fairyworld of the Never Never and The Seelie and Unseelie Courts. In all honesty, I was even more intrigued by the lore behind the story, and the use of ancient tales about the Summer and Winter Courts, Queen Titania and Queen Mab, and King Oberon, than I was with the actual storyline and characters. I felt like this whole new world had opened to me, and it was all the more real because it hadn’t entirely sprung from the imagination of the author herself, but was based on several legends regarding supernatural beings, and a centuries-old but still very famous poem by none other than the great Shakespeare himself. If that isn’t impressive, then I don’t know what it is anymore.

I loved all of the characters. But literally, all of them. I loved Meghan’s personality, strong and determined albeit a bit naive and often finding herself in need of assistance. She is, after all, only sixteen years old, and not a trained swordfighter or accomplished trickster, so naturally she often needs others to help her acheive her goals. Of course I fell in love with the Winter Prince, Ash, as well. Handsome and stunning, cold and distant yet passionate and caring. How one person can hold so many emotions, is still a big question mark for me, but I loved him for every single emotion he had. As far as Prince Charmings go, he really is an exceptional one. I liked Puck as a character as well, although I have to admit that having him transferred from this sort of mythical hero to a teenage boy in love with our heroine, was a bit much to take in at first. On the other hand, it was quite the original thought, and I thoroughly enjoyed his jokes, pranks and protectiveness over Meghan.

On the downside: I knew from the start that there was going to be a love triangle, but I felt dissapointed when it didn’t really evolve in this book. We see glimpses of Puck expressiing his love for Meghan, or showing it in extremely obvious ways, but we never get an idea of how she feels about him. Are they just friends, or is there something more? Also, I thought that the love affair between Meghan and Ash developed a bit too fasty for my liking, and I wouldn’t have shed a tear had they waiting with their mutual lovey-dovey confessions until book two in the series. It even seemed a bit out of character to me. I can perfectly understand why Meghan would take a fancy to Ash – I would have done exactly the same, without a shadow of a doubt – but I couldn’t quite grasp the fact that he is interested in her too, right from the start. I mean, he IS the Winter Prince, cold and distant by nature, and she IS the Summer Princess, half-human on top of that, and best friends with his nemesis. It doesn’t exactly make her the most desirable person in the world, now does it? I can’t imagine him giving in to his feelings for her just like that, and I was a bit dissapointed that he did.

Do you want to know who my favorite character is? Grimalkin, of course. Funny, witty, sarcastic, cynical, answering all questions with “I’m a cat” and striking deals whenever he sees an advantage, what’s not to like? I also couldn’t help but feel like behind that non-caring attitude, there was a very caring, friendly and charming…cat.

From the moment Puck and Meghan step into the Never Never, I was hooked. The first hundred pages may not have totally convinced me, but the story afterwards did. I loved the way Julie Kagawa described both kingdoms, how she potrayed Lord Oberon and Queen Titania, how she made the throne room come to life on those very pages of this book. I was amazed, enthralled, paralyzed and of course, forced to continue reading. Then, as Meghan’s adventures begin, and she’s being chased by all sorts of magical creatures as she tries to find her brother, I was thoroughly amused. It felt sort of like those classic quest storylines, but with new and original ideas woven into it.

Something that annoyed me though, was the similarity between both courts. I was given to understand that The Summer Court, albeit michevious and not-all-that-good-hearted towards humans, was the ‘good’ court, whereas The Winter Court is seen as malevolent and wicked. I didn’t get that impression while reading this novel, especially because the personalities of Queen Titania and Queen Mob are very much alike. Both are cruel, hot-headed and egocentric. I would have liked to see a clearer distinction between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ court.

In short, The Iron King is everything I couldn’t have dreamed it would be: fast-paced, original, imaginative, creative, with interesting and lovable characters, a plotline that keeps you glued to your seat, and most impressive world-building. Julie Kagawa is a true artist at crafting and creating scenery for her characters to play in, from enchanted forests to gigantic throne rooms to cozy cottages and icey fields. I can’t wait to read The Iron Daughter – literallly, I have it here with me right now, and I feel like dropping everything, including work for university, to start reading! – and find out what happens to Meghan next. If you haven’t read The Iron King yet, then it’s about time. You’re missing out on the faerie book of the century.