Book Review: The Iron King - Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Release Date: February 1st 2010

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: Bought

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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.

With over seventy thousand ratings on Goodreads, it's safe to say that The Iron King is one of the superstars in the YA world, but what makes this book extra-special for me is the fact that it involves creatures also present in my first-ever attempt at writing a book: fairies/faeries/fey/fay/however-you-wanna-call-them. Having read this now, though, I'm glad that WIP hasn't seen the light of day for more than a year now.

At first, The Iron King had me worried because it did take a while for the plot to go full speed ahead, and Meghan didn't turn out to be as Hermione-smart as I'd expected her to be. Being smitten by the cliche douchebag jock? Ugh. But Julie Kagawa obviously knows how to do her job because even though I practically rolled my eyes at every page thanks to Meghan's initial incompetence, I still found myself unable to stop from turning the pages. And everything only got better when I reached part two.

One of the things I loved most about this book was its take on fairy lore. It was both original and not, being loosely based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream—a nice surprise, by the way, because it's one of my favorite plays—and kind of reminding me of the Harry Potter world with how different species of magical creatures co-existed. The fey was a fascinating mystery that slowly unraveled as Meghan got deeper in to her adventure into their world. 

Now, the romance. There's an obvious love triangle that Meghan's unaware of as Puck was yet to man up and declare his feelings, which only pushed Meghan into Ash's arms. I have to admit, I didn't like how quickly Meghan and Ash's relationship moved from glaring and threatening to hugging and holding hands and kissing. It was by no means insta-love, thank heavens, because even though she got tingles from his icy good looks, Meghan ran away like hell was after her when Ash said that he meant to kill her. Despite making me raise an eyebrow, though, I'd be lying if I say they didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There's just something about a forbidden romance that always gets to me.

The Iron King is no short book by any means, but the pages just flew by as I devoured this story with its colorful cast of characters, intricate world-building, and plot with many twists and turns. Meghan's adventure to rescue her baby brother was crazy, fast-paced, and led to a satisfying, realistic ending that has me eager to pick up the second book.

MY FAVORITE PART was Elysium ;3

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