Friday, June 3, 2011

Book review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

My summary:
Meghan Chase feels like she's almost invisible, even the day she turns sixteen she isn't priority. Life hasn't felt normal since that day in the park when she was six years old and her father disappeared. There are only two people in Meghan's life that she knows truly care about her; her four year old little brother, Ethan, and her best friend from childhood, Robbie.

Robbie is quite the prankster and always in a good mood, that suddenly changes on a bus ride home from school one day. Meghan notices a stunningly  handsome boy outside the window and Robbie is suddenly acting like he's her mother, telling her to stay away from this guy.

Meghan's life is just getting weirder by the second and suddenly she finds herself in the Nevernever on a dangerous mission to retrieve her little brother who has been abducted by the fey. 

My thoughts:
I've had this book on my shelf for many, many months now(I purchased it back in August 2010) although I've been wanting to read it ever since I haven't prioritized it. Well that changed after I read  Life After Jane's brilliant review a few days ago, I knew I had to read this book now.

After finishing the book I just wasn't sure what I felt. I mean Julie Kagawa has written a respectable debut novel, it was entertaining from the beginning to the final page, but at the same time I was a little bit disappointed. I felt like parts of the story was overly familiar, it reminded me of stories we've been told before. That being said there were also parts of the story that was very original, I'll give the author lots of kudos for coming up with a new kind of fey; iron.


There were lots of supernatural, mythical beings in the story and at times it felt like there was too many for me to keep track of. I couldn't remember my gremlins from the pack rats or the redcaps, it was a bit too much with detailed descriptions of every kind of creature. I guess you could say that I was a bit overwhelmed. 


I did enjoy the main character, Meghan, she had some admirable character traits, but she was also a bit to rash and jumping to conclusions. My favorite character was Ethan, the cute little brother, I just wanted to give him a big hug and tell him that everything would be ok. There's also a talking cat, Grimalkin, he's a wonderful character as well. And I bet you've all been waiting to hear my verdict on the love interests in this story? Well I liked them both, but then again I felt like I had no choice but to love Ash but in my head I'm team Puck.

Book trailer:

The cover:
Stunning! Enough said.

My rating of this book:
3.5 stars out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
Life After Jane
I <3 reading
Gone with the words
The Norwegian Book Girl

Want to know more?
Add The Iron King to your Goodreads wish list.
Visit Julie Kagawa's homepage 
Read Julies' blog 
Follow Julie on Twitter

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Published: 2010
Pages(paperback): 363
Publisher: HarperTeen
ISBN: 0373210086 (ISBN13: 9780373210084)
Full disclosure: 
Purchased 

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.



8 comments:

  1. Oh..so not love at first sight then..That made me wonder and think I would feel it was just ok if I read it

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  2. Hi, interesting review, as loads of people say this is amazing. I'll be reading it soon, so I'll come back to agree, or not...

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  3. I'm really glad that someone felt the same about this book as I did! Thought I was the only one who disagreed with the hype!

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  4. I love the cover of this book, but my interest just has not been there to get it, even though so many have said it is great. Of course if I received it as a gift I would be grateful because I love to read, but I don't think I would go out and buy it. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. I've had this book for months as well! But for some reason I haven't gotten to it yet... Maybe this summer? :P

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  6. I bought this one because I loved the cover but I just couldnt get into it; one of the minority who found this a slightly disappointing read. I do wonder what the next books in the series have been like though?

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  7. @Blodeuedd:Just let me know if you're interested in trying it and I'll mail my copy to you :)

    @jdfield:Thanks :) I'm just being honest about my feelings about the story. I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts once you've finished the book :)

    @scattered_laura:I know that lonely feeling when everyone else seems to love a book and you just can't understand what all the fuss was about.

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  8. @Denise Z:You might love it, I'm one of a few who doesn't it seems :)

    @yavampirebooks:Yes, do read it this summer. I want to know what you might feel about it :D

    @Teddyree:Let me know if you decide to figure it out, I'm a bit curious but I have too many books in my shelf to try the next installment in this series.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts =)